# Scary classical music



## continuum (May 8, 2012)

Hello. 

The thing that inspired me for this thread: I was listening to some classical music compilation in my bed and fell asleep for a short time. When I woke up, some music was still playing, and it kinda scared me.  It was Prokofiev's The Montagues and the Capulets from Romeo & Juliet. The whole piece is a bit sinister sounding, but that beginning might be the scariest piece of music I've ever heard, classical or not... And I've listened to stuff like Diamanda Galas.

Anyway, what's your opinion on that particular particular piece of music, and what (other) classical compositions do you think are scary?


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## humanbean (Mar 5, 2011)




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## humanbean (Mar 5, 2011)

Also, a bit old, but this is THE scariest/creepiest piece of classical music I've heard, I think:


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## Moira (Apr 1, 2012)

humanbean said:


> Also, a bit old, but this is THE scariest/creepiest piece of classical music I've heard, I think:


No, the other two pieces you posted are scarier. This is peculiar, but the Bach is scarier, while the Shostakovich is more angst ridden.


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## reffohelgnid (Mar 12, 2012)

Ligeti's _Lux Aeterna_ is pretty damned creepy.


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## continuum (May 8, 2012)

@humanbean:
I can't really say if I think the music that you posted is scary or not, I might have to listen to it in my bed in the middle of the night to be sure. However, the third one (which you label as the scariest/creepiest) is interesting: I'm not sure if I think it's scary/creepy at all, but, if it is, it's because of that guy's voice.


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## quack (Oct 13, 2011)

I think that shows scary is more about state of mind when you listen to it, I always find being woken up scary, and alarm clocks terrifying.

Gloria Coates with her glissandi is very eerie.


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## continuum (May 8, 2012)

@reffohelgnid:
Yup, it's creepy. 

Anyway, I already mentioned Diamanda Galás. She's not exactly classical music, but Lux Aeterna kinda reminded me of her for some reason. I mean, listen to this:






@quack:
Well, yeah, but I'm not scared when I wake up to Brahms. 
I'm listening to the piece that you posted. Might be the scariest suggestion so far (in my opinion).


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## humanbean (Mar 5, 2011)

Moira said:


> No, the other two pieces you posted are scarier. This is peculiar, but the Bach is scarier, while the Shostakovich is more angst ridden.





continuum said:


> @humanbean:
> I can't really say if I think the music that you posted is scary or not, I might have to listen to it in my bed in the middle of the night to be sure. However, the third one (which you label as the scariest/creepiest) is interesting: I'm not sure if I think it's scary/creepy at all, but, if it is, it's because of that guy's voice.


To each his own I guess. I suppose it doesn't really scare me in the same "evil" sense that you get from the first two, but the Machaut puts me in a very sad, lonely place. I think it would be more appropriate to put it into the same "creepy" category as Munch's famous painting "The Scream."


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## SuperTonic (Jun 3, 2010)

Schoenberg's Pierrot lunaire is one of the creepiest pieces I've ever heard.


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## Igneous01 (Jan 27, 2011)

the most obvious example:


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Prokofiev's Symphony No. 2. Do I have an "aye"? 

Or should I say... 




Make sure your volume is up really loud to get the full effect. As many of you know I love promoting this work. 

NO MERCY NO MERCY NO MERCY scream the strings

DEATH DEATH DEATH DEATH scream the winds


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## Igneous01 (Jan 27, 2011)

another creepy one:

Schnittke's Faust Cantata :


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## Norse (May 10, 2010)

You should be glad you didn't wake up to this


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

reffohelgnid said:


> Ligeti's _Lux Aeterna_ is pretty damned creepy.


You will be pursued by Composer of Avant Garde for this utterance I'll be bound!


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## mud (May 17, 2012)

Bebe el agua tranquila de la cancion aneja (Drink the tranquil water of the antique songs)




It can be scary, not that this performance is at all threatening.

I guess it depends on the context, mostly.


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## dirtchsmyth (Nov 24, 2013)

I know it may not conform to most people's idea of classical music, but I find Richard D. James "Stone in Focus" to be atmospheric and very creepy



. It is definitely minimalist and thrilling to listen to in the dark.


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## Jobis (Jun 13, 2013)

It seems a very peculiar choice but Radames' Aria from Aida creeps me out a little bit. I think it might be the somewhat sparse instrumentation in part of it, and the way the 'ceeeleesstee aiiida' sounds so lilting and sweet to the point of vulgarity is quite sinister. Especially when the strings join in playing staccato way up high in their range and its very scary.






Obviously not what Verdi was going for(?) but it has that same kind of chilling impact the vulgar fairground music in Mahler has.


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## ebullient (Sep 21, 2013)




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## Avey (Mar 5, 2013)

Pretty obscure stuff thus far.

For more a popular reference, I've always found *Mahler's* _Adagio for the 10th Symphony_ to be frightening. I feel like we're entering (a) Hell, witnessing things we cannot imagine.


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## talx (Nov 22, 2013)

My scariest piece is Carmina Buruna by Carl Orff.


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## mikey (Nov 26, 2013)

Coming after the funeral march, this is dam weird (the whole sonata is - and the most awkward thing I've ever played!)





I also would not advise this on an empty stomach (trust me, I've tried)


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## spradlig (Jul 25, 2012)

Moussorgsky's (sp?) original version of _A Night on Bald Mountain_. Not Rimsky-Korsaksov's. To me, the two versions are different pieces of music, and I don't find the Rimsky-Korsakov version to be very scary.


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## techniquest (Aug 3, 2012)

Listen to this while hiding behind the sofa...


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## dgee (Sep 26, 2013)

I remember not too long ago an elderly announcer on my local classical station putting on Der Erlkonig just before shutdown at midnight and saying afterwards in his best BBC style "Well, I, for one, shall be taking teddy to bed tonight!"


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## LordBlackudder (Nov 13, 2010)




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