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Darker Classical Pieces


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Both (Beethoven and Bach) wrote some dark pieces, but neiither get quite as dark as some later composers in the Romantic period. You want orchestral or piano?

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No dark as such but certainly sombre is the Allegretto from Beethoven's 7th symphony. If it's darkness you're after then give the 1st movement of Mahler's 3rd symphony a spin, if you've got 35 minutes to spare that is! It has blistering moments of joy and lightness but they are always consumed by the darkness. For pure despair and grim emotion try Shostakovich's 5th symphony, Largo (3rd movement).

If you don't mind a bit of piano, the E-flat minor prelude from Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier book 1 is an absolutely gorgeous and highly emotional piece of sad music.

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most of beethovens music is somewhat dark. I love the sonata # 17 for grumpy music.

by the way that was chopin, from his second piano sonata.

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who composed that Funeral march ...

K.M.

Which one? I think every composer in the 1800s composed a funeral march.

Well,you know,the classic funeral March

it's this one.Chopin Funeral March

http://www.bottomtime.net/midi/classics/Classics.html

K.M

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Could try Dies Irae, Carmina Burana (the whole thing), Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis-Ralph Vaughan Williams

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Gorecki's "Symphony No. 3: Symphony of Sorrowfull Songs" is one of my favorite 'darker' pieces of music. Dark as in, not light or happy music. This is some very sad music.

I love it!

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'Dark' as in 'brooding' or as in 'bleak'? I think some of Shostakovich's slow music (typically, a symphonic largo) is exceptionally desolate and mournful. On the other hand, Wagner can be extremely dark, but for other reasons, and in other ways. There are times when listening to his music, I can't help but recall the famous comedian Woody Allen's musings on the subject.

Quoth Allen: "Whenever I hear Wagner, I want to invade Poland".

Then again, there is music that can be dark in all of its brightness: Ravel's "La Valse" is in some ways very

dark...

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Prokofiev's 3rd Symphony derived from material composed for his Fiery Angel opera.

Speaking of Prokofiev, his 2nd Piano Concerto has some wonderful dark moments. Especially the 3rd mvmt.

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Gorecki's "Symphony No. 3: Symphony of Sorrowfull Songs" is one of my favorite 'darker' pieces of music. Dark as in, not light or happy music. This is some very sad music.

I love it!

It was perfect in Fearless.

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Then again, there is music that can be dark in all of its brightness: Ravel's "La Valse" is in some ways very

dark...

Yes, this is also a very good piece. "The Mad Waltz". There is a great recording of it avail. on Deutsche Grammophon's "Ravel Orchestral Works" W/ the Boston Symphony conducted by Seiji Ozawa.

I had the pleasure of watching him conduct this on tv for the BSH's 100th birthday celebration a few years back.

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I'm looking for something like Anakin's Betrayal or Schindler's List dark and something that I can get sheet music for and not spend 20 minutes playing it.

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John Adams' 1991 opera "THE DEATH OF KLINGHOFFER" has pretty dark music and libretto given its subject matter. Still one of my favourite operas.

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John Adams' 1991 opera "THE DEATH OF KLINGHOFFER" has pretty dark music and libretto given its subject matter.  Still one of my favourite operas.
"Night on Bald Mountain" is dark and brooding :P

Combining the two ideas, Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov is a wonderfully dark opera.

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Whatever people suggest, you should at the very least listen to the opening of Bach's Mass in B Minor, preferably by Karl Richter.

That music was built for the funerals of popes.

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Actually, it's not clear if that music was "built" to actually be performed. :P It's an awesome work, though, especially the later fugues. I have to open that Gardiner box again.

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Ask John Cage. He wrote a piece of music that runs for 269 years.

They played the first three notes as an experiment. Took them a year and a half.

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No, John Cage's piece is still being played. It's expected to be played until September 4th, 2640. It was originally for piano and only took about 20 minutes to perform the 8 page piece. But since it is marked as slow as possible, they decided to play it very slow, the amount of time since the first organ was installed in the church. took a year and a half for a quarter note rest. They just finished playing a-c-f# in May. The next note change is in July 5th, 2008.

nuts.

~JW

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Why?

Because he can, I suppose. I don't know. Not like his music is even really that inspiring except for all those odd people that like the paintings with 3 stripes of yellow hues...

~JW

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Shuberts Unfinished Symph is nice...

there was another one I performed once... it was like... suppose to have been written to depict a cave on an ocean... and it was quite dark ... was that that one?

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1) Prokofiev's 5th Symphony, Movement 3

2) "Death to the Blasphemer" and "Field of the Dead" from Prokofiev's score to ALEXANDER NEVSKY

3) Mozart's Reqiuem Mass, No. 6, Lacrimosa

4) Mahler's 5th Symphony, Movement 2 (though, for some reason, people like to tell me that this piece is "happy," but they're all full of crap)

5) Holst's "Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age" from The Planets Suite

And there's SO MUCH MORE!

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What about Shostakovich's 11th... I think it was the 11th... the one with the Williamsish timpani... reminded me of AOTC, only more exciting.

3) Mozart's Reqiuem Mass, No. 6, Lacrimosa

Why pick only one bit of the Requiem? Play it all. And very good though the Lacrimosa is, I always found it somewhat overrated. If you want dark, take the Dies Irae, otherwise give me Kyrie and Offertorium. ;)

:P Revenge of the Sith

BTW, here's more info on that Cage piece.

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I'm looking for something like Anakin's Betrayal or Schindler's List dark and something that I can get sheet music for and not spend 20 minutes playing it.

someone here did a nice piano arrangement of anakins betrayal. perhaps someone can send her a link.

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Subject explains all. I'm looking for darker, more emotional pieces by Beethoven, Bach, etc.

Dark, moody music is my favorite. Especially for Classical Piano. Below is a list. Most of the songs are in public domain and you should be able to find free PDF files on the net...

Brahms: Rhapsody in G Minor, opus 79, no. 2

Rachmaninoff: Prelude in C# minor Op.3 No.2

Liszt Gray Clouds

Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody No. 3 in B-flat major. *The melody is written very low on the bass clef and hits the low A note, the lowest note on the piano. It also has some great gypsy scales

Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody No. 5 in E minor, Héroïde-élégiaque (Heroic Elegy)

Liszt Rhapsody No. 14 quasi marcia funebre

Liszt Rhapsody No. 17 Lento

Liszt Venezia E Napoli No. 2 "Canzone" Lento doloroso

Chopin Sonata No. 2 in Bflat Minor, Op. 35 *This is the funeral march you hear in cartoons, etc. it has become kind of a cliché

Chopin Prelude Op. 23, No. 20

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Subject explains all. I'm looking for darker, more emotional pieces by Beethoven, Bach, etc.

Dark, moody music is my favorite. Especially for Classical Piano. Below is a list. Most of the songs are in public domain and you should be able to find free PDF files on the net...

Brahms: Rhapsody in G Minor, opus 79, no. 2

Rachmaninoff: Prelude in C# minor Op.3 No.2

Liszt Gray Clouds

Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody No. 3 in B-flat major. *The melody is written very low on the bass clef and hits the low A note, the lowest note on the piano. It also has some great gypsy scales

Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody No. 5 in E minor, Héroïde-élégiaque (Heroic Elegy)

Liszt Rhapsody No. 14 quasi marcia funebre

Liszt Rhapsody No. 17 Lento

Liszt Venezia E Napoli No. 2 "Canzone" Lento doloroso

Chopin Sonata No. 2 in Bflat Minor, Op. 35 *This is the funeral march you hear in cartoons, etc. it has become kind of a cliché

Chopin Prelude Op. 23, No. 20

I'll piggy back on this, and also recommend (for "dark moody piano")

Liszt's Sonetto del Petrarca 104

Rachmaninoff Elegie in E minor op.3 no.1

Chopin Nocturne op.48 no.1 in C minor

Chopin Polonaise op.40 in C minor and op.44 in F# minor

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Actually, it's not clear if that music was "built" to actually be performed. :wave: It's an awesome work, though, especially the later fugues. I have to open that Gardiner box again.

No, no, no, not Gardiner...believe me, Richter (depending somewhat on the performance of course), he's the guy you want....for the more musical interpretation.

It's either people like Richter (basically the only one for me) for the more musical, romantic interpretation or the more accurate, authentic, chamberroom interpretation like Herreweghe or Hanoncourt...when it comes to Bach.

Both have drawbacks and strengths, but doesn't Gardiner sound a bit too flat?

Just got that collector's edition of Richter's Bach by Archiv....beautiful, they're older recordings, but still great.

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