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What's your "most metal" classical composition?

post #1 of 37
10/17/10 at 2:54am
Thread Starter 

I recently remarked on my personal favourite on the 'Lets Talk Metal' thread and got some interesting and surprising responses, which led me to think; I wonder what classical music other people find to sound 'metal', or what classical music do people think has informed metal in a big way?

 

My biggie is the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by J S Bach.  I guess it's a fairly obvious choice but it has been a staple for me since I was a teenager.  I have often fantasised over the years about a metal band doing a full rendition of this piece, and I guess there would be other pieces that others feel this way about.  I'm interested to hear.

 

For the few uninitiated out there (thanks LFF):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTVraVgzC9U

 

So guys, any suggestions, favourites, or comments?  Links and the reasons for your choices would be grand.

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post #2 of 37
10/18/10 at 11:25am

Also this one- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyknBTm_YyM

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post #3 of 37
10/18/10 at 12:51pm

Carl Orff's Carmina Burana or the Ode To Joy section from Beethoven's 9th might be good candidates.

 

The Toccata and Fugue in D minor could be interesting.  But I don't think it would work to well as a whole.  Probably better if just parts of the bass (pedal) were quoted and then built on that with just hints of the keyboard parts.  To get the Toccata and Fugue to work it requires the various sounds to layer and interact.  I don't think that could really be done in metal.  Even a progressive rock band would have difficulty pulling it off.

 

Would be neat to have a metal band quote parts of Dies Irae.  It's a common theme to quote and build on in classical works.  I'm sure some metal bands have thrown it into the music at some point.

 

I've got the album "Beethoven on Speed" by The Great Kat.  It's not so great.  Just an interesting curiosity.  She does however quote classical works in a speed metal style.  The song "Funeral March" quotes the Dies Irae.

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post #4 of 37
10/23/10 at 2:43am
Thread Starter 

Great recommendations guys, thanks!

 

Please, keep them coming.

 

I had never heard all of Danse Macabre before now.  What a great piece, and some great 'metal' passages too...  I will definitely be looking that one up.

 

Interesting to learn about the influence of the Dies Irae, I'll have to learn it and keep an ear out.  The Great Kat was cool, perhaps an example of talent wasted.

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post #5 of 37
10/23/10 at 3:07am

Hmmm, that's quite a question.

 

Thinking about it, it's not just about loudness or speed but actual harmonic content.

 

I came up with:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3wYyalCslc

 

This Bartok composition was truly the metal of it's day.  People were freaked.

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uMfXh4OOx8

Stravinsky's Rite of Spring is practically the ultimate big F - YOU long before metal ever came along.

 

Mahler could also rock out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IT22BZ5gGbU

 

And if we're talking baroque metal..... Randy Rhoads and Dio style.....a lot of the melodic patterns can actually be found in stuff like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pe-MIDDfckw

 

 

Enjoy!

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post #6 of 37
10/25/10 at 12:24pm

Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ5nEG25tC8&feature=related

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post #7 of 37
10/25/10 at 4:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ham Sandwich View Post
The Toccata and Fugue in D minor could be interesting.  But I don't think it would work to well as a whole.  Probably better if just parts of the bass (pedal) were quoted and then built on that with just hints of the keyboard parts.  To get the Toccata and Fugue to work it requires the various sounds to layer and interact.  I don't think that could really be done in metal.  Even a progressive rock band would have difficulty pulling it off.


Have you tried sky's "Toccata"? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgbgUrp1a70

 

Ritchie Blackmore's Bach obessession is quite famous, and I agree entirely about Beethoven's 9th, esp. the 4th movement. Pictures at an exhibition, yes, but I always think the ELP version. FWIW, I actually started on ('70s) metal, then headed back into the classical repertoire, and my tastes have moved from the "metal-like" to chamber music as I've aged....

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post #8 of 37
10/25/10 at 4:29pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmkDMTU-hb4

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post #9 of 37
10/25/10 at 11:18pm

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by inego View Post


Have you tried sky's "Toccata"? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgbgUrp1a70

 

Ritchie Blackmore's Bach obessession is quite famous, and I agree entirely about Beethoven's 9th, esp. the 4th movement. Pictures at an exhibition, yes, but I always think the ELP version. FWIW, I actually started on ('70s) metal, then headed back into the classical repertoire, and my tastes have moved from the "metal-like" to chamber music as I've aged....


 

That's the first I've heard Sky's version of the Toccata.  It's a Bach meats Classical Gas kind of version.  Unfortunately they seem to have forgotten what a toccata is supposed to be.  The playing is too constrained.  A toccata should be more free flowing and virtuosic.  It's something where the soloist(s) can go crazy with.  And that's the purpose of a toccata.

 

I think Vanessa-Mae does it better.  Very much in keeping with the toccata style.  If only a hard/heavy rock band and a screaming electric guitar could pull it off like that.

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post #10 of 37
10/26/10 at 7:34pm

Wasn't saying it was good (although thought it was more than OK in '79/80), just thinking it was something approaching a prog version. And I think I'll keep avoiding Vannessa Mae, thanks for the kind offer smily_headphones1.gif

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post #11 of 37
10/27/10 at 1:14pm

Am I allowed to reverse this?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nrXu5O4reg

 

Otherwise, the holy grail of metal classic:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfLg1Tvnl28

 

Yeah, it's strange but I've found no other version of this piece that renditions it better... especially:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfLg1Tvnl28#t=1m40s (those seconds are amongst the most powerful bars of music I've ever heard)

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfLg1Tvnl28#t=2m17s (and here for just a couple of seconds, you feel like you can take on the world)

 

(It's Dies Irae from Verdi's Requiem, second movement I think, btw.)

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post #12 of 37
10/28/10 at 1:31am
Thread Starter 

I'm loving the cheesy versions of the Toccata.  It takes me back to the very first record I ever bought; Hooked on Classics Volume One .  As a 14 year old kid, I was in musical heaven.

Please post more.  I think I'm going to start a collection, starting with getting a nos copy of Hooked...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xng_QbhHGY

Not very metal, but what the hell, I love J. L.

 

 

 

On a another level entirely, the Bartok and Stravinsky is the kind of meat I am after.  That's powerful stuff that will reward repeated listens.  Many thanks D.M. for that and what appear to be top performances too.  Wild and untamed dissonance indeed!  Thats what I like about some metal; it can be quite challenging and rewarding to absorb, and one feels the better for having made the effort.

 

Two examples for your consideration:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rq1K83oZ6JI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksutNW3HFT8&feature=related

 

edit: replaced incorrect link


Edited by rehabitat - 10/28/10 at 2:00am
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post #13 of 37
10/28/10 at 1:54am
Quote:
Originally Posted by inego View Post

Wasn't saying it was good (although thought it was more than OK in '79/80), just thinking it was something approaching a prog version. And I think I'll keep avoiding Vannessa Mae, thanks for the kind offer smily_headphones1.gif



He he.  smily_headphones1.gif

I apologize for the Vanessa-Mae link.  That was a dirty trick by me.  

 

It is interesting though as a curiosity and an example of what can be done when updating classical pieces to be more modern.  I have Vanessa-Mae's "The Violin Player" CD because of the Toccata.  It's the same reason I have the CD by The Great Kat.  Examples of what can be done (either successfully or not) when redoing a classical work to be more modern or more rock or even slightly metal.

 

I do like the Sky version of the Toccata.  It follows what I suggested earlier the the thread of taking little recognizable bits of the Toccata and expanding on those parts rather than trying to do the piece as a whole.  Unfortunately they didn't do it as I thought it would sound in my head.

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post #14 of 37
10/28/10 at 4:36am
To me it's Beethoven's 9th, but the second movement (molto vivace), rather.
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post #15 of 37
10/28/10 at 6:35am

Personally, I'd say Brahms'  First Symphony. Pretty intense stuff.

 

I'm surprised no one said "Mars, the bringer of war" by Holst yet. Definitely as metal as classical can get.

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