[KenL]

I had a similar thread that I started a few weeks ago asking folks to name what they consider some of the most purely beautiful music ever - and I had a TON of great responses and wonderful suggestions! As a result, I was able to add a lot of new stuff to my collection, and expand my growing knowledge of the genre and history.

So, thanks to the wonderful people here who gave me great suggestions, I am doing this again - this time, it's DARK music I'm looking for. Good example: Shostakovich's 10th - first part of first movement. It's so brooding, so dark, so heavy - it's just magnificent.

What are some of your favorite dark, deep, brooding, heavy, etc. pieces/movements? Happy to continue adding to my collection - the darker the better. Thank you all in advance!

 

[Neo Romanza]

A lot of post-war composers fit this description: Penderecki, Xenakis, Scelsi, Ligeti, Schnittke, Gubaidulina, Henze...to name a few.

 

[KenL]

A lot of post-war composers fit this description: Penderecki, Xenakis, Scelsi, Ligeti, Schnittke, Gubaidulina, Henze...to name a few.

Any specific pieces you’d put at the top of your list and recommend? Thanks!

 

[Neo Romanza]

Any specific pieces you’d put at the top of your list and recommend? Thanks!

I have many works from each of these composers that I could list, but I believe one of the joys of classical music is in the discovery. So I would suggest going to YouTube or Spotify (or wherever you listen to music) and check out some recordings of their music.

 

[RobertJTh]

Alan Pettersson is your man. Try symphonies 6-9.

 

[Kjetil Heggelund]

Piano concerto or/and Concerto Grosso no. 1 by Schnittke.

 

[KenL]

Alan Pettersson is your man. Try symphonies 6-9.

Fantastic, thank you! Going for the 6th today, have a 90 min car ride ahead of me. Appreciate the suggestion.

 

[KenL]

Piano concerto or/and Concerto Grosso no. 1 by Schnittke.

Thanks, queued up the Piano Concerto for the second part of my drive this afternoon. Appreciate you!

 

[Enthusiast]

I had a similar thread that I started a few weeks ago asking folks to name what they consider some of the most purely beautiful music ever - and I had a TON of great responses and wonderful suggestions! As a result, I was able to add a lot of new stuff to my collection, and expand my growing knowledge of the genre and history.

So, thanks to the wonderful people here who gave me great suggestions, I am doing this again - this time, it's DARK music I'm looking for. Good example: Shostakovich's 10th - first part of first movement. It's so brooding, so dark, so heavy - it's just magnificent.

What are some of your favorite dark, deep, brooding, heavy, etc. pieces/movements? Happy to continue adding to my collection - the darker the better. Thank you all in advance!

Dark is a difficult word. Aside from adding the name Sibelius (the 4th symphony?) I tried to think of examples from before the 20th century. I guess Mozart's Adagio and Fugue in C Minor might be a good example and there are many dark moments in Mozart's music - the opening of the Requiem is another. For the Romantics we might think of quite a few works by Liszt, the last two movements of the Symphonie Fantastique and parts of the German Requiem. Also, I guess almost any setting of the Dies Irae in going to be necessarily dark.

Perhaps you are only looking for the 20th century? Tell me if my suggestions above are going anywhere of interest to you and I will think more thoroughly.

 

[PeterKC]

Britten's Interludes from Peter Grimes?

 

[hammeredklavier]

I guess Mozart's Adagio and Fugue in C Minor might be a good example and there are many dark moments in Mozart's music - the opening of the Requiem is another.

+ K.477

 

[Josquin13]

Some pieces that come to mind today,

--Penderecki: Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima:

Penderecki: Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima

-National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra.Antoni Wit, Conductor.

www.youtube.com

--Britten, Serenade for tenor, horn & strings, V. "Dirge - This Ae Night" movement, as sung by Peter Pears:

--Persichetti: Symphony No.9 "Janiculum":

--Shostakovich String Quartet No. 8:

--Shostakovich Symphony No 8 (I find the opening to the Symphony no. 5 ominous & haunting too, etc.):

--Shostakovich, Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor, Op. 67:

--Shostakovich, Sonata for Violin and Piano, op. 134:
Dmitri Shostakovich - Violin Sonata [With score]
--Shostakovich, Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 147:
Dmitri Shostakovich - Viola Sonata [With score]
--Sibelius Symphony No. 4 in A Minor:
Symphony No. 4 in A Minor, Op. 63: I. Tempo molto moderato, quasi adagio
--Scriabin: Piano Sonata No. 9, Op. 68 "Black Mass":

Scriabin -- Piano Sonata No 9, Op 68 (Black Mass Sonata)

VLADIMIR SOFRONITSKYLive, 1960

www.youtube.com

--Prokofiev, Piano Sonata No. 6:
Piano Sonata No. 6 in A Major, Op. 82: I. Allegro Moderato
--Orff: Carmina Burana - 1. "O Fortuna": Orff: Carmina Burana / Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi - 1. "O Fortuna"
--Suk: Asrael Symphony:
Josef Suk Asrael Symphony - Rafael Kubelík
--Koechlin, Symphony No. 2, Op.196--this is a ridiculously neglected work. Since the following live BBC recording made by Constantin Silvestri & the LSO, the Symphony No. 2 has never been recorded (unless you count his String Quartet No. 2, upon which Koechlin based the symphony): Charles Koechlin: Symphony No. 2
--Koechlin, Viola Sonata, Op. 53--I see this piece as another neglected 20th century masterwork:
Charles Koechlin - Viola Sonata, Op. 53
--Pettersson, Symphony No 9:
Allan Pettersson, Symphony No 9, Sergiu Comissiona
--Pettersson Symphony No.10:
Symphony No.10 - Allan Pettersson
--Pettersson: Violin Concerto No. 2:
Allan Pettersson * Concerto n. 2 per violino ed orchestra

 

[Kreisler jr]

Tenebrae [Latin for darkness] or Leçons de ténèbres, that is settings of the Lamentations of Jeremiah by French baroque that were apparently sung in special services in barely lit churches during Holy Week. There are some by Charpentier, Couperin and others. And while usually not called Tenebrae, these same Lamentations have been set many times, famously by Lassus, Tallis, A. Scarlatti, Krenek and many others.

 

[Animal the Drummer]

Schubert's "Der Zwerg" - the music is sad rather than dramatic, but the lyrics are the stuff of nightmares.

 

[Kreisler jr]

Schubert's "Der Zwerg" - the music is sad rather than dramatic, but the lyrics are the stuff of nightmares.

A good one although I think the darkest Schubert song might be "Der Doppelgänger"

There is also "The people who walked in darkness" from Handel's Messiah, or more bleak and resignative (and associated with the composer going blind) "Total eclipse" from Samson.

 

[Simplicissimus]

I was champing at the bit to mention Sibelius's Symphony No. 4, but @Josquin13 already got there. I don't think Shostakovich's Symphony No. 13 "Babi Yar" has been mentioned, but I perceive it as dark, though others might propose brighter interpretations. Mahler's Kindertotenlieder of course come to mind, too.

 

[Judas Priest Fan]

I think Borodin´s 2nd Symphony is very dark.

 

[pianozach]

Dark, eh? Yeah, definitely O Fortuna.

Here's five more, if they hadn't been mentioned already:

Mussorgsky - Night on Bald Mountain
Stravinsky - the Rite of Spring
Edmond DeLuca - Conquerors of the Ages: Adolf Hitler and Finale
George Martin - Yellow Submarine soundtrack: March of the Meanies
Holst - The Planets: Mars

 

[MusicSybarite]

When someone asks for recommendations about "dark" music, these suit rather good IMO:

Pettersson: Sonatas for two violins. These 7 sonatas sound pretty sinister to my ears.

Shostakovich: String Quartets 8 and 15, Symphonies 14 and 15, Viola Sonata. For me, these works represent Shostakovich at his most ghastly. They leave a deep impression once heard.

Penderecki: Utrenja, The Dream of Jacob, among many others. Penderecki was a master in this regard. Nobody shouldn't go wrong with his many works.

Emil Tabakov: His symphonies (I think there are 10 of them so far) are loaded with angst, visceral intensity and darkness aplenty. These works fill the bill quite succesfully.

 

[Phil loves classical]

Crumb's Black Angels

Leonard Rosenman's LOTR Helm's Deep

Bartok's Music for Strings Percussion and Celesta 3rd movement