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Most Powerful, Epic, Angry, Intense Classical Recommendations

472K views 169 replies 82 participants last post by  brucknerian 
#1 ·
I am looking for symphonies and composers that can sound like this: intense, loud instrumentals, fast pace, intense choir singing, and very angry sounding:

Examples of things I am looking for.

Can't Find Title
(Starts at [1:40])

Can't Find The Title
(Song Starts at [0:37])

O Fortuna


Any suggestions (If you could find the names of the ones I cannot find also, I would really appreciate it)

Thanks ahead of time!
 
#45 · (Edited)
Personally, I think one ought to go in pursuit of music because of its aesthetic quality, rather than treating it like some mood-altering drug.*

For example, I can listen to some happy-clappy-crappy pop music but my reaction is one of discomfort and unhappiness. On the other hand, I can listen to a melancholy piece of classical music and feel edified and generally better. And on the other hand, I can listen to some metal deperately trying to be serious, dark and disturbing, and the result sounds comical.

*Personally I find actual drugs are better for this.
 
#46 ·
The sad reality of Mahler and Langgaard was their music wasn't trying to be anything. It's just that disturbing on it's own terms.
 
#49 ·
I would add Bartok's Wooden Prince to that as well. :D
 
#50 ·
Personally, I think one ought to go in pursuit of music because of its aesthetic quality, rather than treating it like some mood-altering drug.*

For example, I can listen to some happy-clappy-crappy pop music but my reaction is one of discomfort and unhappiness. On the other hand, I can listen to a melancholy piece of classical music and feel edified and generally better. And on the other hand, I can listen to some metal deperately trying to be serious, dark and disturbing, and the result sounds comical.

*Personally I find actual drugs are better for this.
That is a quality post.
 
#52 ·
Personally, I think one ought to go in pursuit of music because of its aesthetic quality, rather than treating it like some mood-altering drug
I think both views (aesthetic and mood-altering) are valid. It's very pleasing to "analyze" the music - hearing all that subtle sounds interweave with one another, creating new patterns, I really enjoy playing in my head some additional variations and sounds when I'm listening to something, playing with rhythm... But it's also great to stop thinking and let the music flow, touching your emotions, feeling "general feeling of greatness", sadness, anxiety, calmness (is there such a word? calmness?...). Anyway, it's hard to explain. I hope you got my point :)
 
#56 ·
Point well taken, Nickgray. I agree. It's sometimes best to quit over analysizing something and just listen to on it's own terms. Let the music flow and enjoy it. Quick thinking so much about it.
 
#53 ·
Music IS like a mind-altering drug for me. There are certain pieces that I like to listen to when I am in a certain mood. And certain music makes me happy, excited, or sad, etc. I would think there is no such thing as people who listen to music NOT for some type of emotional/psychic experience. But I'm sure there are in this forum and I'll be taken to task for saying this, but oh well.
 
#58 ·
Don't worry about it man, I won't take the internet too seriously if you don't! :)

It may please you that I've recently rekindled my love for RVW..
:D That's great man. I hope you can find something you can enjoy in Vaughan Williams' music. I know you're not too fond of his symphonies, but perhaps you should give his shorter orchestral works a try. In time, Vaughan Williams' music will grow on you in a big way. It took me forever to appreciate Bruckner, but I finally do now.

What do you own by Vaughan Williams, so maybe I could point you to some more aggressive recordings that you might enjoy more?

Yeah, I guess my problem is that I do get too serious sometimes. I need to lighten up, especially on the internet. In real life, I'm a pretty easy-going fellow, but I do need to just take things a little bit slower and articulate myself a little better.
 
#60 ·
The Phantasy Quintet and the Six Studies of English Folk Song for cello and piano - really yummy stuff.
The Phantasy Quintet is very, very fine. People tell me the later chamber music is superior, and perhaps it is; but in terms of making me dissolve into a heap of tear-sodden goo, give me the Phantasy Quintet every time. Guaranteed NOT to make anyone angry, in fact.
 
#62 ·
Herzeleide has a point.

Music shouldn't be over intellectualized. In my opinion, you start loosing enjoyment for it when you analyze it to death.

Sit back, relax, and enjoy the sounds. :D
 
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#63 ·
"Enjoy the sounds..."

I once told a new-comer to classical in this forum "to have fun." I was, in short order, taken to task fot this by another member who told me music should not be fun...music is much more than simple "fun."

Beware Jtech, you may be told that you are not supposed to "enjoy" music. I guess listening to a classical piece should be a solemn, serious ritual in which you must scowl and not feel one bit of emotion.

That's a bunch of poppycock. Of course I listen to music to have fun, and i certainly enjoy the experience. Doesn't mean that I shouldn't feel sad if I listen to Barber's Adagio for Strings or something like that...I often do. The the feeling of emotion that comes from listening to a good work is, I'd say, something of a psychic experience, something that is life enriching and thus, in a round about way, something I do "enjoy" and something that is...yes..."fun."

So, all of you who tell me music should not be enjoyed need to listen to Suppe's Light Cavalry Overture, eat some pizza and then go to Disneyland. We'll get you smiling, somehow!
 
#66 ·
I was listening to the (unfortunately little known) ballet Salome by Japanese composer Akira Ifukube today. Written for a large orchestra, it contains big, exotic thrills to be sure. The concluding pages of the work are among the most crushing, bombastic, percussive moments in music, I'd have to think. Herod orders his guards to seize and kill Salome (we all know the story) and the music that accompanies this scene truly invokes brutal terror.

THIS, I'd think, would be a metalhead's delight.
 
#67 ·
Frankly, (and this is not an extension of the tongue-in-cheek suggestions made earlier) I have found ballet music in general to be more aggressive and louder than a lot of other orchestral works. It's too bad most of the general public thinks of the likes of The Nutcracker and Swan Lake when hearing the word ballet. Metalheads should never innately hesitate when they see the word "ballet" on a CD!
 
#69 · (Edited)
Metalheads should never innately hesitate when they see the word "ballet" on a CD!
Um yeah... Rite of Spring??? Still, I don't think such a request is by its nature deserves tongue in-cheek responses, because even works like the Rite are not simply 'epic, powerful, angry...' etc. Works with such moments in them - think of Beethoven 5, or the nihilistic, heart-attack-inducing last chords of the finale of Mahler 6, have the so-called angry and epic moments off-set by moments of tenderness, or whatever we'd like to think of as the antonym of epic, powerful etc.

Like I say, this only serves to reinforce my belief of language's inadequacy at really describing the infinitely subtle, elusive and complex expressive effect of the best music.
 
#68 ·
What a great comment, Rondo! Music from ballets is often pretty "big" stuff.

Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet contains some "aggressive" moments, as did, certainly his music froman aborted ballet which became the Scythian Suite. (Surprised THAT has not been mentioned yet.)

Khachaturian's Gayne and Spartacus also contain moments of loud grandeur. These are both ballets.

And let's not forget the Rite is a ballet, too. Definitley no pink tutus in this one.

Having said all of that, even Swan Lake has "large" moments, though not brutally so like in the Rite. But the final part of that ballet has some very loud music with gongs, snare drums and big tuttis from the orchestra.
 
#76 · (Edited)
Too right, I just heard the 2nd movement from Prokofiev's Scythian Suite ("The Evil God & Dance of the Black Spirits/Pagan Monsters") - Gergiev/Kirov Orchestra - and the intro blew me away in a way which only Stravinsky's Rite of Spring has done so far (that's still "the daddy" as far as I'm concerned!). I love this powerful stuff - beats all other forms of music for sheer power/energy.

- low quality sound but gives you an idea, OP.
 
#71 ·
Well, Elgarian, not to rehash a previous discussion, music will always elicit a subjective experience. My experience of listening to music will differ from yours in so many ways. You will like composers I don't and vice versa. You wil like certain works that I don't and vice versa. Neither of us would be inherently incorrect in such a case, just different.

Though music like Tristan und Isolde may contains moments of extacy, there is also agony. Yes, one may feel agony as a result of being touched by the music, but the experience of being touched like that "feels good," somehow, even though it makes you feel sad. It's this feeling of being connected to something on a higher plane of existance that I find fulfilling, addicting, and sure...entertaining...dare I say fun. I mean, if it really did make you depressed and devestated beyond repair, I don't think anyone would listen.

I think it's the same principal as attending a sad movie or play. While the subject matter may be down-right depressing, we still go to the movie or the play to be entertained in some sense. No one ever says "I like going to the movies because it makes me want to kill myself," but rather, someone who goes to the movies often probably does so because s/he enjoys the experience, though s/he is not always seeing the most up-lifting stuff.

This is how I feel about music. Music can be profound, life-affirming, life-changing, terrifying, mystifying, tear inducing...all of that. The agony and the extacy. But being psychically connected to these sounds in such a way that causes these various emotions is, again, quite stimulating, and thus, an ejoyable experiece. It is the exciting experience of being taken somewhere very far from your mundane life. Well, my mundane life, anyway.

That's the last I'll say on this so I don't go too off topic, but perhaps I have articulated myself better this time around.
 
#72 ·
Yes, one may feel agony as a result of being touched by the music, but the experience of being touched like that "feels good," somehow, even though it makes you feel sad.
That's very eloquently put.

It's this feeling of being connected to something on a higher plane of existance that I find fulfilling, addicting, and sure...entertaining...dare I say fun.
I know exactly what you mean by that. And by all means say 'fun' if you like (but I understood you better without it).

I mean, if it really did make you depressed and devestated beyond repair, I don't think anyone would listen.
Exactly so. We'd be mad.

This is how I feel about music. Music can be profound, life-affirming, life-changing, terrifying, mystifying, tear inducing...all of that. The agony and the extacy. But being psychically connected to these sounds in such a way that causes these various emotions is, again, quite stimulating, and thus, an ejoyable experiece. It is the exciting experience of being taken somewhere very far from your mundane life. Well, my mundane life, anyway.
This is my experience also - almost perfectly described, moreover. I think we have this thing sorted, more or less, as long as we're careful about using the 'f' word!!

So, enough of this nitpicking nonsense. Put Ride of the Valkyries on the player, Tapkaara, very loud, and bring on the custard pies! The rules are simple: whenever they sing 'Hoyaho-oh!', one of us throws a pie.
You can have first throw.
 
#78 ·
I'm not sure if it has been mentioned, but Belshazzar's Feast by William Walton is an extremely powerful and LOUD piece of music. It is written for a large chorus, orchestra, and 2 brass bands!

The addition of the brass bands was suggested by the festival director, the conductor Sir Thomas Beecham; the bands were on hand anyway for a performance of Berlioz's Requiem, and Beecham said to the young Walton: "As you'll never hear the thing again, my boy, why not throw in a couple of brass bands?
 
#81 ·
Here's a partial list...

The symphonies of Allan Petterson - some of the angriest, darkest symphonic canvasses ever to grace the musical stage. My choices would be Nos. 2, 5, 7, 8 and I believe either 13 or 14 (that's the one with the chorus).

Bernard Herrmann was mentioned in passing in one of the posts. I would suggest finding his 1941 symphony - the first three movements are extremely tempestuous!

Vaughan Williams - Symphonies Nos. 4 and 6

Nielsen - Symphony No. 4

Corigliano - Symphony No. 1

I'll even nominate Act 1 of Puccini's Turandot - it opens with a lot of tempestuousness and blood!

Go from there...
 
#83 ·
Here are some suggesstions

Bartok - nearly everything but I would definitely check out:
Music for Strings Percussion and Celesta
Shostakovich - many of his symphonies - No.'s 5 & 10 would be good starting places

Schnittke - Cello Sonata (it will destroy you)
- Concerto for Piano and Strings

Allan Pettersson - Symphony No. 7 (this music will destroy your world - it is not played often
because it has left audiences upset in the end - some left - what a
powerful unique piece though - wow)

and check out my music and let me know what you think, if you like these you may like it:
http://myspace.com/adamvincentclay

Thanks
 
#84 ·
Alkan: Etude No. 11 "Overture" Op. 39

Quoted from Ronald Smith's Alkan, The Man, The Music:

"Apart from the seventy-two page first movement of the Concerto the penultimate study entitled Ouverture is the longest, taking about fifteen minutes to perform. It is also the most rarely heard. This may be due less to its lack of surface glitter than to the problem of placing it sensibly in a normal concert programme. Although it makes a marvellous opening item it takes courage to meet its challenge 'cold'. On the other hand its massive style, while tending to dwarf succeeding pieces, is not ideally designed to end a recital. This is a pity, for Ouverture is a unique work; stern, sombre and impressive, and despite its cruel technical demands it is intensely rewarding to study."

Here are the two parts of it (if you're an adrenaline junkie, just patiently wait for the second movement and you'll have all that and more):

1.

2.

Etude No. 7 in E-flat major "L'incendie au village voisin" (Fire in the Neighboring Village) from the 12 Etudes in all the Major Keys Op. 35 (1847)

Quoted from Ronald Smith's Alkan, The Man, The Music:

"L'incendie au village voisin is an unclassifiable extension of the genre, a kind of free-ranging, pictorial fantasy akin to the Lisztian symphonic poem of the succeeding decade. The occasional excursion into a more extravagant realism, with its inescapable twang of silent film music, falls uncomfortably on modern ears and has thrown even Alkan's staunchest admirers into disarray. 'A flat style' declares the French musicologist Georges Beck, 'and effects that are mere noise.' Could this writer have ever strayed upon a pioneering essay on the composer in Bernard van Dieren's Down among the Dead Men (1935) in which the piece is described as 'an exquisite tone painting like one of the movements in Harold in Italy'? Three years earlier Sorabji had also praised it as 'very remarkable; most original in form.' All the same, L'incendie, perhaps more than any other of Alkan's important compositions, demands the most persuasive artistry to fulfil such claims. In lesser hands it will sound faded, shallow, naive, its turbulences turned to bombast.

The work opens quietly, expansively. A gentle song of the countryside, marked 'amoroso', steals reassuringly on the ear. Romantic modulations colour the landscape. Nothing it seems can disturb the pastoral calm; not even the distant menace of eight drum strokes. They pass unheeded. The drum insists. The landscape darkens. The drum now raps out its unmistakable warning to the accompaniment of scurrying feet and the whole scene rattles into action as the flames leap, threaten and engulf. This central phase is dominated by an impetuous allegro moderato in 12/8. As the fury intensifies so the alarm signals become more desperate. All at once the distant approach of soldiers promises relief. As they draw nearer fierce trumpets herald action. At first the fire only rages with renewed ferocity but as it continues to mount it is confronted by a series of inexorable advances 'clamando' and with a final defiant burst of energy is brought under control. A few angry eruptions retreat into silence and all is calm. With simple-hearted reverence the villagers join in a six-part Cantica. This song of thanksgiving rises to its climax and the work ends with a majestic plagal cadence.

No one attempting the following piece should fail to study Raymond Lewenthal's illuminating introduction to it in his invaluable selection of piano works by Alkan. 'This is a perfect work' he claims. 'Perfect as music, perfect as the etude it sets out to be.' As music it suggests a love duet with guitar or lute accompaniment. As an etude it deals systematically with the problem of entwining a legato melody within a staccato accompaniment in the same hand. Chopin apart I can think of no other composer who could have wrung inspiration from such a constrictive device."

Just one part to it:
 
#85 · (Edited)
And some more for you: Charles-Valentin Alkan's (1813-1888) Symphonie pour Piano Suel (Symphony for Solo Piano), Op. 39 (Etudes dans tous les Tons Mineurs) Nos. 4-7, in C Minor.

1st mvt:

2nd mvt:

3rd mvt:

4th mvt (probably the most exciting for you):

And for the grand finale for Alkan: Mvt no 2 of Alkan's Grand Duo Concertant L'enfer (Hell):



As for Bach, why not his Concerto in D minor BWV1052:

1.

2.

3.

Enjoy the insanity:eek:
 
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