# Music With Lots of Tension While Still Melodic



## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

To me this fits Schnittke. But also looking for other names. Maybe some from the 19th Century or before fit this style as well. Like Schubert's late works. Like you can feel the Composers pain. Tchaikovsky comes to mind as well.


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Schoenberg, Berg, Bach, Beethoven, Mahler, Wagner, Strauss...

Anything with a melody I can hum to myself and remember. Fin de siecle Vienna was a hotbed of cultural tension, and it comes out in the music that was being produced around that time, which seemed like it would keep going in that direction forever until WWI came along and shook everyone out of it. Neoclassicism and other, less subjective, movements were to follow.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Almost all music contains tension.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Carl Nielsen Symphony #4.
Carl Neilsen Symphony #5.

Dukas' Sorcerer's Apprentice

Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet.
Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet.

Ravel's Daphnis et Chloe.

JS Bach Chaconne solo violin partita #2.
JS Bach Fuga solo violin sonata #3.

Bartok violin concerto #2.
Bartok concerto for orchestra.
Bartok music for strings, percussion and celesta.

Prokofiev 5th symphony.
Shostakovich 5th symphony.
Shostakovich 8th symphony.
Shostakovich 10th symphony.
Shostakovich violin concerto #1.

William Schuman's 3rd symphony.
William Schuman's 6th symphony.
William Schuman's 9th symphony.

Tchaikovsky 4th symphony.
Tchaikovsky 5th symphony.
Tchaikovsky 6th symphony.
Tchaikovsky violin concerto.
Tchaikovsky Sleeping Beauty Ballet.
Tchaikovsky Swan Lake Ballet.
Tchaikovsky Nutcracker Ballet.

Mahler 10th symphony adagio.
Mahler 9th symphony adagio.
Mahler 4th symphony adagio.

Schubert's 9th Symphony, all 4 movements.

Mozart piano concerto #20.
Mozart piano concerto # 24.
Mozart violin concerto #5.
Mozart string quintet in g minor.
Mozart's a minor piano sonata.

Schumann second symphony 1st and 4th movements.

All have tension. All melodic. Nothing atonal.

Let me know tomorrow morning which of these you like the best.


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## shangoyal (Sep 22, 2013)

Beethoven. Schumann.


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## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

violadude said:


> Almost all music contains tension.


Some make a point to not make it tense. Debussy for example.


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## Physix (Feb 14, 2014)

Mahler's sixth, ninth.
Schoenberg, Transfigured Night
Beethoven String Quartet 14


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Brahms Piano quintet in C minor, iii, this 'softly pretty' movement is anything but, without the tension, it would be 'blah.'





Sergei Prokofiev ~ Piano Concerto No. 2, 1st movement





Samuel Barber ~ Piano Concerto Op.38 II: Canzone: Moderato





The slow movement of Ravel's G major piano concerto is a model of this sort of writing of "tension in repose"





John Adams ~ Harmonielehre, part III.





Lou Harrison ~ Et in arcadia Ego, (Suite for symphonic strings, II; Chorale)





You might be now ready for some of the newer neo-romantic music...
Rautavaara ~ Piano concerto no. 1





(sorry, I could not help laughing when you wrote, "like you can feel the composer's pain.")


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

A few more:
Richard Strauss Ein Heldenleben.
Richard Strauss Death and Transfiguration.
Richard Strauss Don Juan.
Richard Strauss Sinfonia Domestica.


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## shangoyal (Sep 22, 2013)

You know, it takes a lot of time to discover the music which is just right for you. Until then, enjoy the ride!


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Now he tells me!


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

neoshredder said:


> Some make a point to not make it tense. Debussy for example.


Hmmmm

He made a point to avoid the kind of harmonic tension used (mostly by Germans) throughout the classical and romantic periods.

That doesn't mean his music is tensionless though


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## shangoyal (Sep 22, 2013)

violadude said:


> Hmmmm
> 
> He made a point to avoid the kind of harmonic tension used (mostly by Germans) throughout the classical and romantic periods.
> 
> That doesn't mean his music is tensionless though


Yes his music is tense in a modern way. In a urban neurotic kind of way, but not in the traditional sense. I think there is a difference in the energy which the music brings into you. Debussy's music in a way foreshadows the entire first half the 20th century - similar to how French films have a totally different feel from German or English films.


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## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

violadude said:


> Hmmmm
> 
> He made a point to avoid the kind of harmonic tension used (mostly by Germans) throughout the classical and romantic periods.
> 
> That doesn't mean his music is tensionless though


Yeah true. But being tensionless would basically be ambient. Not sure he wanted to be ambient. But he found a good balance of having less tension but still able to keep the listener interested. Keeping the listener in Cloud 9 basically.


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## Fortinbras Armstrong (Dec 29, 2013)

I immediately thought of the first movement of Winter from Vivaldi's Four Seasons


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## Schubussy (Nov 2, 2012)

neoshredder said:


> To me this fits Schnittke. But also looking for other names. Maybe some from the 19th Century or before fit this style as well. Like Schubert's late works. Like you can feel the Composers pain. Tchaikovsky comes to mind as well.


Schnittke came straight to my mind as well, I really like that style. Toshio Hosokawa makes some extremely tense music, not very melodic though!


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Physix said:


> Mahler's sixth, ninth.
> Schoenberg, Transfigured Night
> Beethoven String Quartet 14


Welcome to TC, Physix!!!


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## Eviticus (Dec 8, 2011)

Try Beethoven overtures; Coriolan, Egmont, Fidelio.


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## Guest (Feb 15, 2014)

Tension as a technical term in music* is in no wise incompatible with melodic. (There is no "still" about it.)

Tension as a musical term would include all tonal music, which is also melodic.

Tension as a musical term points to something quite different from the conversational meaning of "tense."

*Hint, the wiki article is not a reliable guide to what tension means in music. This one is more accurate: http://www.berklee.edu/core/glossary.html, though be ware that it uses the word "tense," too, but not in the conversational sense of tense.


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## shangoyal (Sep 22, 2013)

Then, some guy, perhaps you can point for the OP to pieces that employ persistently the aforementioned devices of musical tension, in a manner which perhaps delivers a feeling of actual tension to the listener, or perhaps does not, in any case actual tension being not that important, in your opinion?


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## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

Yeah I tried to find the best term possible. If you've got a better term that describes the feel of a Composer unleashing (or trying) anguish emotion in their music, I would be interested.


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## Guest (Feb 15, 2014)

Tension in the conversational sense is a matter of perception. And the older the music, generally, the less will its musical tension be perceived as tense.

And the more sophisticated the listener, the less will musical tension, from any era, be perceived as tense in the conversational sense.

In the sense of composers trying to unleash anguish in their music, I have no interest at all. So I should quietly back out of the room, not making any eye contact, hoping my absence will go entirely unnoticed.

Anyway, neo, I'm sure the clarification you just gave me will get all sorts of responses from other members. (That's what I'm hoping will cover my surreptitious withdrawal, doncha know?)


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Fortinbras Armstrong said:


> I immediately thought of the first movement of Winter from Vivaldi's Four Seasons


Oh, please, don't throw the OP into a relapse of a long extended addiction which he has finally overcome!


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## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

Yeah I'm fine with you not into that. A style trying to be different while not emotionally charged is more a modern thing. Schnittke brings both sides of the coin with his music. I guess that is why he interest me over many others of modern times.


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## Petwhac (Jun 9, 2010)

neoshredder said:


> Yeah I tried to find the best term possible. If you've got a better term that describes the feel of a Composer unleashing (or trying) anguish emotion in their music, I would be interested.


Striving.

But whether or not the music is melodic is irrelevant.

Tension is a misleading term (so too striving, I suppose, but less so because it doesn't have a technical meaning).


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

shangoyal said:


> Then, some guy, perhaps you can point for the OP to pieces that employ persistently the aforementioned devices of musical tension, in a manner which perhaps delivers a feeling of actual tension to the listener, or perhaps does not, in any case actual tension being not that important, in your opinion?


The premise of all but the most consonant, (a unison or octave) is all about relative dissonance, which translates into relative "tension." That is all one needs to know of tension in music at the most fundamental level (which omits the dozens of other ways a composer can create 'tension' in a work, including rhythm, dynamics, and the form itself.)

When you have a request for the "Rorschach Blot" reaction of the OP or any individual as to what or how a composer 'expresses their personal anguish,' (or what music expresses that) that is, I frankly think, a discussion best left to highly emotional adolescents.


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## shangoyal (Sep 22, 2013)

some guy said:


> Tension in the conversational sense is a matter of perception. And the older the music, generally, the less will its musical tension be perceived as tense.
> 
> And the more sophisticated the listener, the less will musical tension, from any era, be perceived as tense in the conversational sense.
> 
> ...


I disagree with you. There is hardly anything as a sophisticated listener. Everybody receives their own 'something' from music - it could be tension, it could be something else. Why don't you talk about your own interest instead of judging other people?


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## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

Petwhac said:


> Striving.
> 
> But whether or not the music is melodic is irrelevant.
> 
> Tension is a misleading term (so too striving, I suppose, but less so because it doesn't have a technical meaning).


There is no good term imo. Dissonance was proven to be a misleading term when I used it. Melodic also isn't exactly an exacting term either. So I'll just go by feel rather then a good quality definition of my thread.


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## shangoyal (Sep 22, 2013)

PetrB said:


> The premise of all but the most consonant, (a unison or octave) is all about relative dissonance, which translates into relative "tension." That is all one needs to know of tension in music at the most fundamental level (which omits the dozens of other ways a composer can create 'tension' in a work, including rhythm, dynamics, and the form itself.)
> 
> When you have a request for the "Rorschach Blot" reaction of the OP or any individual as to what or how a composer 'expresses their personal anguish,' (or what music expresses that) that is, I frankly think, a discussion best left to highly emotional adolescents.


Yeah, so perhaps, all the old (at heart) chestnuts should perhaps leave this thread.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Eviticus said:


> Try Beethoven overtures; Coriolan, Egmont, Fidelio.


You left out Leonore Overture Number 3, king of Beethovenian tension and ultimate release!


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

shangoyal said:


> Yeah, so perhaps, all the old (at heart) chestnuts should perhaps leave this thread.


Ha! Ha! Then it will just be you and me pal.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

------------------- 'opened mail not for me' ------------------------------


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

shangoyal said:


> Yeah, so perhaps, all the old (at heart) chestnuts should perhaps leave this thread.


Have a crack at defining music in which you are certain that "you can feel the composer's agony" and then name some pieces you think would be that for any number of other people you don't know personally well (forum members and guest readers) and then tell me, too, if you think anything to do with (much) age has to do with the wisdom of knowing you do not and can not know something


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## shangoyal (Sep 22, 2013)

PetrB said:


> Have a crack at defining music in which you are certain that "you can feel the composer's agony" and then name some pieces you think would be that for any number of other people you don't know personally well (forum members and guest readers) and then tell me, too, if you think anything to do with (much) age has to do with the wisdom of knowing you do not and can not know something


I think you are more experienced both as a listener and a TC member than me. So, I will not say that every suggestion from everybody will definitely work for the OP. Perhaps it will, perhaps it won't. I was just making a reaction to some guy's quite usual diatribe pointing out the faults in the OP's question, the faults in the whole system of giving and receiving recommendations in a free manner. Maybe the next time I won't do that. Maybe I will understand some deeper purpose to what some guy said there, in a thread where the request from the OP is quite straightforward and curt.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

shangoyal said:


> I think you are more experienced both as a listener and a TC member than me. So, I will not say that every suggestion from everybody will definitely work for the OP. Perhaps it will, perhaps it won't. I was just making a reaction to some guy's quite usual diatribe pointing out the faults in the OP's question, the faults in the whole system of giving and receiving recommendations in a free manner. Maybe the next time I won't do that. Maybe I will understand some deeper purpose to what some guy said there, in a thread where the request from the OP is quite straightforward and curt.


:tiphat: Shangoyal!

... because if someone opens a door, and invites people to visit, they don't have to go in ...


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Dissonance is actually a term with pretty specific meanings, it's just that they don't align with the way people on Classical forums use it. Traditionally, a dissonance is any chord other than a major or minor triad, or any interval other than a fifth, a third, or a sixth.

This Bach cantata begins on a dissonance, and it is filled with dissonances throughout.





But to the listener accustomed to 20th century music, these dissonances are not necessarily harsh-sounding. The ear becomes accustomed to _anything_ if it hears it often enough in similar contexts.


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

Any cadence creates some tension. 

I always find it amazing that you can hear the Tchaikovsky endings some time before they happen. I didn't explain that well. He seems to be able to wind up each piece and give a sense of the upcoming ending some time before it does end. It's a kind of wind up, a pitch and then hits it out of the park. 

Mahler creates plenty of tension, especially the ending to the fourth movement of the fifth symphony, with all those lucious strings.


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## Matsps (Jan 13, 2014)

Schubert/Liszt - The Earl King or Der Erlkonig

Lots of tension but the melodies are pretty simple. The piece of music is actually a story, as a young man falls ill and is being rushed to be treated in the next town. You can hear the tension as the horse and carriage is racing along the road towards the next town and the man becomes more and more ill and the Earl King is coming to get him... Great piece of music!


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

neoshredder said:


> To me this fits Schnittke. But also looking for other names. Maybe some from the 19th Century or before fit this style as well. Like Schubert's late works. Like you can feel the Composers pain. Tchaikovsky comes to mind as well.


Don't let them get you down over the "like you can feel the composer's pain" remark. Here is Liszt discussing Chopin's attitude towards Schubert:



> In spite of the charm which he acknowledged in some of the melodies of Schubert, he would not willingly listen to those in which the contours were too sharp for his ear, in which suffering lies naked, and we can almost feel the flesh palpitate, and hear the bones crack and crash under the rude embrace of sorrow.


:lol: Liszt's "Life of Chopin" is a great read, btw, and free online: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/4386/4386-h/4386-h.htm

The works which most remind me of late Schubert are in early/middle Beethoven (especially the 3rd Piano Sonata), but I'm sure you know those works well. I'd also mention Prokofiev's 2nd Piano Sonata: you don't have to wait long for juxtapositions of exquisite melodies and jarring crashes (in a good performance, at least :lol.






Hope you like!


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## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

Yeah some of Schubert, Tchaikovsky, and even Mozart's late works I can definitely feel the tension of things changing and not for the better in their music. Whether it is their health getting worse or depression. It is definitely felt in their music imo. I think some of the best music is made from a suffering Composer.


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## Eviticus (Dec 8, 2011)

hpowders said:


> You left out Leonore Overture Number 3, king of Beethovenian tension and ultimate release!


Ah that's probably because i cannot think of how is goes off the top of my head. I know i like all of LVB's overtures (i have a 2 disc set by Zinman - though the version of Egmont is disappointing). I seem to recall always preferring Leonore No.2 more.


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## BurningDesire (Jul 15, 2012)

_4'33''_ is a very tense piece to listen to, depending on your mindset.


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## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

BurningDesire said:


> _4'33''_ is a very tense piece to listen to, depending on your mindset.


Tense for the audience. lol And I guess for him as well to have to conduct it while the audience waits.


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## Piwikiwi (Apr 1, 2011)

Prokofiev is the perfect example for this imho


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