# Highest pitches in classical music



## abc123 (Nov 28, 2010)

Hi,

I'm curious what pieces in classical music make important use of very high pitches, for example the top octave of a grand piano and higher. (The highest pitch on the grand piano is C8, which is four octave above middle C, having a pitch of 4186Hz.). 

I'm not so much looking for something that just adds tonal color, but rather for something where there is some kind of important melody or theme used in that register or higher.

By the way, the reason I am curious as that I was listening to a piece of popular music, Tina Turner's "Drift Away" and there is an instrument there that goes up to Eb7 and is a key part of the song in fact. I am wondering who else uses a range that high.


----------



## Sebastien Melmoth (Apr 14, 2010)

At the climax of Schönberg's wondrous little song with chamber ensemble Herzgewäsche (Op. 20), the soprano takes an hair-raising 'expressionistic leap' to high-F (over high-C).

When adroitly performed (as in Christina Schäfer reading), it's incredible.

In movement III of his Second String Quartet there is also a similar episode.


----------



## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

That's a smasher for you (done in split second) ^

Prokofiev looooved high range piano (like example above), screeching violins and flutes/piccolos.

Another smasher:










That soars out way over the whole orchestra. Poor piccolo...


----------



## bassClef (Oct 29, 2006)

What about the lowest? And which instrument is capable of the lowest? Double-bass or drum or tuba or bassoon ?


----------



## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

bassClef said:


> What about the lowest? And which instrument is capable of the lowest? Double-bass or drum or tuba or bassoon ?


Double bass for sure. Love it.


----------



## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

> Double bass for sure.


How about these:


----------



## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

I got one to add to that list!


----------



## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

It sounds like he would sing "du du du du" into some non-musical pipe, not play instrument.


----------



## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Aramis said:


> It sounds like he would sing "du du du du" into some non-musical pipe, not play instrument.


Well, since it's a contemporary piece, it's involving throat tuning too.


----------



## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

*Per Nørgård*´s 5th Symphony (1986-90; 1992) is interesting in this respect: in some episodes there he lets the orchestral forces create tone sequences that are rocketing upwards to the highest notes and then introduces pauses of _silence_ - or imaginary even higher notes - before they "descend" again in impressive, fireworks-like gestures.

If I may quote an Amazon.com-review:

_"The listener at once notices that it presents brand-new concepts which up until that point had not preoccupied the composer, such as large orchestral arpeggios, tone lakes, and massive orchestral movements that bring the sound up so high it seems to dissipate like smoke. Interference tones are exploited as well, as when one of the percussionists blows through a pair of dog-whistles, producing a tone that would be inaudible on its own". _

Various fireworks-like scales and effects are of course not new (for instance _Stravinsky_ and _Oliver Knussen_ has written orchestral pieces on the Fireworks theme, and the old 18th century Mannheim-School of composers were known for their so-called Mannheim-Rocket orchestral effect, which has been paraphrased by _John_ _Corigliano_ in an orchestral work quite recently), but as far as I know the Nørgård work is an extreme example of such effects, and the silence idea is striking itself, if it is indeed his own.


----------



## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

The highest pitches I can think of are in the last movements of Arvo Part's fourth symphony (for about the last two minutes or whatever, no less) and Enescu's third (these, contrary to my initial impression, are not in the least merely for coloristic effect; they outline a big motif throughout the whole symphony). I'm not sure what pitches they are, but I can't remember hearing anything higher.


----------



## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> I got one to add to that list!


Wow, that's nuts!


----------



## Delicious Manager (Jul 16, 2008)

The lowest note I am aware of in an orchestral piece of music comes at the end of Edgard Varèse's _Arcana_. A contrabass tuba (which can play lower than a double bass OR a contrabassoon) is required to play the G below the 'A' at the bottom of the piano.

You can hear it *here* it here at 9:24


----------



## bassClef (Oct 29, 2006)

Just loving those low notes - I wasn't even aware of the existence of some of those instruments! - thanks guys


----------



## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

*Ahem*

The highest pitch that is usually not wild is about at the bill of the cap.

:tiphat:


----------



## abc123 (Nov 28, 2010)

Thanks for the help everyone.

The symphony by Arvo Pärt seems like the closest match here. The Herzgewäsche and Prokofiev examples seem more like isolated instances of high pitches or are used mainly for tonal color, and do not carry the motif in a substantive way that the example from the Drift Away song does. 

Still, what appears to be the almost complete lack of substantive melodic use of the top octave of the piano, from C7 to C8 (that is, three octaves above middle C to four octaves above middle C) is strange. It's there on the piano after all.

This raises two questions:

(1) Are there really no pieces, other than Tina Turner's "Drift Away" for which melodic expression in the C7 to C8 register is as important to the piece?

(2) Are there any pieces just in the basic piano repertoire that use this? 

(3) If not, why not? The register seems used to great and powerful effect in the Tina Turner piece. And it's *right on the piano*!

What's going on?


----------

