[acidbasement]

Thanks to DavidhunterNYC and via the head-fi Xmas gift exchange in 2008, I've been listening regularly to Mozart's Requiem at work. I'd like to get more classical music, and while I often buy cheap classical records at thrift stores, my home situation (two young kids) makes it nearly impossible to sit down and listen in a dedicated fashion for a long enough period of time to appreciate the music. Listening to CDs at work is a much more worthwhile endeavour, especially because it makes me more productive by nearly eliminating my biggest distraction: the internet.

I listen to a lot of power, symphonic, and folk metal, and consequently I'm looking for a relatively high level of intensity from classical music. I want to keep an open mind though, and don't want my love of metal to limit the quality of classical music I experience.

What classical pieces would you recommend for a metalhead? Go!

 

[TheAttorney]

How about "The Power of the Orchestra", conductor Leibowitz. A classic classical recording of "Pictures at an Exhibition" and "Night on Bare Mountain". Lots of drama, lots of bombast and a great analogue recording.

 

[Ham Sandwich]

Carl Orff: Carmina Burana

 

[seacard]

There is a lot of powerful, bombastic stuff out there, although often as one movement in a longer piece. I would look at:

Havergal Brian: Symphony No. 1

Shoenberg: Guerrelieder

Mahler: Symphonies No. 2, 6, 8 (actually, I'd buy a good Mahler set and listen to all of them)

Bruckner: Symphony No. 8 (as with Mahler, buy a box set and enjoy -- they are all amazing)

Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture

Holst: Planets (esp. Mars)

Dvorak Symphony No. 9

 

[radiohlite]

Malcolm Arnold: Symphony #7

Schnittke: Viola Concerto

Shostakovich: Symphony #5

 

[keithdn]

Wagner: Die Walküre (notably the "Ride of the Valkyries")

Mussorgsky: A Night on Bald Mountain

Those two come to mind, as well as some already mentioned.

 

[Al Hounos]

great thread, i've got some searching to do now.

I'm surprised no one's mentioned Beethoven yet.

5th Symphony, Movement 3

6th Symphony, Movement 4

7th Symphony, Movement 2

9th...

 

[keithdn]

Yes, Beethoven.. also Symphony 3, movement 1

Also, Rachmaninoff came to mind. Piano concerto Nos. 2 and 3.

 

[Andy777]

I'm a metalhead who loves classical and opera. A few of my favorite metalesque pieces which have not yet been mentioned are as follows:

Verdi - Requiem
Prokofiev - Alexander Nevsky, Scythian Suite, Ivan the Terrible
Boito - Mephistofeles (an Opera but very kickass)
Berlioz - Te Deum, Requiem, and Symphony Fantastique
Sibelius - Tapiola

 

[FinnishFlash]

Many excellent recommendations above. An easy way to sample some of the most bombastic moments of classical music would be a collection by EMI called "Heavy Classix".

Amazon.com: Heavy Classix: Hector Berlioz, Alexander Borodin, Emmanuel Chabrier, Gustav Holst, Aram Khachaturian, Gustav Mahler, Modest Mussorgsky, Sergey Prokofiev, Igor Stravinsky, Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky, Richard [Classical] Wagner, André Previn

The name and cover are cheesy and I do generally not like classical sampler/ greatest hits records. But as as an introduction to "heavy" classical works to explore further, you could do a lot worse.

 

[DeusEx]

Film Soundtrack/Scores.

YouTube - The Dark Knight OST: I'm Not A Hero

YouTube - The Dark Knight OST: Like Dog Chasing Cars (1:50- )

YouTube - Transformers OST: Scorponok (2:30- )

 

[Uncle Erik]

I've been beaten to my usual recommendations, but X2 on Carmina Burana, the Planets and Beethoven's 7th!

Be sure to check out Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain, too.

Funny how some classical always seems to cross over well to metal fans.

 

[Head_case]

Hmmm. At the risk of seeing this thread go down a purely commercial and populist route, here's an antidote

Classical music for the metal head should be played LOUD! The problem with orchestral music I've found is that there are quiet passages alternating with huge volume sweeps which can be quite tiresome when all you want is a thrashing experience of musical resonances and rhythm. Individual or chamber instruments, play far more deftly than large scale orchestral pieces. That is - orchestral music makes greater use of the volume of the orchestra, whereas smaller ensemble arrangements rely on tempo/speed and the instruments' natural character.

Mussorgsky's Night on Bare Mountain or Night on Bald Mountain is indispensible. This is the classical music which got me interested in classical ....when I was about 11 years old. None of that prissy baroque and romantic stuff

Some more of the string quartet chamber music genre: this is more 'high intensity' on an introspective level:

Shostakovich String Quartet No. VIII

Gorecki String Quartet No. No. I & II (electrifying!)

Janecek String Quartets No. I & II

Grieg String Quartet No. I

Smetana String Quartet "Ma Vlast"

Alexander Tansman String Quartet No. I

Bartok String Quartets IV - VI


Some of the more unusual classical music instrumentation:

Gorecki: Harpsichord Concerto

and

Scriabin Piano Sonata No.1


Happy listening

 

[acidbasement]

This is a big list so far, and it's only been a day. Thanks! I've got some sampling and shopping and then much more listening to do.

 

[kikkomang]

i would expect that metalheads like virtuosity.

for violin virtuosity, you can take a listen to paganini, wieniawski, Sarasate
or pretty much most concertos.