[Weston]

It may be hot as a furnace in parts of the northern hemisphere, but I sense a change in the angle of the light, a feeling of urgency in my veins. Autumn is coming! Autumn is a time of sweetness, nostalgia and and a crisp optimism in the air, but it can also be a time of unsettling thoughts on mortality and the approaching chills of winter.

I love spooky books, movies, art and music in autumn, but the music can be hard to come by. Saint-Saens' Danse Macabre is often cited, but to be honest this doesn't really do it for me. I find nothing creepy about it. There are of course the examples of Ligeti and Penderecki works used in film.

What other creepy classical works are out there I may not know about?

Here's one I found this weekend, Andrzej Panufnik - Kołysanka (Lullaby). To me that's subtly creepy.

 

[EdwardBast]

Try Mussorgsky's Songs and Dances of Death, here enhanced (IMO) by Shostakovich's orchestration and the beautiful expressive singing of Galina Vishnevskaya:

You'll need the words to get the full effect. Original Cyrillic and translations here:

http://www.lieder.net/lieder/assemble_texts.html?SongCycleId=147

 

[Huilunsoittaja]

Bartok Music for Strings, Percussion, yada yada.

The first movement in particular, only one image comes to me... worms eating you alive:

 

[Copperears]

This always does it for me:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quatuor_pour_la_fin_du_temps

Enjoy!

 

[Morimur]

I don't recall the name of the piece but it's by Crumb . . . something to do with bats or whatever.

There's also this:

 

[KenOC]

The Crumb piece is likely Black Angels.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sffh9spQopA&list=PLEvr99j7ruPxvl6sZ6EAJchHv3cHQSQTR

 

[MrTortoise]

The last movement of Ligeti's Trio for piano, violin, and horn is a bit dark and intense.

 

[KenOC]

People in the old days found the slow movement of Beethoven's "Ghost" piano trio pretty creepy. Maybe some people still do.

 

[norman bates]

Here's one I found this weekend, Andrzej Panufnik - Kołysanka (Lullaby). To me that's subtly creepy.

nice, it sounds perfect for a horror movie|

 

[elgar's ghost]

The "Es geschah" section from Schnittke's Faust Cantata - a habanera embellished with phantasmagoria.

 

[ArtMusic]

What other creepy classical works are out there I may not know about?

This piece by John Cage is creepy too, the very flat sounding harmony.

 

[Becca]

Part 3 of Schoenberg's Gurrelieder
The end of part 4 of Berlioz' Le Damnation de Faust
Franck's Le Chasseur maudit

 

[Guest]

Penderecki's "Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima" ought to do it...or pretty much any of his pre-1980 works!

 

[starthrower]

Penderecki's great works for string orchestra are some of my favorites. Some of his vocal works can be more disturbing. The Devils of Loudun, Kosmogonia.

Schnittke has some pretty dark pieces. Symphony No. 2 comes to mind.

 

[KenOC]

A voting game elsewhere for "Best Devilish Music (Diabolus in Musica)":


1 - Rachmaninov: Isle of the Dead
2 - Saint-Saëns: Danse Macabre
3 - Ravel: Gaspard de la Nuit
4 - Franck: Le Chasseur maudit ('Accursed Huntsman')
5 - Mussorgsky: Night on Bald Mountain
6 - Prokofiev: The Fiery Angel (Opera)
7 - Dvorak: The Water Goblin
8 - Dvorak: The Noon Witch
9 - Liszt: Totentanz
10 - Dvorak: The Spectre's Bride

 

[millionrainbows]

I've always thought there were some creepy passages in Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, especially the "Sacrifice" movement.

Going more modern, there are some spooky moments in Edgar Varese's Poem Electronique.

 

[GreenMamba]

The dirge from Britten's Music for Tenor, Horn and Strings. This ae night...

 

[vampireslugger]

Ives' Central Park in the Dark, especially slower versions, really creep me out. Not in any macabre way -- just by a kind of intimidating night life that feels always on edge and unsafe. Not sure if that's how Ives intended it, but I can't help hearing it that way.

 

[Skilmarilion]

The "Es geschah" section from Schnittke's Faust Cantata - a habanera embellished with phantasmagoria.

I was gonna say, there's ought to be a passage in many a Schnittke work that fits the bill.

 

[Alfacharger]

Herrmann's foray into serialism, the Sinfonietta for Strings. has that creepy vibe. Herrmann recyled some of the Sinfonietta in his latter score to Hitchcock's Psycho.