# The most terrifying moment in all of music?



## DavidMahler (Dec 28, 2009)

Is there anything scarier than.....





If so, please post?


----------



## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

How about the Schrechensfanfare in the same's 2nd symphony?





From 7:10.


----------



## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

Is there a particular section that's scary? I've been listening for 5 minutes and find it rather tedious! I wouldn't ever say I find music frightening, but in terms of what the music is depicting, then this from 46:30 (this being a performance I was lucky enough to attend!):


----------



## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

4:09 As I've stated elsewhere on this forum, I see a murder scene in this music.






But if you want the full effect of it, start at 2:44. And make sure your speakers and subwoofer are way up. Imagine your worst nightmare... _come alive_...

:tiphat:


----------



## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

I think I'll agree with the OP here. The big outburst in Mahler 10 is horrifying in a way I don't think ever happens throughout the rest of his oeuvre.

I dunno, though, Haydn's "Surprise" symphony ought to have a mention...


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

What are your thoughts on Black Angels by George Crumb?


----------



## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> 4:09 As I've stated elsewhere on this forum, I see a murder scene in this music.


Yeah, that's the _second _ time this month you've done that to me!


----------



## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

What immediately comes to mind is the 2nd movt. (scherzo) to *Bruckner's 9th symphony*. & bits of *Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique *as well (esp. the _Witches Sabbath _ending). The first movt. (funeral march) of *Mahler's 5th comes *to mind too. I can't tell you exact moments just thinking of overall vibe.

Yes, that Crumb work does fit the bill, as does some* Ligeti *(eg. _*Requiem*_, when the two lady singer soloists are literally screaming at the top of their lungs). Spine chilling.

What about towards the end of _*La Damnation de Faust*_, when Faust falls into hell (in the* Berlioz *opera-oratorio). The devil rides with him to the scene of the pit of death, they stop in a clearing, the bell tolls signalling that it's all over for Faust, then they start riding again, and as he finally falls there's this mighty crash from the percussion, roll of the timpani, & rejoicing from Mephisto's band of devils. Very dramatic, on steroids as Berlioz only could do it (for me!!).

Then a less overly dramatic one, but very psychological. At the end of* Stravinsky's Oedipus REx, *or near the end, King Oedipus realises that his life has been led under a web of lies. He learns the truth and his eyes are opened to a horrible reality. As he utters the words _Lux facta est _(all is revealed), the orchestra plays a simple chord, I think it's in the key of C. The effect is just chilling, gets me every time, shakes me in my boots. Then the narrator relates, with the detachment of a journalist, how Oedipus blinds himself and Queen Jocasta hangs herself. Funny how the most detached and objective composer on the planet, some say very clinical, can deliver the emotional goods big time, but not how you'd expect...


----------



## Glissando (Nov 25, 2011)

Stravinsky's Rite of Spring has sections that still sound kind of scary to me, in a way that makes it unique. The way it goes from dissonant lassitude right into forceful, elemental power is pretty intimidating. Also, it is well known that Stravinsky tried to eschew Romanticism and to craft music that could function as flawless, impersonal abstractions. So in the Rite I hear no sentimentality or even what one could recognize as normal human emotions, and that contributes to the overall creepiness of it for me.


----------



## science (Oct 14, 2010)

Lot of good options here. Also, Liszt's Totentanz, Orff's Carmina Burana (sorry friends), - and for the people who accuse me of not knowing or appreciating any obscure music - Kilar's Krzesany or Victoria.


----------



## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

Ditto on the Mahler. It's always pretty horrifying when you realize again and again it's not over yet.


----------



## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Couchie said:


> Ditto on the Mahler. It's always pretty horrifying when you realize again and again it's not over yet.


Says the Wagner fanatic....


----------



## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

violadude said:


> Says the Wagner fanatic....


Au contraire, you always know when Wagner is over. The fat lady sings. :lol:


----------



## peeyaj (Nov 17, 2010)

I think the fourth movement of Schubert's Trout Quintet is the most terrifying moment in music..


----------



## UberB (Apr 16, 2011)

The central section of Chopin's op. 27/1. So quiet, and yet, so terrifying.


----------



## EarthBoundRules (Sep 25, 2011)

peeyaj said:


> I think the fourth movement of Schubert's Trout Quintet is the most terrifying moment in music..


That trout will haunt your nightmares...


----------



## DavidMahler (Dec 28, 2009)

There are some really interesting inclusions here. The Chopin 27/1 is an interesting one! The Prokofiev is definitely up there!

I'm going to repost the work I posted because I think it's actually more frightening when you can't see the conductor or orchestra.

If you don't want to hear the whole movement, *start at 18:40* and listen to the end. I never heard anything quite as frightening to me. The first I heard it, I had to shut it off. I never react to music like that. Can you imagine this being the last feelings you felt just before your death. I cannot imagine. Maybe part of what makes its so frightening is it is my belief that Mahler wasn't going for an affect. This is really how he felt about his life as he left it. In fact, in the score itself at the extremely dissonant chord (the chord considered by many to be the most dissonant in music history) he wrote the name of his wife (whom was having an affair as he perished) and circled it for her to see after he died.


----------



## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

The central movement in Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra - as the culmination of the tension built in the first two movements. But if you want it sudden instead of gradual, that instrumental shriek in "Psycho".


----------



## poconoron (Oct 26, 2011)

Has to be Commendatore scene in Mozart's Don Giovanni - the most terrible chords must have shocked those in attendance at the time!


----------



## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

DavidMahler said:


> the chord considered by many to be the most dissonant in music history


Can that actually be said of anything?


----------



## DavidMahler (Dec 28, 2009)

Polednice said:


> Can that actually be said of anything?


I dunno, it's been said about that chord in the context it falls in.


----------



## TresPicos (Mar 21, 2009)

Hilltroll72 said:


> The central movement in Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra - as the culmination of the tension built in the first two movements. But if you want it sudden instead of gradual, that instrumental shriek in "Psycho".


I like the shriek at 2:34 in the first movement:






He even looks a bit spooky in that picture...


----------



## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

To me Mahler 2, 3, 6, and 7 sound a lot more dark and frightening at times than Mahler 10 - which to me sounds kind of bright and rejuvenated in comparison. Strange.


----------



## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

TresPicos said:


> I like the shriek at 2:34 in the first movement:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yeah. I am trapped in my interpretation of the CfO: Before it even starts, Bartók invites me to accompany him on a trip to his "Other Place" (where he often goes to compose). That bar in the 1st movement is when I realize that we are there.


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

At rehearsal letter U in movement Ib of Saint-Saëns' third symphony would be a perfect musical accompaniment to a horror film.


----------



## Argus (Oct 16, 2009)

Anything produced by Penderecki in the 1960's.


----------



## aphyrodite (Jan 9, 2012)

Omg. Nightmare


----------



## skalpel (Nov 20, 2011)

Elgar's Ghost recommended the Schnittke piano quintet to me on here not so long ago, which has become one of my very favourite chamber pieces. One short moment, which when I first listened to it late at night with headphones, I would certainly have to admit scared the hell out of me.

Can be heard 2:46 onwards in this video:


----------



## Praeludium (Oct 9, 2011)

The chordal part at the end ! Amazing.


----------



## Lisztian (Oct 10, 2011)

The ending of the first movement in Liszt's Dante Symphony.






Especially from 3:30 on.


----------



## Igneous01 (Jan 27, 2011)

Schnittke Concerto Grosso:

the toccata
the finale movement
the first movement


----------



## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

The opening to Prokofiev's 3rd symphony.


----------



## wiganwarrior (Jan 6, 2012)

*And talking of Schubert..*



peeyaj said:


> I think the fourth movement of Schubert's Trout Quintet is the most terrifying moment in music..


The "Death & the maiden" quartet needs a mention as well, reflecting Schubert's musings on his own realisation that his own untimely death was approaching.


----------



## wiganwarrior (Jan 6, 2012)

*And not forgetting Shostakovich.*

There are lots of real life terrifying moments in Shostakovich, reflecting war & repression - but, for me, the mother of them all is the final movement of the 4th symphony. If ever an apocalypse was depicted in music, the climax contained in this movement is it! And this is followed by, what I would describe as post apocalyptic chilling devastation, ending quietly with the celeste. Imagine there's no one left!! Sorry for the depressive tone, but this thread did request it.


----------



## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

My nominee requires the exercise of imagination: the middle movement of Bartók's CfO, after the buildup that gets you there.


----------



## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

wiganwarrior said:


> There are lots of real life terrifying moments in Shostakovich, reflecting war & repression - but, for me, the mother of them all is the final movement of the 4th symphony. If ever an apocalypse was depicted in music, the climax contained in this movement is it! And this is followed by, what I would describe as post apocalyptic chilling devastation, ending quietly with the celeste. Imagine there's no one left!! Sorry for the depressive tone, but this thread did request it.


Yes, the chords after 5:50 are horrifying.


----------



## Manok (Aug 29, 2011)

The realization that the Wagner opera just won't end... Ever gives me nightmares. But beyond that, some of Shostakovichs string quartets terrify me, in a good way.


----------



## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

Ligeti: Requiem II Kyrie...


----------

