# The darkest composer of all time?



## Synaesthesist

I'm in the very preliminary stages of trying to find classical music to listen to, which is something I have never got around to, the wealth of music out there seeming sort of impenetrable to a beginner with no friends interested in the field. But now my negligence has started to bother me as I so often hear and am unable to identify pieces of classical music that I would love to listen to at leisure...

Anyway, I think I would tend to favour the most negatively-fuelled, dark-sounding, loud, pacy compositions out there, but I just don't know where to start... So I defer to this forum's trained ear - what composers fit this style? Who is consistently passionately dark in their output and who is the best at it? I would be delighted to try out any of your recommendations.


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## joen_cph

A bit of an unusual request, hopefully you are in accordance with your neighbours, but here we go with a few examples (I´ve chosen some pieces with attractive material as well).

Pettersson´s Symphony 9 probably takes the price, here it´s the fast recording on the CPO label, but there´s a slower recording by Comissiona, 20 mins longer and thus very different and more lyrical ...

*Franz Liszt*: Malediction, piano concerto 




*Anton Bruckner*: Te Deum 



Symphony 8 Finale 



Symphony 4, Finale 




*Alfred Schnittke*: 1st Piano Concerto 




*Dmitri Shostakovich*: 1st Cello Concerto / Ma 



Symphony no.8 / Haitink 




*Allan Pettersson*: Symphony 8 / Sanderling 



Symphony 7 



Symphony 9 




*Gustav Mahler* Symphony 6 / Bernstein 




*Ture Rangström*: Symphony 3 




Advanced: 
Schnittke: Symphony 1 / Rozhdesvensky


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## Tapkaara

I tend to like composers, I think, who have a particular "darkness" to their sound. This is perhaps why I am mostly apathetic to the music of the classical period. Most of that, to me, is a toe-tappin', jolly good time. Of course, that is a very broad and perhaps unfair generalization (I do find some occasional and deliciously dark shadows in Haydn). But nevertheless...

I think a lot of music from the medieval period and/or renaissance sounds "dark." Take, for example, the *Messe de Nostre Dame of Guillaume Machaut*. Yes, it is Christian music of the highest order, and thus the intent of the music could not be more inclined toward "the light," as it were, but I still cannot help being unnerved by it. Just imagine yourself in some dark, candle-lit cathedral alone and you hear this sounds wafting about from some unknown location. Despite its divine intent, the music is downright creepy!

Much music of the Romantic and Late Romantic would be considered dark...at least tempestuous and agitated. *Gustav Mahler* is perhaps the ultimate Late Romantic. As far as your earlier Romantics go, you can hear more of that angst in *Franz Schubert*. Oh, let's not forget *Hector Berlioz*. Pay special attention to his *Requiem*, aka *La Grande Messe des Morts.*

And now for my favorite composers and some good old dark compositions:

*Jean Sibelius: En Saga, Tapiola, the 4th Symphony, Wood Nymph, Lemminkainen in Tuonela, Swan of Tuonela* are great places to start.

*Akira Ifukube: Symphonic Fantasia no. 1, Godzilla (original 1954 soundtrack)*. Ifukube is harded to find in the States and I am not going to send this person looking for dark music on a quest to purchase expensive Japanese imports. The pieces I mentioned should be easy to find at Amazon. The original Godzilla music, much of it anyway, has the aesthetic of a funeral.

Anything by *Wojciech Kila*r, especially his *Bram Stoker's Dracula* soundtrack.

Anything by *Jon Leifs*.

*Miklos Rozsa: Piano Concerto*
*
Aram Khachaturian: Symphony no. 3*

Of course, the catalogue of dark music is vast, so I can only supply so many suggestions. All of this music, I think, can be auditioned on YouTube, so if you find something you really like, I will have been happy to have helped!


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## millionrainbows

When I think of "dark," I think of Roger Sessions for some reason, his symphonies, esp. the slow movements.


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## Bone

Mahler. Then Ruggles.


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## kamalayka

Many people think pf Mozart as "fluffy," but he dominated the minor keys.






When one considers the tragedy Mozart suffered, especially the loss of his children and his wrestling with God, the depth of his music -- even the stuff that seems happy on the surface -- is disturbingly dark.


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## samurai

Try some Carl Nielsen, especially his *First, Third {"Sinfonia espansiva"} Fourth {"The Inextinguishable"} and Fifth Symphonies*.
For a "whiter and brighter" darkness--almost to the point of snow blindness--listen to the *Symphony No.7 {"Sinfonia antartica"} *of Ralph Vaughan Williams. It never fails to send shivers down my spine--no matter how warm my actual listening environment is--after every listening.
Also, as one of my fellow members has already mentioned Shostakovich, I would definitely recommend his *SQ # 8.
*


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## WJM

My first thought - Liszt, Trauervorspiel und Trauermarch







Tapkaara said:


> Anything by Wojciech Kilar


"Anything" is a little exaggeration. Kilar also composed some joyful and even comical music.


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## tdc

These ones come to mind for me:

Penderecki
Schnittke
Gubaidulina
Ligeti
Mahler
Shostakovich


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese

I would go for this ---


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## TheVioletKing

Shosty 5, and shosty anything really.


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## TheVioletKing

EddieRUKiddingVarese said:


> I would go for this ---


I was actually really disappointed with that piece, it had such a cool name, but the piece itself did not live up to my expectations.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese

^Oh, understood - gives me the chills.


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## Prodromides

I second joen_cph's mentioning of Alan Pettersson.

Might I add Bernd Alois Zimmermann into this category? Zimmermann's 1954 Trumpet Concerto is subtitled "Nobody knows the trouble I see".


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## Art Rock

Ustvolskaya.


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## Guest

Dark for me are (among others) these three pieces:
Arvo PART, Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten
Giacinto SCELSI, Aion
Anton BRUCKNER, Ninth Symphony (first movement).


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## DavidA

Try Lizst. They say he feared God but loved the devil.

Try the Totentanz.


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