# Do you know awesome dark classical music?



## Thaikovzart (Feb 21, 2012)

Do you know awesome dark classical music?
When I listened Tchaikovsky's Marche slave,I am deeply impressed.
Please tell me if you know

PS.if it is wrong thread that I put,please move.


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## itywltmt (May 29, 2011)

I don't know that I would call *Marche Slave* a _dark _piece of music. There are other threads that approached this subject including this recent thread:
http://www.talkclassical.com/18109-works-contain-passages-about.html


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## regressivetransphobe (May 16, 2011)

I don't mean to be a prick, but asking for dark classical is like asking for dark directions to the grocery store. It's about the journey, to spout a cliche.


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## quack (Oct 13, 2011)

http://www.amazon.com/99-Darkest-Pieces-Classical-Music/dp/B0048NUUS2







http://www.amazon.com/The-Darkest-Classical-Piano-Pieces/dp/B005XVGIR0

A couple of compilations tailored to you
Hello duckness my old friend


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## itywltmt (May 29, 2011)

quack said:


> Hello duckness my old friend


quack! :lol:


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## Lisztian (Oct 10, 2011)




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## Thaikovzart (Feb 21, 2012)

Thank you for all people!
I will listen and go to the thread


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## Il_Penseroso (Nov 20, 2010)

I wonder if anyone would ever call Tchaikovsky's Marche slave dark ... If you want real dark classical music then try Barber's Adagio for Strings:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRMz8fKkG2g

Also Britten's War Requiem, Shostakovich's Symphony No.14 and Gorecki's Symphony No.3


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

If I'm interpreting the question as it was intended then I would say late-period Schnittke, late-period Schnittke and more late-period Schnittke.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

If I am permitted to change the 'awesome' in the thread title to 'awesomely', I can suggest the music in the Deth -Life CD I posted about yesterday.

Tchaikovsky's Marche Slav is nowhere near as dark as his 6th Symphony. The suggestion by _Lisztian_ of Rachmaninoff's Isle of the Dead is right on too.


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## Lukas (Feb 18, 2012)

My first idea was Shostakovich's 14th Symphony already mentioned by Il_Penseroso. I love it but it's so bitter I can rarely listen to the whole thing.
If you want dark music any funeral march will do for example:
- Chopin's from 2nd Sonata
- Mahler's from 5th Symphony
- Shostakovich's 3rd movement from 4th Symphony (although this movement is mixture of dark and frolicsome)
- and my favorite: Britten's from Variations on a theme of Frank Bridge


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Again, I post this, new recording this time, hehe. :tiphat:

Start at 2:11. It's a depiction of the night (in my perception). The blackest, loneliest, and most sorrowful night you've ever known.


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## Rondo (Jul 11, 2007)

Shostakovich's 11th Symphony, Leifs' "Hafis", Bruckner's 8th symphony, or if you want a little of the cliché there's Saint-Saens' "Danse Macabre," among countless others.


Oy. This dark classical music topic pretty much could have its own sub-forum.


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## FredH (Feb 27, 2012)

Berlioz' _Symphonie fantastique_?


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## Dimboukas (Oct 12, 2011)

I would say Brahms' _Ein deutsches Requiem_ includes some dark parts. They are magnificent too. Try part one or two.


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## Manok (Aug 29, 2011)

Dark? How about Mahler's 6th. Or, Rachmaninov's 1st suite for two pianos. Ravel's Mirroirs is a fairly dark piece(eerie mostly but there are a few dark moments). Beethoven's 3rd piano concerto as well. Anything vocal by Penderecki just sounds evil. Edit: I would like to add the first movment to Prokofievs 3rd Symphony. But as others have said marche slave is not that dark comparatively. I could probably name a dozen darker pieces. It is also a matter of opinion.


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## Thunders (Feb 22, 2012)

Wagner wrote some of the darkest music ever in the first two acts of Götterdämmerung.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Dark is highly subjective, as someone said about the grocery store (Loved it!)

But, when you have a cantata with Greek tragedy at its core, unequivocal 'dark' comes to the fore.

Darius Milhaud ~ Les Choéphores op.24: the second of Aeschylus' trilogy, the Oresteia. "The Libation Bearers." (libretto: Paul Claudel)
Be sure to check out the peroration in part 4, 'Présages' @ 21'28'' (link is the complete piece.)





Igor Stravinsky ~ Oedipus Rex, plague, incest, suicide, all fateful, fatal and tragic. Oh, those Greek tragedians! (libretto: Jean Cocteau)
Narration introduces the scene: Music starts @ 1'38'' - helluva staged production, too.





There ya go. I'm assuming you wanted to be creeped-out. Pleasant dreams, thrill-seeker.

ADD: without the qualification of true tragedy, the rest of these picks are subjective.

Bohuslav Martinů:
Toccata, from Toccata e due Canzone (really a rather 'happy' betwixt and between - I happen to like it a lot.)




2nd movement -Largo, from 'Double Concerto for two string orchestras, piano and timpani." 





And.. here is a list of a few of the more 'Usual Suspects.' I think they will all be new to you.

Sergei Prokofiev:
From the cantata 'Alexander Nevsky' "Battle on the Ice"




Scythian Suite





Arthur Honegger ~ 3rd (final) movement from Symphony No. 5 (Di Tre re)





Bela Bartok ~ Music for Stringed instruments, percussion and Celesta, 1st & 3rd Movements









Then, there is always Mozart's C-minor piano concerto, if you want unrelieved darkness through three movements lasting about half an hour....

Dark, dark, and again dark, Mr. "Awesome Dark." Again, pleasant dreams to you


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