[mbhaub]

If you want mystic and occult, look no further than the piano music rendered by Rosemary Brown, who allegedly took dictation from Liszt, Chopin, and company. Was a modest sensation back in the 60s.
 
Ligeti wrote plenty of creepy music - Atmospheres is enough to make anyone's hair stand on end.
 
You want creepy orchestral music: check out the symphonies, any of them, by Humphrey Searle. Weird, scary and interesting as all heck.
 
Howard Shore: I read somewhere that his soundtrack for LOTR is considered to be the greatest soundtrack of all time. Really? What criterion? Better than anything of Korngold, Waxman, Steiner, Herrmann? I love the movies, and the music is quite effective and adds a lot. There's even a well produced book all about the score. But...the soundtracks don't stand up by themselves outside the movies. The cds are rather boring. Even the LORT in Concert that was making the rounds a few years ago taxes the listener. But there are scores by the masters of Hollywood scoring that make great concert pieces.

 

[Hutnicks]

  If you want mystic and occult, look no further than the piano music rendered by Rosemary Brown, who allegedly took dictation from Liszt, Chopin, and company. Was a modest sensation back in the 60s.
 
Ligeti wrote plenty of creepy music - Atmospheres is enough to make anyone's hair stand on end.
 
You want creepy orchestral music: check out the symphonies, any of them, by Humphrey Searle. Weird, scary and interesting as all heck.
 
Howard Shore: I read somewhere that his soundtrack for LOTR is considered to be the greatest soundtrack of all time. Really? What criterion? Better than anything of Korngold, Waxman, Steiner, Herrmann? I love the movies, and the music is quite effective and adds a lot. There's even a well produced book all about the score. But...the soundtracks don't stand up by themselves outside the movies. The cds are rather boring. Even the LORT in Concert that was making the rounds a few years ago taxes the listener. But there are scores by the masters of Hollywood scoring that make great concert pieces.

I'll go plus one on Ligeti. Have to check out Searle, sounds interesting.
 
Howard Shore???????? LOTR???????? really. Very little if anything coming out of hollywood is not derivative and mostly directly at that, from Great composers. Were they all alive today they would be getting rich taking the soundtrack makers to the courts.

 

[extrabigmehdi]

  If you want mystic and occult, look no further than the piano music rendered by Rosemary Brown, who allegedly took dictation from Liszt, Chopin, and company. Was a modest sensation back in the 60s.

Nice suggestion , but it seems the recordings are hard to find.
 

Atmospheres is enough to make anyone's hair stand on end.

 Used in a soundtrack from Stanley Kubrick.
 

Howard Shore: I read somewhere that his soundtrack for LOTR is considered to be the greatest soundtrack of all time.

Well, I've never seen as much critics as here,  regarding Howard Shore 

. Maybe a reaction to the hype.
If you look at filmtracks , each soundtrack of the trilogy , and also "Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" are rated 5 stars.
http://www.filmtracks.com/composers/shore.shtml
I  thought that the soundtrack for "silence of  the lamb" was a bit interesting, but only rated 3 stars there ....

 

[perhapss]

Hello all:
 
My 2 cents:
 
Ligeti Project on Telarc.
All disks are perfect for this repertoire in this set.
 
Bach B Minor Mass Leonhardt.
Amazing.
 
Bartok String Quartets with either Hungarian string quartet or Tokyo.
Depends on mood but both are stunning and illuminating.
 
Debussy Orchestral Music with Haitink and RCO.
The 2 disks on Phillips(or the old records if available).
Seriously.
 
Stravinsky Le Sacre de Printemps with Boulez and Cleveland.
Boulez is definitely hit or miss for me but don't let his presence on this recording  prejudice you in any way; just listen.
 
In way of Boulez I'm also fond of his Mahler 3 with Vienna.
Nothing if not thought provoking compared with the many other storied versions of the past
or even Chailly and RCO.Absolutely amazing recording if nothing else.
 I know many Mahler folks may dismiss this but....
 
Maybe not comprising any of the best classical recordings ever but I'm also very fond of the Austrian "Kairos" label and their advanced modern perspective these days.
Also amazing sonics (even if you don't care for this sort of hyper-modern music).
Perhaps my favorite on this label would be Georg Fredrich Haas's "In Vain".
 
Just some thoughts....

 

[seb7]

Another composer that was really into mysticism was Scriabin. I'm not really a fan of his music but he developed quite an adventurous style especially in his later works.
 
The expressionist movement had some chilling music like Schoenberg's 'Pierrot Lunaire' which uses sprechstimme (part spoken and part sung) which can sound pretty creepy

 

[Drosera]

  I 'm not a fan of  operas, but for something well known to be creepy , there's "Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima" by Penderecki.

Although (to be a know-it-all), that title was only tagged on in retrospect. (After composing it and noticing that he had composed quite an emotionally charged work, Penderecki decided it would be a waste not to give it a harrowing title as well.)

 

[Edgard Varese]

   
 
I own these two recordings of Bruckner's #9 but haven't listened to them yet, so can't comment:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002VYE0E/
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000001GAM/

 
First one I found to be a bit meh, but the second one (Giulini) gave me goosebumps it was so powerful. 

 

[Edgard Varese]

   
 
Stravinsky Le Sacre de Printemps with Boulez and Cleveland.
Boulez is definitely hit or miss for me but don't let his presence on this recording  prejudice you in any way; just listen.
 
In way of Boulez I'm also fond of his Mahler 3 with Vienna.
Nothing if not thought provoking compared with the many other storied versions of the past
or even Chailly and RCO.Absolutely amazing recording if nothing else.
 I know many Mahler folks may dismiss this but....
 
 

 
I have the Boulez Stravinsky box and like it very much... he understand this music, I think.  I was also pleasantly surprised by the Boulez Mahler 8, which I didn't really expect to be very good (Boulez and Mahler is a rather odd combination), but it was excellent.

 

[extrabigmehdi]

  Another composer that was really into mysticism was Scriabin. I'm not really a fan of his music but he developed quite an adventurous style especially in his later works.

 
I looked at wikipedia, and the synesthesia claim is interesting. From what I've understood  he composed a music piece "Prometheus" , intended to display colors at same time.
How the colors are associated to a keyboard:
 

 

[mbhaub]

   
First one I found to be a bit meh, but the second one (Giulini) gave me goosebumps it was so powerful.

Actually, the Wand is one of the great recordings. Giulini is no slouch either. I've spent the last 40 years listening to the 9th with only three movements. But in recent years, several brave souls have taken Bruckner's sketches and have attempted to make a viable finale. There are two competing versions. Having lived with the four movement version, I can't imagine the 9th with only three anymore. The Rattle/Berlin is terrific. Purists will complain it's not authentic Bruckner. Get over it. In that sense, the Mozart Requiem, Mahler 10th, Berg Lulu, Puccini Turandot aren't authentic either, and no one wants to reject those works.

 

[HPiper]

Just dropped by to thank whomever suggested Karajan's Beethoven's 9th Symphony on DG to me as a really good '9th'. I just got it yesterday and I have to admit I am astounded at what a great recording this is, not just the performance but the recording quality as well is just worlds better than I have heard before. Now I need to get the rest of the 'set' because this is just too good to pass up.

 

[Edgard Varese]

  Actually, the Wand is one of the great recordings. Giulini is no slouch either. I've spent the last 40 years listening to the 9th with only three movements. But in recent years, several brave souls have taken Bruckner's sketches and have attempted to make a viable finale. There are two competing versions. Having lived with the four movement version, I can't imagine the 9th with only three anymore. The Rattle/Berlin is terrific. Purists will complain it's not authentic Bruckner. Get over it. In that sense, the Mozart Requiem, Mahler 10th, Berg Lulu, Puccini Turandot aren't authentic either, and no one wants to reject those works.

 
I haven't heard the Rattle (the constant praise he gets from Penguin et al tends to annoy me so I usually avoid him) but I have a complete 9th by Inbal which I think is excellent (I have Syms 3-9 by Inbal and recommend them all).

 

[Edgard Varese]

  Just dropped by to thank whomever suggested Karajan's Beethoven's 9th Symphony on DG to me as a really good '9th'. I just got it yesterday and I have to admit I am astounded at what a great recording this is, not just the performance but the recording quality as well is just worlds better than I have heard before. Now I need to get the rest of the 'set' because this is just too good to pass up.

 
Which one?  There are three DG cycles... (1960s, 1970s, 1980s)...

 

 

[sh4dowd4ncer]

Hi there,
 
just for the record, as far as I know, there area four Beethoven cycles conducted by Karajan.
Although not being with Berliner Philharmoniker, there are also a few opinions that the 1st (from the 50s) was the best:
http://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-9-Symphonies-~-Karajan/dp/B000002S1H
 
Cheers

 

[HPiper]

  Hi there,
 
just for the record, as far as I know, there area four Beethoven cycles conducted by Karajan.
Although not being with Berliner Philharmoniker, there are also a few opinions that the 1st (from the 50s) was the best:
http://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-9-Symphonies-~-Karajan/dp/B000002S1H
 
Cheers

Not sure I am looking at the right place but I see the date 1963 (LP) on it.Then next to that it says (2003) cd