# Request from a complete newbie - dark brooding classical music recommendations



## bruirn

Hi everyone,

I'm sure you get plenty of requests like this and some of you may  at me for asking but as a complete novice on classical music please bear with me. I've always been a bit daunted by the sheer volume of classical music out there but do tend to prefer dark brooding music and in my limited experience the likes of Rachmaninov (his moodier stuff) and Myaskovsky (who I have only stumbled upon this morning). Any recommendations for similar stuff would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again for your patience


----------



## Dim7

Since you seem to like Russian music, which is often dark and brooding, isn't Shostakovich an obvious choice here? His most popular symphony is the fifth. It's very dark most of the time though it ends triumphantly.


----------



## Artemis

Not exactly what you asked but there are lots of recommendations HERE which may interest you. Be a bit cautious with post #2 in that thread where the recommendations could frighten off newbies forever. Otherwise you should be safe.


----------



## Argus

Maybe try some Mussorgsky or some Erik Satie. I do think some of Philip Glass' stuff can be quite dark and brooding especially his film and opera works. Also for more modern try out Ligeti.


----------



## Ignis Fatuus

Hmm, you might like Chesnokov (or Tchesnokov etc.). Try "The Eternal Council":






I don't know why this isn't more famous.


----------



## Conor71

I second Dim7's recommendation of Shostakovich - try the 5th, 8th, 10th & 11th symphonies.
You may also like some Sibelius - try the 4th symphony and the tone poem Tapiola.
You may like some Mahler too! - check out the 5th, 6th & 9th Symphonies .


----------



## kmisho

I like brooding, even depressing, music. I like anything that communicates effectively, even if the only thing communicated is severe depression. So my recommendations:

Tchaikovsky's 6th, 1st and last movements. The last movement in particular is a romantic attempt to render in music as literally as possible abject despair.

Walton's Viola Concerto is quite brooding. But the Cello Concerto even more so, sounding at the start as if you're lost in an ice cave.

Benjamin Britten's War Requiem is one of the most hopeless pieces ever written, which was the point. A monumental work.

Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left hand is quite heady, perhaps ravel's greatest work all told.


----------



## emiellucifuge

NOthing more depressing than Dvoraks stabat mater
and nothing more brooding than his 7th symphony


----------



## Herr Direktor

A few of the most depressing pieces ever:

Tchaikowsky 6th symphony finale (or the whole @#$! piece for that matter)
Mahler 9th symphony - specifically the last movement
Mozart Requiem - the opening and the Lacrimosa
Brahms 4th symphony - 1st and last movements
Brahms 3rd symphony - 3rd and 4th movements
Beethoven - 3rd symphony 2nd movement
Tchaikoswky - Piano Trio
Beethoven - String quartet op. 95
Barber - Adagio for strings

These are the first that come to mind.

HD


----------



## Fsharpmajor

_On the Transmigration of Souls_ by John Adams is very dark; here's an excerpt:






If you're a real masochist try Masao Ohki's Symphony No. 5 "Hiroshima."
It's available from Naxos:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Masao-Ohki-Symphony-Hiroshima-Japanese/dp/B000I2IUUC


----------



## Tapkaara

Fsharpmajor said:


> _
> 
> If you're a real masochist try Masao Ohki's Symphony No. 5 "Hiroshima."
> It's available from Naxos._


_

I quite agree about the masochism. Oki's Hiroshima Symphony is not a great work. For a representation of the atomic bomb and the destruction it causes, I'd say it's rather tame. Plus, there is little that is memorable from the work._


----------



## Fsharpmajor

It's certainly tame compared with Penderecki's Threnody about the same subject, but I thought that might be too unlistenable to suggest.


----------



## bruirn

Cheers one and all. Plenty there to get my teeth into.


----------



## Sid James

I'd like to add these:

*Lutoslawski* - Cello Concerto; Piano Concerto
*Bartok* - Music for Strings, Percussion & Celesta (esp. 1st & 3rd movts, but the last is pretty upbeat), Divertimento for Strings (2nd movt. is very dark)
*Penderecki *- Most of what I've heard by him can be described as dark & brooding, but if you don't want it too challenging as someone above suggests, try to get hold of some of his works composed after the early 1980's when he turned 'Romantic'
*Messiaen* - Quartet for the End of Time (now if this doesn't scare the **** out of you, I don't know what will...)
*Bruckner* - Symphony No. 9 (esp. 1st & 2nd movts.)
*Varese* - Deserts (this is not for the light-hearted, some very high-pitched sounds, but the perfect picture of a post-industrial apocalypse)
*Haydn* - Symphony No. 49 'La Passione' (the darkest Haydn symphony that I've heard)


----------



## Tapkaara

Fsharpmajor said:


> It's certainly tame compared with Penderecki's Threnody about the same subject, but I thought that might be too unlistenable to suggest.


One doesn't listen to Penderecki when one wants something light and easy. It's the musical equivalent to chewing on a brick...as long as you like chewing on bricks.

His Threnody is OK, but the St Luke's Passion is better. Not a bad work.


----------

