# Please recommend violent/chaotic sounding music



## aceroa (Apr 3, 2015)

I really enjoy listening to chaotic and dissonant sounding music. I find it really inspiring to listen to and would like to discover more music and composers that are similar to the examples below. If you have any recommendations even if it's from a soundtrack feel free to chime in. Thank you.


----------



## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

From 19:19 onward.





Most Leifs compositions, actually.


----------



## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

Penderecki: Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima





Lutoslawski - Symphony no. 3





Stravinsky - The Rite of Spring


----------



## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

concerning soundtracks, I love Jerry Goldsmith and he composed a few really avantgarde ones. For example Planet of the Apes





or Alien





or my personal favorite, Total Recall


----------



## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

"Attack and Fall", from Philip Glass's _Akhnaten_ - lives up to the name: a torrent of Ancient Egyptian, and the brass section goes insane:


----------



## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

Classic film music:
"Crusaders in Pskov" (from Prokofiev's _Alexander Nevsky)_





"007 Takes the Lektor" (John Barry)





"The Lion in Winter" opening (John Barry)





"North by Northwest" (Bernard Herrmann)


----------



## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

More Prokofiev:

"Dance of the Knights"





"Dance of the Pagan Monster"





Mussorgsky:
Night on the Bald Mountain - original version





The Forest of Kromy revolt, from _Boris Godunov_





Meyerbeer:
The Blessing of the Swords, from _Les Huguenots_ (preparations for the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre)


----------



## Dr Johnson (Jun 26, 2015)

This is quite chaotic:


----------



## 20centrfuge (Apr 13, 2007)

Some really great entries so far, also please check out the first movement of John Adams: Harmonielehre


----------



## 20centrfuge (Apr 13, 2007)

Elfman's Batman Score is great too, especially this first snippet:






And here's more of an overview


----------



## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Bartok - Miraculous Mandarin
Varese - Arcana. Ameriques
Corigliano - Sym #1, 3 Hallucinations, Circus Maximus


----------



## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

also, if you like the Alien soundtrack by Goldsmith, definitely check out soundtrack to Aliens (James Horner) and to Alien 3 (Eliott Goldenthal). Prometheus has a good soundtrack too





or Predator by Alan Silvestri


----------



## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

one last post from me (so that I do not hijack the whole thread). I am currently listening to Schostakovich 11th symphony. And it is violence combined with melody and lyricism. He is very similar to Prokofiev. 
Give a try to the Russian triad - Prokofiev, Schostakovich, Stravinsky - check out their symphonies. They are all beautiful, imho.


----------



## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Anything by Iannis Xenakis, keep the pills ready though.


----------



## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

I didn't know Xenakis, but sounds very interesting - for us, lovers of alien and surreal soundscapes. Am I weird if I like "Mists" by Xenakis more then e.g. "In the Mists" by Janáček?


----------



## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

Unlikely though it may seem that Ralph Vaughan Williams wrote 'violent' music, try the opening of his 4th Symphony:






It is conducted on this clip by RVW himself, who doesn't hesitate to let rip. 
This is the symphony regarding which he commented to a friend "I don't know if I like it, but it is what I meant at the time...". 
One on-line comment on it runs something like It's not so much Fate knocking at the door, more like Fate kicking the door in and murdering everyone.


----------



## aceroa (Apr 3, 2015)

Lots of great posts so far guys, thanks. I have a lot of new music to listen to. These composers really know how to utilize their brass sections to get such a chaotic sound.


----------



## Joe B (Aug 10, 2017)

Give Charles Ives' Symphony #4 a listen. If you like beautiful music that can turn into chaotic sound quickly, Ives is a must hear.


----------



## Janspe (Nov 10, 2012)

Shostakovich's first piano sonata, his Op. 12 from 1926. Same year as Bartók's sole sonata for the instrument, which is pretty damn intense in its own right! Anyway, this sonata is a veritable _tour-de-force_ for the piano. It contains a lot of violent and downright brutal writing - there's a really delicious bit during which the lower register of the instrument just goes crazy... Warmly recommended: it's a brilliant, explosive and a tiny bit ridiculous piece by a wild young composer. Lilya Zilberstein simply _nails_ it in this unbelievable live performance:


----------



## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

Bartok and Prokofiev are the gods of disonnance. Prokofiev’s piano sonata No, 6 is my favourite work for the piano. Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring for orchestra. I found Henze’s Symphony 7 to be quite chaotic at times.


----------



## Dr Johnson (Jun 26, 2015)




----------



## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Pat Fairlea said:


> Unlikely though it may seem that Ralph Vaughan Williams wrote 'violent' music, try the opening of his 4th Symphony.


the whole work is angry and violent....great final mvt, with ending section re-introducing first mvt theme...


----------



## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

Heck148 said:


> the whole work is angry and violent....great final mvt, with ending section re-introducing first mvt theme...


Yes. Listened to it again this pm. Helluva piece.


----------



## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Pat Fairlea said:


> Yes. Listened to it again this pm. Helluva piece.


Yes - one of the finest 20th century symphonies - Walton #1, and Tippett #4 are right up there too...great pieces...


----------



## Casebearer (Jan 19, 2016)

As boundaries between music are vanishing I'd recommend this great piece by Maja Osojnik.


----------



## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

Act III finale from _La juive_ by Halévy - mob violence, excommunication, and anti-Semitism.


----------



## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)




----------



## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

^ It simply blows my mind everytime. What a great, wicked piece.


----------



## geralmar (Feb 15, 2013)

Shostakovich Symphony #10, allegro. Used effectively in The Brain Eaters (1958):






Bernard Herrmann, King of the Khyber Rifles: "Attack on the Mountain Stronghold." Unfortunately the recording on YouTube is too muddy to link. The "definitive" version is by Charles Gerhardt on the Spectacular World of the Classic Film Scores CD.

Michael J. Lewis, The Medusa Touch (soundtrack):






Akira Ifukube, The Mysterians (soundtrack):






Ennio Morricone, Navajo Joe:


----------



## Trout (Apr 11, 2011)

Try just about anything from Xenakis, Penderecki (mostly his early work), or Schnittke for brash, in-your-face dissonance.
















Messiaen may work too if you want some deliriousness.






Ives might be a bit more esoteric, but is a mad genius, in my opinion. He likes to integrate American folk tunes into many of his works, often to jarring effect when he layers them on top of each other.


----------



## Trout (Apr 11, 2011)

Here's an assortment of some other awesome dissonant works:





(composed in 1737!)


----------



## Josquin13 (Nov 7, 2017)

Allan Pettersson's 10th Symphony:


----------



## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

Trout said:


> Try just about anything from Xenakis, Penderecki (mostly his early work), or Schnittke for brash, in-your-face dissonance.


The Xenakis stood out for me as being especially disonnant harmonically and rhythmically. Never heard that piece before. Thanks.


----------



## david johnson (Jun 25, 2007)

http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6piDRKOwh88 not to be missed


----------



## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

david johnson said:


> http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6piDRKOwh88 not to be missed


The Portsmouth Sinfonia, I looked it up. Also came across the Really Terrible Orchestra. It sounds just about like any high school band.


----------



## manyene (Feb 7, 2015)

For me, a toss-up between the opening of the Miraculous Mandarin and the first movement of the Prokofiev Second Symphony - which is totally unexpected after the sunny 1st Symphony.


----------



## insomniclassicac (Jan 15, 2018)




----------



## geralmar (Feb 15, 2013)

Mosolov, Iron Foundry:






Avraamov, Symphony of Industrial Horns:


----------



## Portamento (Dec 8, 2016)

Then there's Ustvolskaya.


----------



## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

^^ Sounded interesting at first, but really dragged when the rhythms were so montonous.


----------



## JLi (Jan 31, 2018)

Xenakis: Metastaesis
Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring
Bartok: Allegro Barbaro
Hindemith: Sonata for Solo Viola "Beauty of sound is beside the point."
Ligeti: Volumina
Ligeti: Poeme Symphonique for 100 Metronomes
Jean Fery-Rebel: Les Elements
Scriabin: Mysterium
Prokofiev: Symphony No. 3
Schoenberg: Just about anything lol


----------



## JLi (Jan 31, 2018)

oh and also
Ornstein: Wild Men's Dance
Cowell: Dynamic Motion
Cowell: The Tiger
Antheil: Just about anything lol


----------



## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

aceroa said:


> I really enjoy listening to chaotic and dissonant sounding music.


WARNING: This lovely work can strip paint off walls & is similar in effects to a prefrontal lobotomy.:tiphat:


----------



## Andolink (Oct 29, 2012)

This is easily the darkest and most violent piece of music in my entire 7,000 disc CD collection:


----------



## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

Holy Moly._ Introduction aux ténèbres_ sounds like the composer was demon possessed and in need of an immediate exorcism-full of tortured and creepy voices, darkness, weird animal sounds, and an overall sense of torment (plus some Latin texts in Part 3) that can heard in all their stark terror, especially with a nice set of headphones and some fire water. Have a chalice of holy water nearby just in case.


----------



## vesteel (Feb 3, 2018)

maybe not violent, but dark:


----------



## R3PL4Y (Jan 21, 2016)

RVW 4 was mentioned earlier, but the 6th is also in a very similar vein. Also, maybe Copland's atonal works, Connotations and Inscape? Elektra by Strauss is a good opera in this direction. Most of Prokofiev's earlier modernist works from his time outside of the USSR, for example _Seven, they are Seven._


----------

