# Intense Passages of Classical Music



## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

I have a really good one on the tip of my tongue, but I can't seem to place it at the moment. I think it's in a Mahler Symphony, but I'm not sure.


Anyways, I'll start with Rite of Spring, all the fortissimo portions are pretty intense in that one. In fact, the one I'm thinking about in particular may be from Rite of Spring, it's like controlled Choas.

:tiphat:


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

The volcano erupting in Hovhaness' symphony 50 "Mount St Helens".


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

The intro to the second movement of Mahler's 5th is fairly intense.


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## Totenfeier (Mar 11, 2016)

Find me a Mahler symphony without an intense passage or two and we'll talk!

Nevertheless, a Whitman's Sampler (number represents symphony):

1. The opening of the 4th movement
2. The "death scream" in the Scherzo
3. All Nature rising up in the 3rd movement
4. The Opening of the Gates of Heaven in the 3rd movement
5. The Adagietto (a different sort of intensity)
6. ...take your pick!
7. Opening and closing of the 5th movement
8. The Coda of Part II
9. The "death trombone" climax of the 1st movement
10. The Chord


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

The final movement of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony is quite intense.

How about the orchestral introduction of Brahms First Piano Concerto, as well as the third movement of same.


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## Klassik (Mar 14, 2017)

hpowders said:


> The final movement of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony is quite intense.


It's hard to get more intense than _Wellington's Victory_ or the _1812 Overture_! 

Liszt's _Hunnenschlacht_ is pretty intense as well, but that would be expected from a battle piece like the other two pieces above.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Klassik said:


> It's hard to get more intense than _Wellington's Victory_ or the _1812 Overture_!
> 
> Liszt's _Hunnenschlacht_ is pretty intense as well, but that would be expected from a battle piece like the other two pieces above.


The music is so intense on some CD's that there should be warning labels alerting listeners of possible heart attacks.

I have other great ideas, such as getting rid of the "likes".

My brain never quits!!


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## Klassik (Mar 14, 2017)

hpowders said:


> The music is so intense on some CD's that there should be warning labels alerting listeners of possible heart attacks.
> 
> I have other great ideas, such as getting rid of the "likes".
> 
> My brain never quits!!


The Telarc Kunzel/Cincinnati Pops 1812 Overture recording has a warning that the music might blow out your speakers. It's not a heart attack warning, but I probably would have a heart attack if I blew my speakers out!










As an aside, I'm not a fan of that recording of the 1812 Overture. It sounds almost cartoonish. Some will say that the 1812 Overture always sounds cartoonish, but this recording makes it even more so.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Bis and Telarc used to have similar warnings on some of their CD's. One that I remember is a Telarc disc of Grofe's Grand Canyon suite with real thunder sounds mixed in.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Klassik said:


> The Telarc Kunzel/Cincinnati Pops 1812 Overture recording has a warning that the music might blow out your speakers. It's not a heart attack warning, but I probably would have a heart attack if I blew my speakers out!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


If you live in an apartment, purchasing a demonstration recording of the 1812 Overture is foolish.

One needs a private house, hopefully, not too close to neighboring houses with the volume on your phaser set to "maximum stun".


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Art Rock said:


> Bis and Telarc used to have similar warnings on some of their CD's. One that I remember is a Telarc disc of Grofe's Grand Canyon suite with real thunder sounds mixed in.


Also the Johan Strauss albums, train horns and champagne corks .
( quite loud)


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## Klassik (Mar 14, 2017)

Art Rock said:


> Bis and Telarc used to have similar warnings on some of their CD's. One that I remember is a Telarc disc of Grofe's Grand Canyon suite with real thunder sounds mixed in.


Yeah, BIS had dynamic range warnings too:










The power plant whistle from the fourth movement of Grofé's Niagara Falls Suite is also pretty intense.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Klassik said:


> Yeah, BIS had dynamic range warnings too:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Everybody steals my good ideas!!


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## Judith (Nov 11, 2015)

Think final movement of Sibelius 2nd is quite intense. Absolutely beautiful


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## Tallisman (May 7, 2017)

Can't remember many things more intense than the fast, frantic ascending portion near the end of Beethoven's Harp Quartet (10th)


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## Portamento (Dec 8, 2016)

Literally everything after the first 10 seconds.


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## Omicron9 (Oct 13, 2016)

The first one that came to mind is the opening of Shostakovich 4. One of my faves, both in its entirety and in the opening.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

You want intense?
The climax in Horowitz completely neurotic reading of Rachmaninoff Etude Op. 39 No. 5






Somewhere around 3:20 you simply have to brace for impact.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

There's a lot in the first movement of the Bruckner Ninth Symphony that is pretty tense/intense.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

The final delirium of Tristan, with its breathless irregular rhythms, and the volcanic eruption of the whole orchestra as Isolde comes to greet him in his dying moments in Act 3 of _Tristan und Isolde._


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## Janspe (Nov 10, 2012)

The second movement of the Berg violin concerto, up until the calmer Bach quotation bit. It literally makes my heart beat faster every time I hear it.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Bach Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor and Toccata and Fugue in D minor ("Dorian") can be very intense.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Brünnhilde's Immolation scene at the end of Götterdämmerung is very intense.


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## malvinrisan (Feb 17, 2017)

Hagen's Call to Arms from Götterdämmerung Act 2 Is very intense for me.


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## ST4 (Oct 27, 2016)

The crescendos in Xenakis' landmark Jonchaies: :kiss:






The first crescendo starting around 4 minutes in, after the ethereal Bartokian fugal introduction :tiphat:


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## ST4 (Oct 27, 2016)

In other ways, the last movement of Mahler's 9th could kill a man, that is emotionally intense in a really psychological way  (rather than percussive or dissonant, which is a walk in the park for me)


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

malvinrisan said:


> Hagen's Call to Arms from Götterdämmerung Act 2 Is very intense for me.


Heigh Ho!!!!!


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

ST4 said:


> In other ways, the last movement of Mahler's 9th could kill a man, that is emotionally intense in a really psychological way  (rather than percussive or dissonant, which is a walk in the park for me)


You've got it in one.


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## jim prideaux (May 30, 2013)

last movement-Brahms' 4th Symphony


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## QuietGuy (Mar 1, 2014)

The ending of Ravel's La Valse is intense.


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

Emotionally intense does not necessitate loud or frenzied music. I nominate the slow movement of Shostakovich's 2nd Piano Concerto. To me, that's intense.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

The opening and closing of The Miraculous Mandarin.
Various door openings in Bluebeard's Castle.


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