# Please recommend Mysterious orchestral music



## Paul T McGraw

Mysteries, I love em. Please recommend orchestral music (preferably late romantic) that elicits a mood of mystery and or suspense. The only one that comes to my mind at the moment is the opening of the first movement of the Rimsky-Korsakov Symphony No. 2 but I know there are many more. I just can't think of them right now.


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## Portamento

The first thing I think of is Hovhaness' Second Symphony, which is subtitled "Mysterious Mountain".


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## KenOC

Not orchestral and not late romantic, but...


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## Paul T McGraw

Portamento said:


> The first thing I think of is Hovhaness' Second Symphony, which is subtitled "Mysterious Mountain".


Ah, Hovhanness, in the dictionary under the word "neglected" there is a picture of Hovhaness. Nice piece, but oddly enough it does not give me that tingly "mysterious" feeling.


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## Manxfeeder

Neptune from Holst's The Planets is mysterious, concluding with a wordless chorus,and it doesn't so much end as disappear. It is notable that the instruments lose their identities as they join the ensemble. If not mysterious, then mystic.


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## Paul T McGraw

Manxfeeder said:


> Neptune from Holst's The Planets is mysterious, concluding with a wordless chorus,and it doesn't so much end as disappear. It is notable that the instruments lose their identities as they join the ensemble. If not mysterious, then mystic.


Oh, excellent suggestion. "Neptune" should have leaped into my mind at once. OK, I have to dig out one of my "Planets" CD's now. Good one!


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## DeepR

You may like this early symphonic poem from Russian composer Nikolai Roslavets: In the Hours of the New Moon


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## Bettina

You might enjoy Lyadov's tone poem The Enchanted Lake.


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## Heliogabo

Not late romantic, but you should try Turangalila symphonie by Messiaen. And all of his music using ondes Martenot sounds misterious to me.


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## Portamento

Masterpiece:






On another note, here's something you might like (not that you won't like jajanenen):


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## techniquest

I'll search out some others for you, but for now you might like this - the second movement from 'The Pines of Rome' by Respighi: "Pines near a catacomb".


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## techniquest

Here's another one - the 2nd movement from Prokofiev's 3rd Symphony. For me it has that air of the mysterious; beautiful and yet somehow disturbed and unsettling, especially in the central section.


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## Paul T McGraw

Bettina said:


> You might enjoy Lyadov's tone poem The Enchanted Lake.


Yes, I can feel the mystery and Lyadov is another neglected composer. But although not as prolific as Hovhanness I think I like his music more. Thank you.


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## Paul T McGraw

techniquest said:


> I'll search out some others for you, but for now you might like this - the second movement from 'The Pines of Rome' by Respighi: "Pines near a catacomb".


Marvelous suggestion! Very mysterious and the orchestration is simply brilliant. I guess I am getting too old, as the "Pines" is on my shelf and a favorite, but I didn't think of it.


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## Brahmsian Colors

A few that immediately come to mind:

Saint-Saens: Danse Macabre
Wagner: Magic Fire Music
Schubert: "Unfinished" Symphony
Dukas: The Sorcerer's Apprentice


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## chill782002




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## techniquest

Another fairly obvious one for the really mysterious sound - the 3rd movement of Vaughan-Wlliams' Sinfonia Antartica. This video below has the advantage of being by far the best recording.


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## TxllxT

Reinhold Glière's 3rd symphony has both the mystery and the heavenly length, going on & on & on...


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## Paul T McGraw

TxllxT said:


> Reinhold Glière's 3rd symphony has both the mystery and the heavenly length, going on & on & on...


Wow, I just listened to this for the first time. Amazing I never heard any Glière previously. I have some research to do.


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## SONNET CLV

I'll offer two works to try. And honestly, I don't think you'll do much better than these.

First, the opening movement (Funebre, energico) of Kaljo Raid's Symphony No.1 in C minor (1944). You can find this on a Chandos disc, CHAN 8525, titled _Music From Estonia Volume I_.









Or try here!






In my work as a theatre sound designer, I once used this music to underscore a stage production of an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's "Murders in the Rue Morgue." I still cannot listen to the music without having that script roll back into my head.

The second piece I'll offer is the second movement of Turkish composer Ulvi Cemal Erkin's Symphony No.2 (1951-54), Adagio. I have this on a Hungaroton disc HCD 31528.









But a different performance is also available on a Naxos disc. Having heard both I prefer the Hungaroton recording, but that may be due to a prejudice of having first heard the music on that disc.

I offer the second movement for consideration of "mystery", but the opening to the symphony is mysterious as well. It's that second movement I utilized in a sound design for a Frankenstein stage production (_It's Alive: The Terror of Frankenstein_) some years back. It was the opening scene, as we see Dr. Frankenstein working frantically, ever more frantically, at stitching up his creation which lies on a table in his dungeon-like laboratory. As the music increased in volume and pace, the doctor's sewing increased in franticness. It worked well. (This is the same play for which I first used the opening of Gorecki's Third Symphony in a design. There for the night scene as the doctor's blind daughter sleepwalks into the laboratory within arms reach of the now chained creature.)

Hear here:






If these two symphonies (three, counting the Gorecki) are new to you, all the better.


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## Vaneyes




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## Bill Cooke

When I think of music that is full of mystery, the first thing that springs to mind is the chilling third movement of Bartok's Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta.

Other picks:

Ives' Central Park in the Dark
Angels and Visitations by Rautavaara (in which I imagine I'm in the ruins of an ancient city where a malevolent life force still resides.)
The first movement of Lajtha's third symphony (many of his slow movements are super mysterious and moody - in this one I imagine I'm exploring Dracula's castle during the daytime, while nobody is up and about.)
Enigma by Rolf Liebermann (in which I imagine myself trudging through a Yeti-haunted Himalayan snowscape.)


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## MarkW

There are a number of numbers in various pieces by George Crumb that have that effect.

Catacombs from Pictures at an Exhibition.

The slow movement from Britten's Piano Concerto.

The opening pages of the finale of Mahler's Sixth.

Le Gibet from Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit

Le Cathedral Engloutie from Debussy's Preludes


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## SONNET CLV

Bill Cooke said:


> When I think of music that is full of mystery, the first thing that springs to mind is the chilling third movement of Bartok's Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta.


Your post reminds me that the opening movement of Bartok's _Music for Strings, etc._ is remarkably mysterious. I utilized this music in a production of the Greek tragedy _Medea_ some years back. It was used to open the play, for a scene with the Old Nurse. squatting on the stage throwing bones and reading their predictions as she delivered her opening monologue that introduces us to the tragedy of the scorned Medea. After a couple of decades I still favor this Bartok music as the perfect opening sound for the play, one of drama's darkest tragedies.


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## SONNET CLV

And then, of course, there is this:






György Ligeti: _Lux Aeterna_, performed by A Cappella Amsterdam, Daniel Reuss & Susanne Van Els.


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## dzc4627

Bruckner's unfinished 9th is perhaps the most mysterious music I have ever heard. It is clear in its divine inspiration, but the mystery is within that divine. It is a world of sound so foreign and... sad, really. It has a sentimentality about it. I can't for the life of me put it within the right words, and that is why I consider it so mysterious. Particularly the first movement. Bruckner synthesized the feelings of sadness, nostalgia, and longing with a reverence for the divine, fear of God even. The world portrayed in that first movement is like the cosmos, really, for want of a better cliche.

Of course the fact that the symphony was never finished, the coda particularly, adds to the tragic mystery. What is left of the last movement is even more mysterious though (the music itself). Bruckner had big plans, and I am confident that had he finished the work, it would be my favorite work ever.

Of course, nearly any Bruckner symphony is imbued with a Catholic kind of divine mysticism and mystery.

Here is a great performance with the normally anti-Bruckner Bernstein (he once dared to make a sexual analogy comparing Mahler's orgasmic music to Bruckner's lack thereof): 




But if you are in the US you can view a better performance/recording on behalf of my favorite Bruckner conductor Barenboim:


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## nature

John Tavener - The Protecting Veil (for cello and strings)






This composition by Tavener is extremely evocative of religious mysticism in a way I've found in few other pieces outside of Tavener's other work. At times it can be contemplative, somber, glorious and triumphant, and even eerie in its mystery. I wish I could find more like it.


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## TxllxT

Mysterious film music:


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## SONNET CLV

I'm revisiting this thread to suggest to you the Penderecki Second Symphony, titled "Christmas Symphony" for a work with a profoundly mysterious aura about it. Give a listen to the first couple minutes here and see if you don't agree.






It actually quotes the familiar "Silent Night" tune, quite mysteriously, too.

Of course, if you want_ real _"mystery" music, there are all those Biber sonatas. They are not quite like the Penderecki, for sure.


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## Totenfeier

Mahler's 7th, first 3 movements.


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## TxllxT

Mysteries abound in Sibelius' incidental music & tone poems. Waltzes that de-waltz, deep brooding string sounds, trumpet calls that bring one near the abyss...


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## Jamie Rose

Manxfeeder said:


> Neptune from Holst's The Planets is mysterious, concluding with a wordless chorus,and it doesn't so much end as disappear. It is notable that the instruments lose their identities as they join the ensemble. If not mysterious, then mystic.


Very good choice! The dynamics make it feel very distant and mysterious.


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## rw181383

I recommend the Icelandic composer Jón Leifs. Try _Geysir_, _Hekla_, _Edda_ (Part I), _Baldr_, _Hafis_, and _Dettifoss_.


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## Roger Knox

On a more intimate scale, for piano --

Debussy: _Images_, Book 2 -- Bells Through the Leaves, And the Moon Descends from the Ancient Temple
Debussy: _Prelude_, Book 1, No. 6 -- . . . Footsteps on the Snow


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## Pat Fairlea

How about Vaughan Williams ' Flos Campi'? Intense and mysterious.


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## chalkpie

Ligeti - Atmospheres
Ligeti - Ramifications for String Orchestra
Sibelius - Tapiola
Sibelius - Symphony No. 4, I and III movements
Ives - Orchestral Set No. 2, I. An Elegy to our Forefathers
Ives - Robert Browning Overture
Bartok - Piano Concerto No. 2, II. Adagio - Piu adagio - presto
Holst - The Planets, Saturn: The Bringer of Old Age


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## Joe B

At 1:15 into the piece you'll see why I think you may enjoy it.


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## Rob

Ture Rangström's 3rd symphony ("Song under the stars")


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## Omicron9

Ives: Unanswered Question.


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## R3PL4Y

Bartok Concerto for Orchestra third movement
Not really what the text is about, but musically, Orff's Trionfo di Afrodite
Liszt Faust Symphony
Shostakovich 6 First Movement
Shostakovich Violin Concerto 2
Shostakovich 11?
Sibelius Tapiola


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## Pat Fairlea

Omicron9 said:


> Ives: Unanswered Question.


The Unanswered Question about Charles Ives was (allegedly) posed by Copland: "How did *that* man write *that* music?"


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## FredericBernard

Berg - Sieben Frühe Lieder: Nacht. Brilliantly scored/orchestrated as well.


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## Blancrocher

Falla, Nights in the Gardens of Spain


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## Honegger

Honegger Symphony 5 1st movement is very mysterious I think.

Langaard's Music of the Spheres - very mysterious too!
here is link:





Very cool too for 1918! (when it was made.)


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## Gaspard de la Nuit

Well I feel like a lot of serialist/ modernist music would fit the mysterious category pretty well but...

I think the Prelude a la Nuit from Raphsodie Espagnole would really fit the bill. I used to walk around late at night way after any kind of curfew had already gone into effect and I think Ravel nailed it.


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## Strange Magic

Gaspard, here is another mysterious Hovhaness selection, the Hovhaness Piano Concerto #1, Lousadzak. It's all mysterious but the middle section even moreso:


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## lehnert

Jean Sibelius - Symphony no. 4

Gya Kancheli - Evening Prayers

Karol Szymanowski - Violin Concerto no. 1

Henryk Górecki - Symphony no. 3

Charles Ives - The Unanswered Question

Gustav Holst - Neptune (from The Planets suite)

Gustav Mahler - Um Mitternacht (from Ruckert-Lieder)


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## kyjo

J. Adams - Harmonielehre, mvt. 2

Arnold - Symphony no. 4, mvts. 2 and 3; Symphony no. 5, mvt. 1; Symphony no. 6, mvts. 1 and 2; Symphony no. 7, mvt. 2; Guitar Concerto, mvt. 2

Atterberg - Symphony no. 9 (various sections)

Bartok - most slow movements 

Bax - November Woods

Glière - Symphony no. 3, mvt. 2

Holmboe - Symphony no. 8, mvt. 3

Khachaturian - Violin Concerto, mvt. 2

Martinu - Symphonies nos. 3 and 6 (various sections)

Lutoslawski - Concerto for Orchestra, mvt. 2

Rautavaara - Symphony no. 7

Ravel - openings of Rapsodie espagnole and Piano Concerto for the left hand 

W. Schuman - Symphony no. 8, mvt. 1

Vaughan Williams - Symphony no. 6, mvts. 2 and 4; Symphony no. 7, mvt. 3; Symphony no. 9, mvt. 4


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## Flone

Saint-Saens: Le Carnaval des animaux - 7. Aquarium
Faure: Sicilienne, Op. 78 (arr. for orchestra)
Sviridov: Miniature Triptych - 1. Allegro moderato un poco rubato (Свиридов: Маленький триптих)
Ryuichi Sakamoto: Castalia (arr. for orchestra) - not classical, but orchestral too. Can't find it on youtube.

Not orchestral:
Ravel: Introduction et Allegro
Guilmant: Sonate No. 7, Op. 89 - Intermezzo (Allegretto) 
Vierne: Organ Symphony No. 6, Op. 59 - 3. Scherzo
Alkan: Les soupirs (Esquisses, op. 63 No 11) (played by Jack Gibbons)
Alkan: 12 Études pour les pieds seulement - Étude No 1: Moderato, C minor (played on organ by Kevin Bowyer)
Prokofiev: Visions fugitives, Op. 22 - 7, 17


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## LezLee

You might enjoy the final movement of *Carl Orff -Der Mond* there's a bit of humming in it but otherwise it's orchestral.






The story is that some characters steal the moon for their country which doesn's have one and take it to their graves when they die. St. Peter goes to the underworld to retrieve it and hang it back in the sky.


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## Beet131

Sibelius - Swan of Tuonela
Ravel - Daphnis and Chloe Introduction
Ives - The Unanswered Question
Berg - Allegro Misterioso from the Lyric Suite
Messiaen - L'Ascension, 4th Mov't "Priere Du Christ Montant Ver Son Pere"
Villa-Lobos - Symphony No. 6, 2nd Mov't "Lento"
Wagner - Prelude to Act 1 of Lohengrin
Takemitsu - Tree Line
Britten - "Dawn" from Peter Grimes


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## geralmar

Rachmaninoff, "Isle of the Dead"
Schubert, Unfinished Symphony (first movement)
Tchaikovsky, "Arabian Dance" from Nutcracker Suite/Ballet


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## cougarjuno

Cyril Scott - Cello Concerto

A wonderful mysterious-sounding piece. Those opening bars before the cello's entrance is pure mystery in musical form.


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## hpowders

Franck Symphony in D minor. First two movements.


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## DeepR




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