[KenL]

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

Many thanks for the suggestions - added a few of these that I haven't digested yet to my list.

 

[KenL]

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.

Thank you - other than the Shostakovich quartets and Violin Sonata (which I've heard and love a lot), these are all new for me, so I'll dig into all of them. Appreciate you!

 

[KenL]

Crumb's Black Angels

Leonard Rosenman's LOTR Helm's Deep

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

Nice, some really heavy stuff in there, much appreciated!

 

[KenL]

Prokofiev's — Violin Sonata no. 1 in F minor.
Myaskovsky — Symphony 10
Britten — Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes
Pärt — Tabula Rasa
Shostakovich — Violin Concerto 1 in A minor

Thank you, hadn't thought to dig into Part - and I LOVE that Myaskovsky symphony. Appreciate the additions!

 

[KenL]

Some early (oratorios)

and late stuff (the final completed mass) from Haydn

Thank you for these and the early requiem in your subsequent post. Early music is a great place to go exploring for somber/deep stuff. Love these!

 

[KenL]

An amazing and too-little known piece is Hartmann's first symphony, "Versuch eines Requiems" which is a German composer's lament for the horror that overtook his country, and a very powerful statement.

Thank you, definitely going to check this out. Shame that it takes such horrible moments in history to inspire so much of this type of music - but a lot of good art comes from pain. I'm sure this will be extremely powerful.

 

[KenL]

This is obvious, but just in case, Ligeti's requiem

Yes, absolutely, a good choice, thank you!

 

[KenL]

Thank you for this and the prior links - most of this is new to me, so I'll be eagerly digesting all of this. Much obliged!

 

[KenL]

Mind you don't stumble over these 13 in the dark.

Maurice Ohana's "In Dark and Blue"
Henri Sauguet's "Crepuscular Sonata"
"Central Park in the Dark" by Charles Ives
Einojuhani Rautavaara's "Angel of Dusk"
"Canti dell'eclisse" by Bernard Rands
Isang Yun's "Teile dich Nacht"
"El Decameron Negro" by Leo Brouwer
"The Song of the Night" by Karol Szymanowski
Edgard Varèse's "Nocturnal"
"Shadows" by Péter Eötvös
David Bedford's "Twelve Hours of Sunset"
Tōru Takemitsu's "Twill by Twilight"
"The Blackbird" - Einar Englund's Symphony No. 2

Fantastic thank you for these - most I've not heard yet, so a wonderful list for me to queue up. Much appreciated.

 

[KenL]

Not sure whether you'll consider this as dark, but Casella's symphony no.2 is a masterpiece:

Oh for sure, at minimum the adagio movement is pretty heavy. Gorgeous symphony, listened to it just this morning based on your recommendation. Thank you!

 

[KenL]

View attachment 186375

Alfred Schnittke (1924-1998): Psalms of repentance (Penitential psalms) (1988), as recorded in 2017 by the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, conducted by Kaspars Putniņš. With Raul Mikson (tenor), Maria Melaha (soprano), Karolina Kriis (soprano), Marianne Pärna (alto), Ave Hännikäinen (alto), Toomas Tohert (tenor).

This is undoubtedly one of the darkest albums in my collection.
From the CD liner notes:
In the last stage of his career, the composer, plagued by bad health, wrote some of his most fearful and challenging music. The Psalms of Repentance, completed in 1988 and premièred that December in Moscow, are dark indeed, but Schnittke never lets the last candle of faith be extinguished, and it is both the candle and the dark that fascinate us as we hear this work. Schnittke's wrote it to celebrate a thousand years of Russian Christianity. His choice of an unaccompanied chorus is appropriate, given the ban on instrumental music in the Byzantine church.
The anonymous texts come from 16th-century Russia. Their subjects range from Adam's grief over his expulsion from the Garden of Eden to a reflection on the historical fratricide in the year 1015 that gave rise to Russia's first saints. ECM's booklet prints the texts in Cyrillic, and then follows them with translations in English and German, so it is difficult to follow them and appreciate Schnittke's specific response to the words. From what one can deduce, however, the composer has responded to the texts with exquisite sensitivity. In spite of the intensely introspective and almost unrelievedly despairing subject matter, Schnittke's settings are full of color and variety, within appropriate boundaries. The composer had converted to Roman Catholicism in 1982, and the Psalms of Repentance, like the other spiritual works from the last phase of his career, are galvanized with a convert's fervor.
Stylistically, the twelve Psalms of Repentance are a blend of the old and new. The declamatory singing and open parallel chords of the Byzantine and Russian Orthodox churches can be heard in this work. Schnittke also treats the chorus instrumentally. At several points in the work the basses are asked to create a drone effect by singing with closed mouths. Modern techniques such as tone clusters and glissandi are used, but not gratuitously; they play specific expressive roles. On occasion, tenor soloists come to the fore, an effect that is almost cantorial. Because of their variety, the Psalms of Repentance do sound like a retrospective of everything that was rich and intriguing about Schnittke's writing.

Fantastic - someone else recommended a different Schnittke piece, which I found beautifully heavy/dark, so I can't WAIT to listen to this. Queueing it up very soon. Thank you so much!

 

[KenL]

1. Beethoven's Symphony No. 5, especially the first movement with its famous "fate" motif.
2. Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6, also known as the "Pathétique," which is known for its melancholy and tragic mood.
3. Mahler's Symphony No. 6, which is often described as one of his darkest and most intense works.
4. Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C-sharp minor, which has a hauntingly beautiful melody.
5. Barber's Adagio for Strings, which is often used in movies and TV shows to convey a sense of sadness and loss.

All exactly the mood I'm going for, thank you!

 

[KenL]

I know you tried to define 'dark' in your original post, but it really depends on what resonates with you. It also depends on whether you are attracted to Romantic era works or more contemporary composers.

Tchaikovsky: Symphonies Nos. 5 & 6
Schoenberg: A Survivor from Warsaw
John Adams: On the Transmigration of Souls
Higdon: Blue Cathedral
Sibelius: Symphonies - I would tend to describe most of Sibelius' symphonies as 'stark', but they can also be interpreted as 'dark' depending on your perspective
If they click you could also look into some symphonies by Nielsen
Berg: Violin Concerto
Feldman: Rothko Chapel

Try some of the above on a streaming service and see what clicks with you, then explore other compositions by the same or allied composers.

P.S. 1: I actually would describe some of the suggestions above (Higdon's Blue Cathedral, Feldman's Rothko Chapel) as 'meditative' rather than 'dark' but again depends on your perspectiv.

P.S. 2: I also just realized that I listed Tchaikovsky's 5th and 6th Symphonies in both your 'happy' and 'dark' music threads, but to me they actually do fit in both. I adore his music and even his most pathos generating music invokes feelings of great pleasure in me. A great composer in my opinion.

Thank you that's exactly the idea - I hadn't pigeon-holed it to one era/sub-genre - dark can mean different things to different people, and it's a matter of what resonates with the listener. That's why I left the description somewhat vague - I'm looking for folks to tell me what resonates with THEM, and then I can explore and find new rabbit holes to go down into (either composers I hadn't been familiar with, pieces I haven't heard before, or pieces I HAVE heard but needed to re-listen and gain a new appreciation for). This is exactly what I was hoping for, so thank you very much.

 

[pianozach]

Mussorgsky - Pictures At an Exhibition; Bydlo

 

[janwillemvanaalst]

Dead can dance - Within the realm of a dying sun (1987).

Although not strictly classical music, it comes close, and it's definitely dark music. Dead can dance are Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard. The latter is mostly known for her vocals on the "Gladiator" soundtrack end tune ("Now we are free").

 

[John O]

Try playing an LP of Penderecki's Auschwitz Oratorio at 45 rather than 33 rpm.

 

[KenL]

View attachment 186421

Dead can dance - Within the realm of a dying sun (1987).

Although not strictly classical music, it comes close, and it's definitely dark music. Dead can dance are Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard. The latter is mostly known for her vocals on the "Gladiator" soundtrack end tune ("Now we are free").

Hah, I'm a huge Dead Can Dance fan - and LOVE Lisa Gerrard, including her work on Gladiator. Thanks for the reminder to go back and listen to this.

 

[Lisztianwagner]

Schönberg - Five Pieces for Orchestra
Schönberg - Erwartung
Bartók - Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta

It depends on what you consider 'dark', but these are the first compositions which come to my mind; somber, tense, but at the same time deeply thrilling and hauntingly beautiful.

 

[Kjetil Heggelund]

How about some love and magic?

 

[relm1]

Not sure whether you'll consider this as dark, but Casella's symphony no.2 is a masterpiece:

I adore this symphony but it is the opposite of dark. It is transformative! A different thread!