[chillysalsa]

Ok, I've been getting more into classical, and I've found that I hate gay / frolicking melodies, or super melodramatic symphonies. I really love string chamber music, because I find it stays away from that.

So far, I've found:
Schubert: String Quintet in C-Major (D956)
Anton Webern: Passacaglia Op. 1, & 5, 6, 10, 21, 30
Bedrich Smetana: Vltava (die Moldau)
Gustav Holst: The Planets

... all appeal to me.

Can anyone think of others I should look out for?

I'm open to suggestions, & they're much appreciated…

 

[NathanJM]

oh yeah i love the vltava....although if you listen to the entire Ma Vlast it isnt real all that dark....it ends happy.


You should check out Mahler's 6th. I got a version on hybrid SACD on the telarc label (~19 USD), performed by the philharmonia orchestra under the direction of benjamin zander. it is an incredibly performance of a great piece of music. it would definitely fit in with your 'dark' theme, as it has been subtitled "Tragic".

The edition I have contained 3 discs....2 for the 90-minute symphony and 1 that is just explanatory of the music. The symphony is fantastic....and I love the finale. I also found the bonus informative disc to be very useful in understanding more about the nature of the music...turns out Mahler had some very interesting beliefs surrounding this piece......

 

[2 channel]

I second the Mahler rec! Also try Symphony 1 "Titan" I have a nice copy of the London S.O. (CD is at home so i'm not sure of the label) It has (Forgive the spelling!) Freire zshaka performed as a funeral march. Very dark, very Mahler!

 

[phonatic]

Some late period Beethoven might appeal to you, basically anything in a minor key. His late string quartets are particularly good if you want something that isn't overly cheerful or sappy.

Mussorgsky's Bilder einer Ausstellung / Pictures at an Exhibition might also be up your alley. I used to have a CD of it that had the original piano version side by side with the orchestral arrangement. Might have been Bernstein directing.

 

[redshifter]

dark, moody?

philip glass: akhnaten
beethoven: opus 132 (and the grosse fugue)
prokofiev: symphony #6
bach: tocatta & fugue in d minor
vivaldi: concerto for 4 violins in d minor (i think that's the key.. the one bach transcribed for four harpsichords)
berlioz: symphony fantastique

 

[dngl]

Bach, Brahms, Mahler, Dvorak, Shostakovich, and Chopin composed some really heavy ****. Lots of Russian classical is pretty dark.

The darkness isn't immediately apparent with some of the pieces, but trust me, it's there. And none of those guys made any Fantasia style stuff. I like classical music a whole lot as it's my primary listening genre, but I can't stand any of the pieces in Fantasia for just the reasons you delineated, chilly.

 

[TimSchirmer]

Why not give Glenn Danzig's "Black Aria" a try?

 

[KR...]

Get these :

Beethoven - Symphony No. 9 in D Minor (Chesky)
Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 5 & 9 (Telarc)
Goreki: symphony 3 "symphony of sorrowful songs" (Naxos)
In Memoriam – Music for Solemn Occasions (Naxos)
Liszt – A Faust Symphony (Chandos)
Mahler – Das Lied Von Der Erde (Reference Recordings)
Mozart - Requiem (Telarc)
Richard Wagner - Ring Without Words (Telarc)

 

[insanefred]

I can't believe no-one has suggested Tchaikovsky's 6th! (the Pathetique) As Jon said, lots of Russian music is dark and gloomy, it is also more visceral and less polite than some western European music. I'd recommend listening to some Janacek, e.g. Taras Bulba, his string quartets, his Glagolitic Mass.

Rachmaninov's Vespers are amazing unaccompanied choral pieces which sound tremendous in an echoey acoustic with a Russian choir. There's something about the Russian language...

As for Fantasia stuff, what about Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, Jon? Ain't exactly light... Also his Firebird Suite and Symphony of Psalms.

Someone suggested Philip Glass - I'd suggest the string quartet music he wrote for an early silent Dracula film, it's fantastic! It's on Nonesuch, with the Kronos Quartet playing.

Have you listened to any Arvo Part or John Tavener? Haunting beautiful music, without being sentimental and gushy. Downright spooky at times. Summa and Fratres are two works for string 4tet by Part that I'd recommend.

Mahler wrote some tremendous music, none of which I'd say was particularly cheerful. Delightfully gloomy, in fact. Try his 5th and 7th symphonies, as well as those already suggested. Bruckner is another composer I would suggest, but I don't really know an awful lot about his music.
HTH
Andrew

 

[chillysalsa]

Thank you all so much for the guidance!

I now have 30+ entries on my Amazon.com to-buy wishlist...

Now, if any of you would like to sponsor my collection.......

 

[daycart1]

Scriabin, Sonatas #6 and #9 ("Black Mass....brrrrrr!)
Liszt, Totentanz
Rachmaninoff, Isle of the Dead
Wagner, Siegfried funeral music (seen the film "Excalibur?"
Schoenberg, Verklaerte Nacht

 

[dparrish]

Quote:

Bach, Brahms, Mahler, Dvorak, Shostakovich, and Chopin composed some really heavy ****.

Jon Beilin, you crack me up

Yeah, I guess not only does **** happen, but it can be heavy as well

Anyway, I would add to the list:

Bach: St. Matthew Passion and Mass in B minor
Veridi: Requiem
Beethoven's odd-numbered symphonies (1,3, 5, 7, 9)
Mozart Symphony No. 40 (one of only two symphonies he wrote in a minor key)
Brahms Symphony No. 1, Piano Concerto No. 1 (both "heavies"/dark)

 

[dngl]

thanks DParrish.

Bach's St Matthew's Passion was the main reason I recommended him. The solos in there are amazing- it humanizes the death of Jesus no matter what religion you follow.

I don't think Stravinsky's music is depressing. It's hard for humanist music to be depressing and I personally see most of the pieces on the Fantasia soundtrack as fluff. I'm not attacking the music; it just has no appeal to my aesthetic as the pieces certainly don't make me feel any emotions.

I also don't see Beethoven's symphonies as 'dark' (ie the ninth is an ode to joy). I adore some, dislike others, but they are fairly bombastic and chilly could rightfully call them melodramatic.

So, I'm not being a contrarian, it's just that when it comes to aesthetics there are no 'absolute' tastes.

 

[zephyr1]

Bach - Art of the Fugue
Mozart- Requiem
Wagner - Das Rheingeld

 

[insanefred]

Jon, I agree, I don't find Stravinsky depressing. I'm listening right now to The Soldier's Tale (another recommendation!) and it's witty and amusing. But I don't think Stravinsky is fluff either; it's complex and sometimes difficult to get into, but very fulfilling. The Rite of Spring, when you look at the idea behind the ballet, is quite dark and primeval, which the music does an excellent job of getting across. Perhaps Stokowski's treatment of the Fantasia soundtrack fluffifies (I like that word!) the otherwise unfluffed music?
Andrew