# Pure Sonic Assaults (On a Classical Scale)



## Serge (Mar 25, 2010)

Anything comes to mind? Care to share please?

I am listening to this Glenn Branca's 6th Symphony... The work is rhythmic, with drumbeats and all, so unless you are in some other than classical music genres you will probably be less appreciative than I am. (I also listened to his 5th Symphony, but somehow was not quite as impressed.)

Who is Glenn Branca, you ask me? I have no idea: never heard of him before either.

You can probably find him on youtube, which I don't have access to, but here's an Amazon link, just in case:

http://www.amazon.com/Symphony-Devil-Choirs-Gates-Heaven/dp/B000001B5Z/ref=ntt_mus_ep_dpi_6


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

"Sonic Assault," I like that phrase. 

The last 2 variations of Prokofiev's Symphony No. 2. It actually gets so dissonant and loud, I don't even know where it's going at some points. If you get a good recording, you can hear all the block chords stacked into block chords more clearly.


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## Air (Jul 19, 2008)

The end of the third movement of Prokofiev's 2nd Piano Concerto. Kind of like a bomb exploding in your ear. 

Which is really pretty cruel after all the ear-caressing that goes on _earlier_ in the movement by those crazy glissandos, the funky tune, and such. It's actually one of the first pieces of music I usually show friends of mine that are metal fans in order to convert them to classical music and when they get to the soft part I always have to tell them... keep listening, _keep listening_, all the way to the end of the movement!


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

I went to a performance last month here of a couple of *Xenakis' *percussion works played by Synergy Percussion. They were bloody intense, I can tell you. The longer (40 minute) work, _Pleiades,_ was for various percussion instruments, including some especially built for this concert down in Canberra (I think they were called saaxens, microtonal instruments). This work has four movements, one each seperately for the skins, the saaxens, and the metal ones, & in the third movement, they are all played together, with percussionists moving from one instrument to another. The last movement for the skins only was amazing. You had six percussionists playing various sizes of drums, the guys at either end were simultaneously playing their part on the smaller drums, conducting and periodically hitting the bass drums to provide an underlying beat. Balinese gamelan came strongly to mind, as did West African drumming. Just amazing! It was a "one-off" for me, as these things usually are, I like to experience these things "in the flesh" - I think a recording is okay, but only like "50 cents in the dollar," not the "full" experience. But this kind of thing done live is rare, the lead percussionist of the ensemble was saying before they played_ Pleiades _that he had been wanting to play this since his university days, and he was probably in his forties!...


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## trazom (Apr 13, 2009)

Let there be light from Haydn's "The Creation"

"And God saw the light, and he was deaf."

Almost forgot to mention Prokofiev's 'Montagues and Capulets' from Romeo and Juliet.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

Hekla by Jon Leifs




another faster rendition





Serge listen also to Branca's Ascension

Oh, i was forgetting of Messiaen's les yeux dans les reues:


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

I was going to post Leifs as well.

The volcano eruption in Hovhaness' Mount St Helens symphony.

And I have a recording of Grofe's Grand Canyon Suite where actual thunderstorm sounds are mixed in with the orchestra.....


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## Vazgen (May 24, 2011)

Last bonk of Mahler's 6th.

-Vaz


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

_Uaxuctum_, de Giacinto Scelsi.


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## Argus (Oct 16, 2009)

In case of Sonic Attack on your district, follow these rules.....

If you are making love it is imperative to bring all bodies to orgasm
simultaneously
Do not waste time blocking your ears.
Do not waste time seeking a soundproof shelter.
Try to get as far away from the sonic source as possible,
but do not panic.....

Use your wheels. It is what they are for.
Small babies may be placed inside the special cocoons,
which should be left if possible, in a shelter.
Do not attempt to use your own limbs.
If no wheels are available, metal, not organic, limbs
should be employed whenever possible.....

Remember, in the case of Sonic Attack, Survival means every man for himself.
Statistically more people survive if they think only of themselves.
Do not attempt to rescue friends, relatives, loved ones.
You have only a few seconds to escape.
Use those seconds sensibly or you will inevitably die.
Do not panic.
Think only of yourself....

These are the first signs of Sonic Attack:
You will notice small objects, such as ornaments, oscillating.
You will notice a vibration in your diaphragm.
You will hear a distant hissing in your ears.
You will feel dizzy.
You will feel the need to vomit.
There will be bleeding from orifices.
There will be an ache in the pelvic region.
You may be subject to fits of hysterical shouting, or even laughter.

These are all sign of imminent Sonic destruction.
Your only real protection is flight.
If you are less than ten years old, then remain in your shelter and use
your cocoon.
But remember:
You can help no-one else, No-one else, No-one else......


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## Argus (Oct 16, 2009)

How about this:




Sid James mentioned Xenakis and I'd say parts of his La Legende d'Eer are capable of serious ear damage if played at high volumes. Like an ice pick to the tympanic membrane. Aside from that, it's one of his better works.

This Ryoji Ikeda remix of his Persepolis is quite harsh on the ears at times too, but not as shrill:






I know this next one isn't on a 'classical scale' but pretty much any of this guys solo output would fit the bill of sonic assault:


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## Jeremy Marchant (Mar 11, 2010)

Varese's _Arcana _and _Ameriques _- Chailly's CD of the latter is very impressive
Parts of Havergal Brian's _Gothic _symphony (for SATB soloists, four full size symphony choruses, children's choir, four offstage brass and timpani bands, and a 200-strong orchestra) and all of his fourth, _Das Siegeslied_
Christopher Rouse's _Gorgon _for orchestra (though it's not as violent or extreme as the composer would like us to think - the movement _Medusa _is fun, though)
Steve Martland's _Drill _for two pianos (no performance of which can be considered a success unless several piano strings are broken as a result of the physicality of the playing)


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## regressivetransphobe (May 16, 2011)

Schoenberg's 5 Pieces for Orchestra. I underestimated it and it had me reaching for the volume.


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## samurai (Apr 22, 2011)

I would definitely nominate the 2nd or "Stalin" movement of the 10th Symphony by Dmitri Shostakovich.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Serge said:


> I am listening to this Glenn Branca's 6th Symphony... The work is rhythmic, with drumbeats and all, so unless you are in some other than classical music genres you will probably be less appreciative than I am. (I also listened to his 5th Symphony, but somehow was not quite as impressed.)
> 
> Who is Glenn Branca, you ask me? I have no idea: never heard of him before either.
> 
> ...


It's about time someone used a drum kit (well, that's what it sounds like to me) in a symphonic work, if that's what it is. Here's a YouTube link for anyone interested. 





I doubt I'll be rushing out to buy this however as I am fighting to keep the blood pressure under control.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Thought of another "Sonic Assault" : The Final mvmt. of Prokofiev's Scythian Suite, the Entrance of the sun god. Most recordings edit the volume on the ending, but if you were to here it live in concert first row, or fortunate or unfortunate?) to be in the orchestra _playing _it, you're in for a major assault. It's absolutely clever, because if the physical sun blinds, it makes sense that a "musical" sun would deafen.





3:17 to the end, the giant crescendo of sound as light, where everything that gazes upon it burns to death. It's terrifying.


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## Serge (Mar 25, 2010)

Thank you kindly for the link, Mr. Weston! This should give every headbanger on the board a _piece_ of mind.


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## Serge (Mar 25, 2010)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> It's absolutely clever, because if the physical sun blinds, it makes sense that a "musical" sun would deafen.


Makes a lot of sense! That's what they taught me at childhood anyway: don't look directly at the Sun, don't listen directly to Prokofiev...


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## SuperTonic (Jun 3, 2010)

There's lots of great examples from the 20th century in this thread, but the Romantics could really crank up the intensity as well:











And of course its overplayed and cheesy as hell, but it doesn't get much louder than real church bells and canon:


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

Schnittke's Concerto for Piano Four Hands and Chamber Orchestra. Imagine a sweeping Bruckner-type adagio battling against salvoes of crashing unharmonious piano chords. It brings to mind what the later orchestral Charles Ives would sound like if he went over to the Dark Side.


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## GraemeG (Jun 30, 2009)

Respighi - Pines of the Appian Way
GG


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Argus said:


> ...Sid James mentioned Xenakis and I'd say parts of his La Legende d'Eer are capable of serious ear damage if played at high volumes. Like an ice pick to the tympanic membrane. Aside from that, it's one of his better works.


Agreed there, I have that work, and I recommend people to only play it on loudspeakers (never headphones, especially not at high volume). I have read people's experiences on youtube, if I remember correctly, & one guy was saying he listened to it on headphones and had temporary hearing damage afterwards - not a good idea! But as for the work, agreed, it is one of the man's finest, it has a strong sense of structure like most of his other works that I've heard.

As for Varese mentioned above (who actually influenced Xenakis), I'd add his _Deserts,_ a work for chamber orchestra - mainly winds and a huge battery of percussion - and two-track electronic tape. The tape plays industrial sounds and the orchestra plays alongside/in-between, "mimicking" these sounds. Sometimes it's hard to tell which is electronic & which is acoustic. Some very high frequency sounds on the flutes and piccolos in particular, at least at home you can turn the volume down, but in a live setting it must be bloody intense. I actually attended a concert on the weekend where some of this musique concrete was played, most of it was okay volume-wise & quite delicate, but there were bits that were highly uncomfortable. Now this type of music is almost a cliche and quite ubiquitous, but back when _Deserts _was premiered in Paris in the mid-1950's, it didn't go down well at all with the audience at that concert (maybe sandwiching it between Mozart, Purcell & Tchaikovsky was not a good idea?) This negative experience made Varese quite bitter, and he never premiered another work in his home country ever again...


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