# music with a mysterious mood



## norman bates

probably there's a lot of impressionistic music that could be named, anyway for now my favorite example is the beautiful second movement in the Trumpet concerto by Henri Tomasi






I'd like to discover other works in this vein, but every suggestion is welcome (also brief pieces), symphonic, chamber music, third stream


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## Aramis

If you didn't hear it already then you will like Symphony No. 3 and Violin Concerto No. 1 by Szymanowski. It's the same period and similiar style with esoteric strings timbre and dissonances. No other music that I know is mysterious in such sensual, erotic way. For chamber music try his triptych for violin and piano, "Mythes". 

By the way, this Tomasi is interesting, I just got recording on this concerto, do you recommend something else that he wrote?


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## norman bates

i know the third symphony but not the violin concerto. Great composer and you're totally right, it's the kind of thing that i'm looking for. 
About Tomasi sorry, for now it's the only work that i've listened to...


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## Comus

Villa-Lobos: Fantaisie Concertante for piano, clarinet & bassoon

I find the first movement particularly mysterious.

I'll keep up on this thread because I'm looking for this kind of music too. I'm digging Szymanowski's violin concerto.


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## Huilunsoittaja

I must admit, the beginning to Stravinsky's Firebird, the Prelude and Enchanted Garden especially, are really mysterious and dark. Stravinsky is quite an Impressionist too.


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## Fsharpmajor

Alan Hovhaness is good for that sort of thing; try this:

*



*
His Loon lake symphony is particularly eerie and mysterious. Unfortunately I can't find a YouTube clip for it.


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## afterpostjack

Beethoven's fourth symphony (first movement), 'bell ringing' from Grieg's lyric suite (for orchestra) and most by Alan Hovhaness have a rather mysterious mood.


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## Geezerman

'Mysterious' might have a bit of personal taste to it. A couple of my favorites: "Sinfonia Antarctica" by Ralph Vaughan Williams; "Atmospheres" by Gyorgy Ligeti, and a lot of Alan Hovhannes' stuff. For really creepy mysterious music, the soundtrack to the movie "Signs", with compositions by James Newton Howard. Not exactly 'Classical', but too good to quibble about.


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## World Violist

Look up Takemitsu and Delius. It might or might not be what you're looking for, but it's still some very fascinating music.

Among living composers, there's always Per Norgard; check out his famous piece "Journey into the Golden Screen." It's a very interesting piece built on a sequence that looked forward to fractal geometry at the time of its composition. There are some truly fascinating dissonances in this piece, founded upon quarter tones and the overtone series. Listen especially to the notes that grind against each other in such a way that it creates discernible beats within the note; Norgard literally wrote those beats into the score. It may sound like an un-metered piece, but it's actually one of the most precisely notated pieces I've ever seen.


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## StlukesguildOhio

*Charles Koechlin:*











I agree that *Takemitsu* is a great suggestion:











*Morton Feldman:*






*John Cage:*






*Tristan Murail:*


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## norman bates

i really like delius, koechlin and takemitsu. Another piece that i really like in this vein (maybe this one is more "oneiric") is the brief vale of dreams by charles griffes


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## norman bates

StlukesguildOhio said:


> *John Cage:*


i didn't know this one, it seems new age, it reminds me of ECM music or musicians like ludovico einaudi who frankly, i don't like at all.


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## Norse

I love the mysterious "coda" of the first movement of Shostakovich's 5th symphony. (Actually the clip in the opening post made me think of it.)

The Isle of the Dead be Rachmaninov also has mysterious qualities to it.


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## Falstaft

Great choices so far. Especially like the Koechlin and Takemitsu recommendations.

You may try to see if you can get your hands on this song from Holst:
http://www.last.fm/music/Gustav+Holst/_/Betelgeuse

Similar in mood to his much more famous (and still very mysterious sounding) _Neptune _from the Planets Suite. Even better in the version someone orchestrated I heard a while back.

Lyadov's _Enchanted Lake_ may float your mystery boat: 



, as may Gliere's _The Sirens_.

The last pages of Vaughan William's _London Symphony_ are truly mysterious. In the enlarged first version, some very mysterious happenings are also present in the Scherzo third movement that are worth checking out.


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## HarpsichordConcerto

norman bates said:


> probably there's a lot of impressionistic music that could be named, anyway for now my favorite example is the beautiful second movement in the Trumpet concerto by Henri Tomasi
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'd like to discover other works in this vein, but every suggestion is welcome (also brief pieces), symphonic, chamber music, third stream


Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (1644-1704), _The Mystery Sonatas_. :tiphat:


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## norman bates

Falstaft said:


> You may try to see if you can get your hands on this song from Holst:
> http://www.last.fm/music/Gustav+Holst/_/Betelgeuse
> 
> Lyadov's _Enchanted Lake_ may float your mystery boat:
> 
> 
> 
> , as may Gliere's _The Sirens_.
> 
> The last pages of Vaughan William's _London Symphony_ are truly mysterious. In the enlarged first version, some very mysterious happenings are also present in the Scherzo third movement that are worth checking out.


thank you, i don't know these ones


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## norman bates

HarpsichordConcerto said:


> Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (1644-1704), _The Mystery Sonatas_. :tiphat:


not what i'm looking for but it's amazing music for sure, i love the passacaglia


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## schwartzy

*Mysterious composers*



Geezerman said:


> 'Mysterious' might have a bit of personal taste to it. A couple of my favorites: "Sinfonia Antarctica" by Ralph Vaughan Williams; "Atmospheres" by Gyorgy Ligeti, and a lot of Alan Hovhannes' stuff.


Totally agree about Vaughan Williams. Checkout the last eerie movement of his 6th symphony, it's like walking through a city after a nuclear attack, incredibly bleak.

Alan Hovhaness was a more religious kind of mystery. His Celestial Gate symphony is just great, though not exactly sure which gate he's on about :lol: Also I see that next year is the Alan Hovhaness centenary. I hope America's orchestras honor him accordingly.

Another composer of mysterious music is Einojuhani Rautavaara who is still alive and composing :trp:

I can heartily recommend Rautavaara's Cantus Arcticus, a type of bird symphony that includes haunting recordings of birdsong. Get it on Naxos !!!


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