Looking for dark classical recording

[mbhaub]

What is "Dark Classical"? If you mean music that is darkly scored, profoundly disturbing, even creepy, look no further than the symphonies of Humphrey Searle. Watch the original (and great) B/W movie The Haunting. Is that music dark enough? It was written by Searle. His music is very modern, very serial, downright terrifying and creepy. He is not to everyone's taste, and most people hate it from the start.
If you like it, then move on to the symphonies of Robert Simpson, which have just been released in a convenient boxed set. Very similar in style to Searle. It must be something in the English water, because another composer from the UK, Gavin Bryars also writes disturbingly dark music. You must hear The Sinking of the Titanic.

 

[technobarbie]

Speaking of creepy, how about Morton Feldman's Piano and String Quartet.

 

[kevinsinnott]

I know you mentioned classical music, but the soundtracks done by Bernard Herrmann are often pretty creepy and he was very influenced by some of the names mentioned here.

Three more Symphonie Fantastique recordings to recommend:

Roger Norrington - EMI - from the authentic music school, I found this surprisingly haunting, and I avoided it because of a bad review.

Vassil Kazandjiev, Sofia Symphony - Laserlight - an inexpensive but very dramatic recording. The conductor is also a composer. The orchestra doesn't sound as large as some recordings, but plays so powerfully, it doesn't matter. The mental instability of the piece's main character comes through.

Andre Cluytens - EMI - Classic French recording with the great Belgian conductor. Mine has the old artless cover, but the recording (a bit of hiss) is smooth and the performance is top flight. In many ways a first choice, but the above two are possibly "darker".

 

[golgi]

Definitely get the Reference Recordings cd of Mephisto & Co. This contains excellent performances with exceptional recording quality of Mussorgsky, Saint Saens: Dance Macabre, etc. A great start for this area of orchestral works.

 

[Enverxis]

meanwhile not strictly classical, more like Neoclassical + Darkwave, I suggest

Elend - The Umbersun
Elend - Winds Devouring Men
Elend - Sunwar the Dead

www.elend-music.org

Samples: http://www.elend-music.org/downloads...show&cat=music

Can't get much darker than this

 

[eyeresist]

Quote:

Originally Posted by luidge St. Saens - La danse macabre Chopin - Nocturne

Liszt: Piano Concertos 1 & 2, Totentantz
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2, Isle of the Dead
Mussorgsky: Night on Bald Mountain, Pictures at an Exhibition

 

[Nova]

You might like Murcof. They are electronic but use dark minimalist classical samples over a light beat. I have trouble finding a similar sound, electronic or orchestrated.

Does anyone know any good dark minimalist classical? I'm thinking maybe strings and/or piano.

 

[Enverxis]

You mean Neo-classical ?

You could try

Autumn Tears (Eclipse only)
Dark Sanctuary
Dargaard
Elend
Lupercalia
Ataraxia
Sopor Aeternus
Unto Ashes

 

[boomana]

Re modern composers, I emphatically agree with the Gorecki 3rd suggestion, and it's heart-wrenchingly beautiful. All Gorecki is dark, but the 3rd is spectacularly so. I'm a Morton Feldman fan, but I never really thought of his work as dark before; maybe that's just me.

I would like to suggest almost everything by Arvo Part. Even Alina, which is sooo delicate, is dark in it's way...definitely get Alina. I've been listening to Lamentate this evening. It certainly fits your request, but you might want to start with Di Profundis. My favorite is Kanon Pokajanen with the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, but it's a thickly religious choral work and not everyone's cup of tea. Anyway, Arvo is your man.

And Gorecki. And Shostakovich. Oh, and what about the ever popular Mozart Requiem?...can't go wrong there.

BTW, thanks for this thread. My tastes lean this direction as well, and I'm always open for new suggestions.

 

[luidge]

Wow thank you all i nearly forgot i post this thread and normaly 1 or 2 people answer in some time in the music forum but wow such a great response! Ill be listening to a lot of classical music from now on, ill let you know about my experience when ill get to listen to all of them music i just downloaded, and therafter ill buy my best of, thank you. Feel free to pursue this thread as i believe it will help other neophites. Thank you all. BTW classical is great to download, every source i find are in FLAC or APE and they sound rich...gonna be hard to let the wallet loose on this one

 

[eyeresist]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nova Does anyone know any good dark minimalist classical? I'm thinking maybe strings and/or piano.

What do you mean by "minimalist classical"?

 

[Enverxis]

probably chamber music and.or duets, and neo-classical

 

[SoundGoon]

I would reccomend perhaps Night on Bald Mountain, and Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. I would also recommend checking out the Russian 5.

 

[SoundGoon]

Didn't bother to read some of the other posts....hmmmm. A minimalist that comes to mind would be Phillip Glass. If you're into that genre, check him out; a string quartet called the Kronos Quartet has done alot of his work. He also has wirtten some haunting piano works

He is one of the most well know composers and advocates of minimalistic music. Good luck and Good listening.

 

[FalconP]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nova Does anyone know any good dark minimalist classical? I'm thinking maybe strings and/or piano.

Michael Nyman's Memorial , the quintessential minimalist dirge. The album Tristesse , by Paul Sauvanet, is also slow, pensive and minimalistic.