# Help a metalhead find classical music!



## HeavyGroovist (Oct 23, 2016)

Hello.
I'm looking for composers who make dark and powerful classical music.
So far I've found Bela Bartok and Prokofiev, but I have problems finding many more because most pieces people call "dark" don't really appeal to me (for example, none of Chopin's music is dark to me at all, just numbly dissonant at times).
I also love nordic, Norwegian and some slavic folk music, so composers with folk influences are more likely to fit my style, I guess (that's the story behind Bartok, afaik).


----------



## Derl (Oct 20, 2016)

HeavyGroovist said:


> Hello.
> I'm looking for composers who make dark and powerful classical music.
> So far I've found Bela Bartok and Prokofiev, but I have problems finding many more because most pieces people call "dark" don't really appeal to me (for example, none of Chopin's music is dark to me at all, just numbly dissonant at times).
> I also love nordic, Norwegian and some slavic folk music, so composers with folk influences are more likely to fit my style, I guess (that's the story behind Bartok, afaik).


----------



## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

HeavyGroovist said:


> Hello.
> I'm looking for composers who make dark and powerful classical music.
> So far I've found Bela Bartok and Prokofiev, but I have problems finding many more because most pieces people call "dark" don't really appeal to me (for example, none of Chopin's music is dark to me at all, just numbly dissonant at times).
> I also love nordic, Norwegian and some slavic folk music, so composers with folk influences are more likely to fit my style, I guess (that's the story behind Bartok, afaik).


Welcome to Talk Classical, try Shostakovitch.


----------



## helenora (Sep 13, 2015)

Derl said:


>


Thank you.

I think this won´t be helpful for OP. Metalheads aren´t sensitive to this sort of stuff according to my experience ( Gesualdo´s biographical facts aren´t the same as his music )...but who knows..

I´m more in agreement with Pugg´s suggestion of Schostakovitch .


----------



## Derl (Oct 20, 2016)

helenora said:


> Thank you.
> 
> I think this won´t be helpful for OP. Metalheads aren´t sensitive to this sort of stuff according to my experience ( Gesualdo´s biographical facts aren´t the same as his music )...but who knows..
> 
> I´m more in agreement with Pugg´s suggestion of Schostakovitch .


Fair enough. Chromatic Mediant relationships are a bridge between the two for me, regardless of Gesualdo's story.

I'll throw in Liszt's Faust Symphony while we're at it.


----------



## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Rebel, Chaos from the Elements:


----------



## Dim7 (Apr 24, 2009)

Langgaard Symphony No. 1:


----------



## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Khachaturian - Symphony No.2 "The Bell Symphony" Sergey Smbatyan & SYOA


----------



## FDR (Oct 19, 2016)

Nordic you say? I'd say the classical three of: Edvard Grieg, Jean Sibelius and Carl Nielsen.

But if you do not want to forget the largest of the Nordic countries take a look at and feast on some Swedish composers too: Franz Berwald, Kurt Atterberg, Wilhelm Stenhammar, Wilhelm Peterson-Berger, Hugo Alfvén.


----------



## Alfacharger (Dec 6, 2013)

FDR said:


> Nordic you say? I'd say the classical three of: Edvard Grieg, Jean Sibelius and Carl Nielsen.
> 
> But if you do not want to forget the largest of the Nordic countries take a look at and feast on some Swedish composers too: Franz Berwald, Kurt Atterberg, Wilhelm Stenhammar, Wilhelm Peterson-Berger, Hugo Alfvén.


How about another Swedish composer who was also dark and powerful, Gosta Nystroem.


----------



## Klassic (Dec 19, 2015)

Stravinsky's Rite of Spring should appeal. 

I believe I know your mind, you're looking for derelicts and outlaws, of these Beethoven is the father. But much of his music follows classical form, and therefore mimics aristocratic morality. You need dudes like Edgard Varese. There are radicals in the classical music world.


----------



## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I often suggest Howard Hanson, Lament for Beowulf for people who, like me, enjoy metal. My metal however leans toward the heavy sludge side of the spectrum -- not too fast.

You might also try Vitezslav Novák's De Profundis. I confess this may appeal more to dark ambient fans.

Prokofiev: The Evil God and the Dance of the Pagan Monsters might also work.


----------



## johankillen (Sep 20, 2015)

Ok, its beethoven, think about that. Its one of the biggest composers ever. Its a monologue by himself, and he is depressed.. its really dark and beautiful!


----------



## Kjetil Heggelund (Jan 4, 2016)

Dvorak or Rachmaninov maybe? Eastern Europe and Russia have lots of exciting composers. I'm a "part-time" metalhead myself, but like most things, except danseband


----------



## Mal (Jan 1, 2016)

What about Liszt?






... or anything interpreted by Harnoncourt, e.g., Haydn Symphony No.45:

https://play.spotify.com/search/harnoncourt haydn 45


----------



## Medtnaculus (May 13, 2015)

Look no further than Varese my man

Check out Ameriques






Especially those last few minutes.


----------



## gutswy (Oct 11, 2016)

Other gnosiennes too, for some reason I find them sounding very sinister. Though I've checked comments and a lot of people mention how it makes them feel sad? So yeah, that may not be your impression.


----------



## gutswy (Oct 11, 2016)




----------



## Razumovskymas (Sep 20, 2016)

Maybe not all metal-worthy-pitchblack-dark but here are the darker ones I'm familiar with. And there's always some light shining through unfortunately ;-)

Shostakovitsh 8th symphony 





Liszt Totentanz





Beethoven Egmont Overture





Ravel Le Gibet





Liszt Piano concerto 2





Dvorak Stabat Mater





Verdi Dies irae (from his Requiem)


----------



## LesCyclopes (Sep 16, 2016)

I have also come to classical music through hard rock and heavy metal. The first classical music pieces I was interested in were fast, relentless masterpieces like this, which feature two rivalling melodies in counterpoint (as you often find in metal), played on a small number of instruments rather than a large symphonic orchestra.

(Start at the beginning, skip the slow movement in the middle & listen again from 11:00)


----------



## Guest (Oct 24, 2016)

You might like:

Janacek: String Quartets 1&2
Shostakovich: Symphony 5
Shostakovich: Violin Concerto
Shostakovich: String Quartets 7,8 (and many others!)
Liszt: Totentanz 
Verdi: Otello or Requiem
Prokofiev: Piano Concerto #2!! 
Wagner: Die Walküre 
Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms 
Britten: War Requiem!!


----------



## Friendlyneighbourhood (Oct 8, 2016)

If you're into metal for the heavy stuff, dive straight into modernism and post-modernism, people here tend to hate it but you'll instantly find something that knocks you out of your chair (The Rite Of Spring)


----------



## jailhouse (Sep 2, 2016)

Check out Penderecki's St Luke Passion. Good luck with the nightmares


----------



## LOLWUT (Oct 12, 2016)

If you like dark music stick to music written after 1945. There you'll find what you're looking for.


----------



## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Scriabin - Le poeme de l'extase, Op. 54


----------



## Lenny (Jul 19, 2016)

"Heavy", nordic music? What about Einar Englund, for example his Symphony #2: 




Or maybe Englund's piano concerto #1:


----------



## James Mann (Sep 6, 2016)

jailhouse said:


> Check out Penderecki's St Luke Passion. Good luck with the nightmares


Yes, any Penderecki, Ligeti or Stockhausen might turn a passionate metalhead into a passionate classical music fan!


----------



## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

Icelandic composer Jon Leifs - _Hekla_ or _Saga Symphony_. Look 'em up yerself!


----------



## AndorFoldes (Aug 25, 2012)

You should try BWV 565 Toccata and Fugue in D minor by Bach, the first heavy metal composer. The riffs would not feel out of place in a guitar solo. My recommended recording from 1954 is by Karl Richter, a wizard at the organ:






The introduction «O Fortuna» from Carmina Burana by Carl Orff would probably be up your alley too. I heard it in concert and it attracted a lot of goth-type people who did not understand the rest of the piece however, which is cabaret music. The version by Jochum was approved by the composer himself:






Then maybe you can graduate to more challenging pieces such as the Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky, already suggested here.


----------



## Autocrat (Nov 14, 2014)

IMO start with Bruckner.


----------



## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

Wagner! Therion (symphonic metal) did some covers:


----------



## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

Like power metal:

Philip Glass - _Akhnaten_ - Attack and Fall (sung in Ancient Egyptian!):





Giacomo Meyerbeer - _Les Huguenots_ - The Blessing of the Swords:





Hector Berlioz - _Les Troyens_ - Act III finale:





Vincenzo Bellini - _Norma_ - "Guerra! Guerra!":





Modest Mussorgsky - _Boris Godunov_ - The Forest of Kromy scene:


----------



## Alfacharger (Dec 6, 2013)

Ruggles, Suntreader....






Robert Simpson, Symphony 5


----------



## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

All good suggestions but looks like our metal head is gone. Don't think he could Handel it....


----------



## Omicron9 (Oct 13, 2016)




----------



## Omicron9 (Oct 13, 2016)




----------



## Jorge Hereth (Aug 16, 2015)

What about that 1828 opera by Heinrich Marschner (music) & Wilhelm August Wohlbrück (libretto)? 

*Der Vampyr*:





and


----------



## ST4 (Oct 27, 2016)

Why would you recommend a metalhead anything *but* modernism? If someone who likes heavy music wants more heavy music, why would you recommend him classical or romantic eras? Seriously


----------



## Jorge Hereth (Aug 16, 2015)

It was the Gothic which led from the classical to Romanticism to say so. And Marschner and Wohlbrück had it right: after John Polidori had published _The Vampire_ in 1819 and French literature suffered a Gothic invasion of vampire novels and theater pieces, they decided to make an opera based on the French pioneers, Cyprien Bérard's novel _Lord Ruthwen, ou Les Vampires_ and Charles Nodier's thatre piece _Le Vampire_. The opera premiered in 1828. Read the libretto: it's right the stuff lots of rockers love to read.

And trust me, I love Hard Rock and Heavy Metal myself.


----------



## Reichstag aus LICHT (Oct 25, 2010)

Shostakovich Symphony No 10, 2nd Movement






Mussorgsky: "Coronation Scene" from _Boris Godunov_






Nyman: _The Draughtsman's Contact_, "Chasing Sheep is Best Left to Shepherds"






Nielsen: _Aladdin_, "Oriental Festive March"


----------



## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

EddieRUKiddingVarese said:


> All good suggestions but looks like our metal head is gone. Don't think he could Handel it....


Too many light suggestions. Penderecki and Schnittke are the type of dark music composers that I would recommend. And early Magnus Lindberg, and Roberto Gerhard for some aggressive music.


----------



## LesCyclopes (Sep 16, 2016)

> Why would you recommend a metalhead anything but modernism?


Have you listened to any heavy metal and/or Baroque music? There is a lot of counterpoint and Baroque harmony in metal. Many examples that resemble fugues, too. I was a long-term heavy metal/hard rock fan when I came to classical music, and to this date my favourite classical music is Baroque.


----------



## Clairvoyance Enough (Jul 25, 2014)

I agree. My dad is a metalhead and he responds best to minor key baroque pieces. I understand why people would suggest things like Elliott Carter or Stravinsky, but to me they often sound more confused and surreal than explicitly dark and aggressive.

I once played him a Haydn quartet in g minor and he said he liked the first few seconds before the mood switched from dark to "happy" in the exposition; I doubt he'd care much for the even shiftier moods of modernism. What things there are with consistent darkness tend not to have the consistent rhythms and melodies that he likes in metal. 

But he also loves Chopin, so everyone is different I guess.


----------



## Atrahasis (Aug 5, 2015)

Jean Sibelius
Karel Husa
Uuno Klami
Valentin Silvestrov
Esa-Pekka Salonen
Christopher Rouse
Giya Kancheli
Lera Auerbach 
Rued Langgaard
Geirr Tveitt
Allan Pettersson
Einojuhani Rautavaara
Carl Ruggles
Marcel Tyberg
Kalevi Aho
Reinhold Glière
Aram Khachaturian
Gösta Nystroem
Karl-Birger Blomdahl
Mieczysław Weinberg
Pehr Henrik Nordgren
Andrzej Panufnik
Carl Nielsen
Jón Leifs
Bohuslav Martinů
Lepo Sumera + other Baltic/Estonian composers e.g. Heino Eller and Eduard Tubin
Arnold Bax
Kurt Atterberg
Antonín Dvořák
Alfred Schnittke
Dmitri Shostakovich 
Robert Simpson

Anton Bruckner! + Richard Strauss
Edgar Varèse 
Wagner

+ many others I cant remember, but thats why I like to make thematic list

ALAN HOVHANESS of course


----------



## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

^^^
I thought it was pretty good. But here's some dark, beautiful, choral music.


----------



## aglayaepanchin (Jul 24, 2016)

You should definitely try Sibelius' 4th symphony!


----------



## HeavyGroovist (Oct 23, 2016)

Oh my LORD, I honestly forgot about checking this thread since and expected to see maybe two recommendations even when I log in after such a long time 
(most music forums are pretty unlively since social media became so much more compelling to people who would otherwise try to find like-minded people on forums beforehand).

Sorry for leaving the thread hanging like this, and thank you for all of the suggestions!
I'm going on quite the musical trip now, I hope to find a lot of good stuff through your input 



LesCyclopes said:


> Have you listened to any heavy metal and/or Baroque music? There is a lot of counterpoint and Baroque harmony in metal. Many examples that resemble fugues, too. I was a long-term heavy metal/hard rock fan when I came to classical music, and to this date my favourite classical music is Baroque.


I agree, I also associate baroque music with a harpsichord, which sounds basically like a heavy guitar in the lower register.
I don't think all Baroque music is for me or that only that era\style suits my taste though, so I'm still glad to have recieved a variety of different recommendations.


----------



## keymasher (Nov 10, 2016)

A little surprised he hasn't come up yet, but you might dig some Alkan. Here's a link to his op 39 no 12 etude.


----------



## Zhdanov (Feb 16, 2016)

HeavyGroovist said:


> a harpsichord, which sounds basically like a heavy guitar in the lower register.


rock & metal emulate classical music & its instruments and are a simplified version of it, not otherwise.


----------



## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

So Chopin is not "metal" enough eh?


----------



## Medtnaculus (May 13, 2015)

Don't think you can really have a proper "metal" sounding piece without much dissonance on the piano.




Not sure if that's been posted.


----------



## Guest (Nov 11, 2016)

As a former metalhead, I'd want to know what kind of metal you like best before recommending you anything. Some metal is more Vivaldi in aesthetic, and other metal is more Xenakis in aesthetic, and so on.


----------



## HeavyGroovist (Oct 23, 2016)

nathanb said:


> As a former metalhead, I'd want to know what kind of metal you like best before recommending you anything. Some metal is more Vivaldi in aesthetic, and other metal is more Xenakis in aesthetic, and so on.


I'm not into one kind of metal, just like I'm not into just one style of music. 
Leprous, Gojira, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Barren Earth, Cynic, Tribulation and Epica are all different from each other and I love all of them. Giving a vauge description of the music I'm looking for was supposed to result in a variety of vastly different answers and it seems that it did, to some degree.


----------



## HeavyGroovist (Oct 23, 2016)

Zhdanov said:


> rock & metal emulate classical music & its instruments and are a simplified version of it, not otherwise.


Four pages in and you're only the first provocative elitist to show up, wow. Glad to finally have you with us, we've certainly have been expecting your arrival


----------



## LesCyclopes (Sep 16, 2016)

> Don't think you can really have a proper "metal" sounding piece without much dissonance


Metal isn't about dissonance! Have you listened (properly listened) to any?


----------



## HeavyGroovist (Oct 23, 2016)

Ok, I don't know if anybody cares, but I've filled my youtube viewing history up enough to find a few composers I liked:
Shostakovic
Alkan
Edvard Grieg
Antonin Dvorak
Alexander Borodin


----------



## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

HeavyGroovist said:


> Hello.
> I'm looking for composers *who make dark and powerful classical music.*
> So far I've found Bela Bartok and Prokofiev, but I have problems finding many more because most pieces people call "dark" don't really appeal to me (for example, none of Chopin's music is dark to me at all, just numbly dissonant at times).
> I also love nordic, Norwegian and some slavic folk music, so composers with folk influences are more likely to fit my style, I guess (that's the story behind Bartok, afaik).


I have not read this thread, so hopefully I am not duplicating advice already given, but it seems to me that some of the Mahler symphonies would be good for a metalhead. Not so sure Mahler is dark but certainly powerful. I think the dark element is there but not so much instrumentally as conceptually (if that makes any sense or else I am blowing hot air with that statement ).


----------



## Guest (Nov 14, 2016)

HeavyGroovist said:


> I'm not into one kind of metal, just like I'm not into just one style of music.
> Leprous, Gojira, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Barren Earth, Cynic, Tribulation and Epica are all different from each other and I love all of them. Giving a vauge description of the music I'm looking for was supposed to result in a variety of vastly different answers and it seems that it did, to some degree.


There are common threads between genres. The bands you listed are indeed all different, but such a list tells me a lot. Gojira, Cynic, Fleshgod Apocalypse, and so on, all share some common traits that you won't find in Burzum, Demilich, Disembowelment, Graveland, Esoteric, and so on.


----------



## Retyc (May 10, 2016)

nathanb said:


> There are common threads between genres. The bands you listed are indeed all different, but such a list tells me a lot. Gojira, Cynic, Fleshgod Apocalypse, and so on, all share some common traits that you won't find in Burzum, Demilich, Disembowelment, Graveland, Esoteric, and so on.


Ehehehe... yeah... the cheese...


----------



## wzg (Jun 17, 2013)

I'd recommend Janacek's Glagolitic Mass, especially it's violent Intrada:


----------



## Vasks (Dec 9, 2013)

*Kancheli
Vasks
Petterson*

All drenched in maximum mournful minor modes


----------



## Zhdanov (Feb 16, 2016)

it is silly to be exclusively into dark or bright stuff.

the advantage of classical music is it being extremely diverse in all kinds of moods.


----------



## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

HeavyGroovist said:


> I'm not into one kind of metal, just like I'm not into just one style of music.
> Leprous, Gojira, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Barren Earth, Cynic, Tribulation and Epica are all different from each other and I love all of them. Giving a vauge description of the music I'm looking for was supposed to result in a variety of vastly different answers and it seems that it did, to some degree.


You will find many people here, that have this blanket, negative, impression of metal, as if it all sounds the same. Not understanding that there is some pretty amazingly sophisticated metal.

My tastes in metal overlap yours, given your partial list of bands above. I am a big Leprous and Cynic fan, as well as Blotted Science, uNexpect, The Contortionist, Tesseract and many more. Mostly technical metal, jazz metal, and prog metal.

The type of classical I listen to, and I think is as heavy and dark as the metal I listen to, is almost exclusively 20th century and contemporary.

Some of these have already been mentioned:

Penderecki - give his violin concerto a listen, but he has a lot that fits your description.
Ligeti - almost anything.
Magnus Lindberg - Sculpture
Berg - Violin concerto
Bartok - 2nd piano concerto
Elliott Carter - Variations for Orchestra, The Minotaur, and many more
Webern - Six Pieces for large orchestra, Five Pieces for orchestra, 
Samuel Barber - 1st piano concerto, Medea's Meditation and Dance of Vengeance
Joan Tower - Concerto for Orchestra
Joseph Schwantner - Dark Millennium, ... and the mountains rising nowhere
Thea Musgrave - Concerto for Orchestra
Benjamin Britten - Four Sea Interludes, War Requiem (opera)
Schoenberg - Variations for orchestra, Piano concerto

Obviously these composers have other pieces that may be of interest, I just listed a couple that may be a bit representative of their style.


----------



## Dim7 (Apr 24, 2009)

Simon Moon said:


> Schoenberg - Variations for orchestra, Piano concerto


Violin concerto too. Should I even say especially.


----------



## Retyc (May 10, 2016)

Dim7 said:


> Violin concerto too. Should I even say especially.


I'd rather recommend his String Trio... or Quartets


----------



## ST4 (Oct 27, 2016)

Retyc said:


> I'd rather recommend his String Trio... or Quartets


That is still one of the greatest string works I've ever heard, period!


----------



## HeavyGroovist (Oct 23, 2016)

Zhdanov said:


> it is silly to be exclusively into dark or bright stuff.
> 
> the advantage of classical music is it being extremely diverse in all kinds of moods.


It's not. It's like being short - it's not that you only like short furniture, it's that most furniture is taller for you than for people of regular height.
Also, when you might positive emotion in "feelgood, birds and flowers" kind of music, I prefer bursts of excitement and relieved tension that don't make me want to smile, but scream in joy.

But I do listen to bright music, it's just that I like much less of it and usually if someone doesn't find interest or can't create the kind of music I mainly listen to, I'm not likely to connect with his musical taste and his "happy" music won't fit mine. 
Not because it's bright, just because the fact that the person in question has a different taste for music than me.

I also tried to simplify the description of my taste to avoid causing confusion about what I like as much as possible.


----------



## Zhdanov (Feb 16, 2016)

it isn't a matter of what you like or not.

you are yet to learn understand music.

then you decide what you do like.


----------



## Retyc (May 10, 2016)

HeavyGroovist said:


> It's not. It's like being short - it's not that you only like short furniture, it's that most furniture is taller for you than for people of regular height.
> Also, when you might positive emotion in "feelgood, birds and flowers" kind of music, I prefer bursts of excitement and relieved tension that don't make me want to smile, but scream in joy.
> 
> But I do listen to bright music, it's just that I like much less of it and usually if someone doesn't find interest or can't create the kind of music I mainly listen to, I'm not likely to connect with his musical taste and his "happy" music won't fit mine.
> ...


Nobody said that you should listen to saccharine pastiche...


----------



## D Menace (Dec 20, 2016)

Beethoven's minor sonatas are pretty metal. Check out this one.. Appassionata, 3rd movement


----------



## D Menace (Dec 20, 2016)

Derl said:


>


Cool.. Evil and beautiful at the same time


----------



## PoorSadDrunk (Nov 6, 2016)

wzg said:


> I'd recommend Janacek's Glagolitic Mass, especially it's violent Intrada:


three cheers for Janacek!

Also Mr. Groovist, try looking into the music of more modern composers like David Lang and Steven Stucky. I think you'll find their music very palatable.

Plus there's always the music of people like Varese and Boulez who just bombard you with extreme dissonance and unrelenting intensity.


----------



## w00ster (May 14, 2016)

Perhaps these would help, I compiled my favorite ''epic Russian moments'' into one track






(included in the compilation are) : 
Borodin- Polovtsian dances
Tchaikovsky - Violin concerto in D
Prokofiev- Dance of the knights
Red army choir- Po Dolinam
Red army choir- Polyshka polye
Shostakovich- 7th symphony
Tchaikovsky - 1812
Red army choir - Slavery and suffering


----------



## Kjetil Heggelund (Jan 4, 2016)

A while since anyone helped the metalhead! I forgot this piece by Marlos Nobre


----------



## elahvision (Jan 10, 2017)

How about "Rachmaninov: Concerto Piano 2"


----------



## jailhouse (Sep 2, 2016)

I don't know any George Rochberg music yet but i just found this video a friend of mine made years back and it made me lol. Gunna check out some of his music now


----------



## Armanvd (Jan 17, 2017)

I Don't Know What Other Guys Recommended So Here's My Suggestion :
Stravinsky - Firebird
Mussorgsky - Night On The Bald Mountain
Stravinsky - The Rite Of Spring
Scriabin - Piano Sonata No. 5
Beethoven - Grosse Fugue
Scriabin - Piano Sonata No. 10

Enjoy.


----------



## yetti66 (Jan 30, 2017)

I'm a big fan of stoner/ sludge metal - as opposed to speed metal or symphonic techno metal which I can't listen to at all.

3 pieces to recommend: Brahms Piano Quartet #1 op.25 - orchestrated by Schoenberg, Jon Leifs - Hafis op.63, and last - Schnittke sym #3 - 2nd movement in particular. 

Not sure if civilization could survive a stoner/ sludge - classical music mash-up


----------



## CarolTheArtist (Feb 10, 2017)

Yes, Bartok. Also while some don't consider him in the same category, Leonard Bernstein wrote music that i think would appeal to someone who loves the excitement of heavy metal. Chichester Psalms. It may not be particularly dark but it is powerful. 

the first thing person i really think of for dark and powerful is Bach - that's why Switched on Bach was such a hit with kids who liked listening to rock music. In Bach you find the powerful, the awesome, the light and cheerful, the serene and the reminder of how small you are in this world, because of its power. The B Minor mass is truly magnificent. So maybe i'm suggesting that choral music is something to explore.


----------



## Totenfeier (Mar 11, 2016)

Here's what you do:

First, Anton Bruckner. 8th symphony. 4th movement. 1st minute. Set it to repeat, if possible, or shift back manually. Crank it to 12. Push play. Listen as long as possible.

Second, same composer. Same symphony. Same movement. Last four minutes. Same procedure.

Third, Gustav Mahler. Sixth Symphony. Everything but the Andante (unless you want a break). Same procedure. Optional: crank the finale to 13.


----------

