Emotionally draining music

[Anne]

As soon as I heard "drained," my first thought was Shostakovich.

[techniquest]

Just a few that immediately spring to mind...
Shostakovich 5, 3rd movement
Vaughan Williams, Tallis Fantasia
Vaughan Williams, Symphony No.2 (original version), 2nd movement
and, much overplayed and messed around with as it has been over the last 10 years or so, Barbers Adagio for Strings.

[greg]

what could be more emotionally draining in all of music the moment the Mahler 9th is over? (after you've listened to the whole thing)

[Bonehelm]

what could be more emotionally draining in all of music the moment the Mahler 9th is over? (after you've listened to the whole thing)

Beethoven's 9th 1st movement is a close call for me  such an intense, destructive ending

[Steve]

what could be more emotionally draining in all of music the moment the Mahler 9th is over? (after you've listened to the whole thing)

My thoughts exactly. It's not just emotionally draining, but intellectually as well. I've tried so many different theories, different ways to objectify what it is that I'm hearing. My best narrative powers have yet to produce a complete understanding of this piece. It may be my single favourite Symphony for this reason.

[Kullervo]

Hey, I inspired a thread! 

The last movement of Bruckner's 8th is especially exhausting for me. There are so many times where you feel it's coming to a close, and then it pulls drags you further along.

[Bonehelm]

My thoughts exactly. It's not just emotionally draining, but intellectually as well. I've tried so many different theories, different ways to objectify what it is that I'm hearing. My best narrative powers have yet to produce a complete understanding of this piece. It may be my single favourite Symphony for this reason.

Steve, is M9 programmatic? If so, what is the story behind it? Just thought that would help me follow that epic piece.

[BachQ]

Pettersson 7 ........... I'm a wreck after that one ...........

[BachQ]

90% of the music written by Mahler

This is not official until 71 dB assigns a value as to what percentage of Mahler's music is emotionally draining .......

[Bonehelm]

This is not official until 71 dB assigns a value as to what percentage of Mahler's music is emotionally draining .......

Haha, well said.

[Philoctetes]

Mahler's Third (Boulez) and Fifth (Solti) Symphony
Bruckner's Fifth (Sinopoli) Symphony
Copland's Third Symphony (Any)
Dvorak's Stabat Mater (Sinopoli)
Satie's Ogives (Any)

And this could go on and on, etc.

Though the one that gets me the most, all of the time, etc. is:
Messiaen's Apparition De L'eglise Eternelle (Latry)

[Mark]

Look everyone! Philo's come home! Like Lassie. Only without the glossy coat.

Welcome back, sir.

[Sergeant Rock]

Fauré - Pavane, the choral version

Stravinsky - La Sacre du Printemp

Bruckner - Symphony #9

Berlioz - Requiem, Lacrimosa

Mahler - Symphony #6 (of course)

Emmylou Harris - From Boulder to Birmingham

Tom Waits - Martha

Tchaikovsky - finale of Swan Lake

Havergal Brian - Vivace from the Gothic symphony (it destroys me and then the Te Deum starts, those heavenly voices, and it's as though I'm being lifted into heaven on angelic wings)

Sarge

[Mark]

Tchaikovsky - finale of Swan Lake

Yes, yes and thrice yes.

[Justin Ignaz Franz Bieber]

bach's heavy organ stuff!! especially bwvs 542, 546, 582

[PaulR]

Shostakovich: 13th Symphony 'Babi Yar'
Pettersson: 7
Tchaikovsky 6: 1st movement and 4th movement
Shostakovich: Ending of Lady of Macbeth

[Mark]

Hartmann's First Symphony took it out of me, IIRC.

[Steve]

Steve, is M9 programmatic? If so, what is the story behind it? Just thought that would help me follow that epic piece.

While there is no way to be sure, many music critics have long considered the ninth to be a metaphor for the death of a man, as a long, but peaceful experience. When we consider this was Mahler's last complete symphony, as well as his farewell note to his wife in the manuscript, it seems likely that Mahler was definetely confronting his own mortality. If we consider the final movement, as the strings play on alone for long passages, suggests a peaceful submission to one's death. Yes, I have long considered this piece as a metaphor for Mahler's own conception of Death. I would love to share with you why I've found that to be problematic and incomplete at times, but that would really require an entirely new thread.

[AB68]

Mahlers's sixth

[George]

Mahlers's sixth

I bet that thus far, this has got more votes than any other.