# Head-banging to Classical?



## methuselah (10 mo ago)

Not to dumb down this refined space, but, often times, when I listen to Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" or Shostakovich's string quartets, I find myself head-banging. As a big metal guy, I'm more and more devastated by "heavy," dark classical music than the genres of hardcore, power-violence, death metal, etc. What other composers or pieces are similarly brutal, heavy, crushing?


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

Nearly anything by Icelandic composer Jón Leifs:


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

Jolivet's _Cinq danses rituelles_ is very primordial like Igor's _Le sacre du printemps_.
There are so many more such works from the decades after WWII which are too numerous to cite.
These types of music also spread into film scores, such Jerry Goldsmith's 1968 *Planet of the Apes* to mention only one high-profile specimen.


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## Ethereality (Apr 6, 2019)

My head bangs when Stravinsky plays, but I feel the whole universe banging when Wagner plays.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

there used to be a comment (in the comment section) that this is "Baroque headBanging" (but now it's gone):




(NBS Bach BWV542)


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## RICK RIEKERT (Oct 9, 2017)

The late Veljo Tormis' _Raua needmine_ (Curse Upon Iron), from 1972 is based on the texts of the Finnish national epic _Kalevala_. The anti-war work warns against the misuse of technology (iron) for war and destruction because the unethical use of creation and the evil hidden in it will ultimately turn it against the creator, leading to universal doom.


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)




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## SearsPoncho (Sep 23, 2020)

Methuselah - Many of us grew up listening to metal. How did so many headbangers end up with a passion for classical music? I'm not sure. Perhaps we started listening to metal because pop music piqued our interest in music, but we wanted more. Louder. Thicker. More Expressive and extreme. Heavier. I don't know, but when my cousin said, "You've gotta hear this," and dropped the needle on the first side of Led Zeppelin IV, it changed my 12 year-old life. It's almost the exact same reaction I had the first time I heard Beethoven's 9th in its entirety. If you're a metal head, you probably know that Ozzy used to start every concert with the opening to Orff's Carmina Burana. You can find heavy classical music among all eras and by nearly all the great composers. Even Ravel (the climactic ending of Daphnis et Chloe, with chorus, of course). Definitely Bruckner. The opening to Brahms' 1st is heavy as hell. You can find it with Messiaen, Lutoslawski and Ligeti, as well as Bach, Mozart and Beethoven; it depends on the piece. Furthermore, if you like Shostakovich's string quartets, you'll love the symphonies, which are even more bombastic and have the heaviest fortissimo passages.

As far as metal goes, I'm sure many here have played guitar, or just appreciate good guitarists. When I started playing, the neo-classical thing was in full swing, with Randy Rhoads and Yngwie, and I was curious to hear this classical music that was inspiring and influencing my guitar heroes, including Ritchie Blackmore (met him backstage!). I never got into the heavier death metal, hardcore stuff you mentioned because it seemed like such a ridiculous exaggeration. Spinal Tap on steroids, but without the humor. When Metallica first came out, my friends and I laughed because it was so comically heavy. Looking back, those early M records were about as heavy as I was willing to go. When it got heavier, I got off that train. I don't like hearing bears growling/"singing" and I still like good songs.

For something with occasional moments of super-heaviness, listen to the Organ Concerto of Poulenc. It's not constant heaviness, and this results in an even heavier effect when the organ plays those massive chords:


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Carl Ruggles' "Sun Treader"


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## tortkis (Jul 13, 2013)

Michael Hersch: Violin Concerto (2015)


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## Red Terror (Dec 10, 2018)

tortkis said:


> Michael Hersch: Violin Concerto (2015)


A great composer.


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## Highwayman (Jul 16, 2018)

A few years back, I hurt my neck whilst headbanging uncontrollably to the finale of Brahms' 4th Symphony. It took a month for my neck to fully recover. :lol:

I don't have a history with metal but this sounds very heavy-metal to me:


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## MatthewWeflen (Jan 24, 2019)

Vivaldi's Four Seasons has several banging passages:


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

Sort of off-topic but this never fails to make me smile.


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

Certainly the second movement, _The Ninth of January_, from Shostakovich's _Symphony No. 11 in G minor, "The Year 1905"_ would apply here:


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## Torkelburger (Jan 14, 2014)




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## Torkelburger (Jan 14, 2014)

Merl said:


> Sort of off-topic but this never fails to make me smile.


Yeah, love this movie. The only thing that's a bit grating about this clip are all of the parallel octaves between the "melody" and the bass. Every time the harmony changes, the bass plays the same thing as the melody. All 3 chords I believe, right? Hurts my ears a bit.


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## Mister Meow (10 mo ago)

I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for, but you might like this electric guitar version of Vivaldi. I thought she was pretty amazing.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

hammeredklavier said:


> there used to be a comment (in the comment section) that this is "Baroque headBanging" (but now it's gone):


I don't see any real headbangings in the classical music videos posted by others


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## 59540 (May 16, 2021)




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## Torkelburger (Jan 14, 2014)

hammeredklavier said:


> I don't see any real headbangings in the classical music videos posted by others


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## 59540 (May 16, 2021)




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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

The 4th movement of Bartok's, "Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta.

Allegro Molto


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## methuselah (10 mo ago)

Simon Moon said:


> The 4th movement of Bartok's, "Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta.
> 
> Allegro Molto
> 
> Was this used in The Shining? That soundtrack is excellent.


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## Torkelburger (Jan 14, 2014)

methuselah said:


> Simon Moon said:
> 
> 
> > The 4th movement of Bartok's, "Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta.
> ...


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