# Unsettling music



## The Hob Goblin (Jan 17, 2010)

Hello all,

I am new here and know very little about classical music, but i'm very interested to learn. Due to this inexperince i know very few pieces and was wondering if anyone could point me in the direction of an unsettling or 'creepy' piece. Preferably a sonata like piece.

If it helps, i really like composers like Rachmaninov and Vaughan Williams.

Any suggestions would be nice.

Cheers


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## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

Rachmaninov - Isle of the Dead
Shostakovich - String quartet 8

Its about as close as I understand the request.
Good luck!


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## The Hob Goblin (Jan 17, 2010)

sorry about the request. i just find it hard to put into words.

I think that the isle of the dead is great and so is shostakovich. and what i'm looking for is almost a mixture of the two. Music like the Rachmaninov but played for a quartet or solo instrument rather than whole orchestra.

any other suggestions?


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## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

Have you heard the composer Penderecki? Most of his music is quite haunting.. you should try it.

Ill keep thinking for you


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## The Hob Goblin (Jan 17, 2010)

never heard of him. but could you recomend any pieces?

if its stuff to do with folklore i'm also very interested, hence the name Hob Gobblin. I love all of the pieces that are based on myths and stuff.


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

The-Hob-Goblin said:


> never heard of him. but could you recomend any pieces?
> 
> if its stuff to do with folklore i'm also very interested, hence the name Hob Gobblin. I love all of the pieces that are based on myths and stuff.


I know you previously mentioned that you were interested in music for small ensembles, but, if you're interested in things based on folklore, then you should definitely listen to the late symphonic poems by Dvorak - I can't think of anything more fitting.


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## The Hob Goblin (Jan 17, 2010)

i'm not purely interestted in small ensembles. But i am looking for a certain type of piece that is creepy and based on folklore and for a solo or small ensemble.

something like that......


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Hey, you, listen to Edvard Grieg's 1st String Quartet and Soraya era cattivo, Sergio Blanca (fumante torta) e piaciuto, ma lo sapeva, ha buttato fuori dalla finestra di un avvocato bel scoperto il suo segreto e voleva rivelare. Rideva come questo: hyehehye ... hyyyyyyyyyyyy ....... ....... hyehehye ... hyyyyyyyyyyyy


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## mueske (Jan 14, 2009)

Folk influenced atmospheric chamber pieces? 

Bella Bartok's string quartets say: "hello!".


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## The Hob Goblin (Jan 17, 2010)

mueske said:


> Folk influenced atmospheric chamber pieces?
> 
> Bella Bartok's string quartets say: "hello!".


that are creepy!


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## mueske (Jan 14, 2009)

The-Hob-Goblin said:


> that are creepy!


They are, just listen.


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## The Hob Goblin (Jan 17, 2010)

which ones?

i'm listening to 'melodia'....


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## mueske (Jan 14, 2009)

All of them are very good, though I personally like 3-4-5 and 6 best. 4 Being my favourite.


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## Air (Jul 19, 2008)

Janacek's _String Quartets_ would seal the deal. So would Bartok's _Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta_ and Prokofiev's _Symphony No. 2_.

As for more avant-garde music, Penderecki's _Threnody_ certainly fits your bill. Varese's _Arcana_, Gubaidulina's _In Tempus Praesens_ and Brett Dean's _Carlo_ also come to mind.


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## Lukecash12 (Sep 21, 2009)

Maybe it's a little over the top to be mentioning, but why not Scriabin's sonata 5, opus 53?


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Penderecki isn't merely unsettling. He's downright terrifying. I don't think that's what the OP had in mind.

I'll second the vote for some of Janacek's string quartets. I also have a string quartet (or it may be a quintet - I forget) by Anton Webern that is quite unsettling. Mysterious at any rate. I'll have to wait until I'm home to look up the exact title and will edit this post then.

I am wondering why most of what we are considering creepy is from slavic composers.

[ETA: I was thinking of a - Rosamunde Quartet CD featuring Anton Webern's _Lansamer Satz fur Streichquartett_, however that piece is fairly serene. There is a Shostakovich string quartet also on the CD. It's the creepy one I was thinking of. So - another vote for Shostakovich]


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

How about Mahler 10? Especially the first movement, it's creepy all the way through, and toward the end boasts a heart-stopping climax thanks to that.


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## Air (Jul 19, 2008)

World Violist said:


> How about Mahler 10? Especially the first movement, it's creepy all the way through, and toward the end boasts a heart-stopping climax thanks to that.


Nice one. I would add Bruckner's 9th as well.


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Air said:


> Nice one. I would add Bruckner's 9th as well.


Oh, absolutely, especially the beginning. Though it bridges the fine line between "unsettling" and plain out "ominous"...


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Yeah, Mahler and Bruckner definitively fit thead creator's condition about smaller ensambles.


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Aramis said:


> Yeah, Mahler and Bruckner definitively fit thead creator's condition about smaller ensambles.


Well Mahler's music resembles chamber music anyway, more often than not. And Bruckner's music resembles organ music, which is a single instrument.

I don't see a problem.


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Oh, and for solo instrumental pieces there's a cadenza for solo viola by Penderecki that's absolutely creepy. You should check it out.


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## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

If anyone ever has occasion to hear snippets of Ifukube's soundtrack for Godzilla (1954), there are some very creepy moments there. And not necessarily in scenes featuring Godzilla. There is music which accompanies the villagers of Odo Island talking about what could be causing the mysterious deaths at sea which has some very eerie music underpinning it.


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## andruini (Apr 14, 2009)

Black Angels by George Crumb will leave you quite unsettled!


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

andruini said:


> Black Angels by George Crumb will leave you quite unsettled!


Well... and deaf.


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## nefigah (Aug 23, 2008)

Some people try to tell me that Bach's organ pieces in minor keys are "creepy," and although I look at them funny when they do this, perhaps you'd agree with them.

Try the always-popular Toccata and Fugue in D minor, and see how it strikes you


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

nefigah said:


> Some people try to tell me that Bach's organ pieces in minor keys are "creepy"...


How about the Sarabande from the 5th cello suite? That piece is quite unsettling, tons of lines that don't really seem to go anywhere at first listen but that just stretch across the whole movement.


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