Favourite "low" moments (Please read. Probably not what you think.)

[Cato]

Arnold Schoenberg's Gurrelieder: Part III, after Waldemar's last song, where his army sings that they must return to the grave ("O koennten wir in Frieden schlafen").  At the end the music descends to an incredibly low C# in the Contrabass Tubas, Contrabass Bassoons, etc. (I do not have my score handy for the bar number), right before the start of Des Sommerwindes Wilde Jagd.

[Androcles]

The ending of Nunc Dimittis from Rakhmaninov's All-Night Vigil certainly hits the depths, so to speak... I hope the instrument that is the human voice is allowed.
https://www.youtube.com/v/Oh4UTdyansM

What an excellent answer - great piece 

[Mahlerian]

Speaking of Mahler, there's also the tuba solo near the beginning of the 6th symphony finale, and just a good portion of that section in general.

Yes, that really dark chorale for low winds, the very low harp writing, and so forth are all wonderful examples of Mahler's skill at opening up colors that had been rarely exploited in earlier music.

[Ken B]

Here's a good one https://youtu.be/DxOdi3atdBY

[zamyrabyrd]

That's a tough one, the main melody is in the clarinets but a lot of lower bassoon, contrabass and cellos in the accompaniment.
Speaking of which, if there is ever such a thing as "idiomatic" in this work check out Lenny:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2JBT0HC98I

Indeed, Tchaikovsky gradually increases the range in the Allegro, not only sonority but pitch. I actually did refer to that video yesterday and enjoyed some of it.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Coming in on the backside with something for *gulp* piano:

Liszt's Il Penseroso from Années book 2. In fact, Liszt utilizes the bottom register to excellent effect throughout the entirety of Années. Check it out.

[zamyrabyrd]

Coming in on the backside with something for *gulp* piano:
Liszt's Il Penseroso from Années book 2. In fact, Liszt utilizes the bottom register to excellent effect throughout the entirety of Années. Check it out.

Oh gosh, Liszt's Funerailles plumbing the depths of the lowest octave of the piano, sounding the mournful bells, a truly impressive piece!

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Oh gosh, Liszt's Funerailles plumbing the depths of the lowest octave of the piano, sounding the mournful bells, a truly impressive piece!

Yes, another great example!

[PerfectWagnerite]

Indeed, Tchaikovsky gradually increases the range in the Allegro, not only sonority but pitch. I actually did refer to that video yesterday and enjoyed some of it.

Glad you did.

There is also a cool couple of moments in the beginning of the second mvt right before the horn enters with the main melody.

[GioCar]

The prelude to Das Rheingold. Starting with that sustained chord in E-flat major in the "deepest depths" of the orchestra and then gradually rising and winning in complexity.

Great on record, great live, but particularly magical in Bayreuth, where the sound (almost imperceptible at the beginning) seems to rise out of knowhere (due to the covered orchestra pit)...

+1!
from that low E flat an entire world will be born.
I like to think that, somehow, that low E flat is the foundation, the "ground bass" of the whole Ring cycle.

[Maestro267]

The tuba/timpani writing in the third section of Elliott Carter's Concerto for Orchestra.

I'll have to listen to that again. I've got a recording, but I've only ever listened to it once. *makes mental note*

I'm a little bit surprised that no one's included the organ in any of their favourite "low" moments. Opening of Strauss' Also Sprach, Schnittke's 3rd Symphony etc.

[DaveF]

There's a fantasia by the elder Ferrabosco called Di sei bassi which is, as it says on the tin, for 6 bass viols.  Could be the dream-music of a herd of sleeping Apatosauruses.

[Heck148]

What are your favourite passages in music scored for the lowest bass instruments?

So many - ottomh:

Tchaik Sym #6 - opening bassoon/basses

Stravinsky - Firebird - opening
Rite of Spring - "Kiss of the Earth" [just before "Dancing out of the Earth", final section of Part I - wonderfully creepy, spooky four-bar passage with two contrabassoons playing over sustained Bb-C-E triad in bassoons...amazing effect

Wagner - Siegried - opening - bassoons in thirds..
same opera - Fafner's Awakening to Siegrfried, [following famous horn call]

Schuman Sym #3 - Fugue section, conclusion of Part I, after the big timpani solo - the bass trombone pedal Ebs - which persist at length as Schuman "stacks up" the sonorities on top of it - higher trombones, horns, trumpets, etc...great effect, and tremendously strenuous for the bass trombonist, who must maintain a sustained FFFortissimo, with loud passages immediately preceding and following it. great sonority!!

[Maestro267]

The end of the 2nd movement of Sofia Gubaidulina's Pro et contra has about 3-4 minutes of really low sounds from basses, bass drums, trombones, tuba, contrabassoon etc. (peppered with a few tam-tam scrapes and the like)

[vandermolen]

What are your favourite passages in music scored for the lowest bass instruments? One of my favourites is in the first movt. of Reinhold Gliere's Symphony No. 3. After the climax (complete with tam-tam stroke et al.), the music sinks right down into the depths, with contrabassoon very prominent; this is followed by rumbles on bass drum, pianissimo tam-tam strikes and the timpani striking (again pianissimo) one of the main rhythms of the movement.

+1
Also, I agree about the Ravel PC and the opening of Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra.

[Monsieur Croche]

The opening of the two following...
https://www.youtube.com/v/jRDTcrprBiQ

if we're allowing (gulp:-) piano music, then
https://www.youtube.com/v/uDNy4YuCxdk

[Heck148]

The end of the 2nd movement of Sofia Gubaidulina's Pro et contra has about 3-4 minutes of really low sounds from basses, bass drums, trombones, tuba, contrabassoon etc. (peppered with a few tam-tam scrapes and the like)

There's a similar passage in Corigliano's Sym #1 - Mvt II Tarantella - c. ms. 203 - contrabassoon, contrabass clarinet, tuba - a very low rising line over sustained timpani percussion...it depicts the creeping, swelling madness and mental dissolution brought on by AIDs dementia...

[PerfectWagnerite]

Mahler 10th, final mvt, bass drum and tuba.

[Maestro267]

There's a similar passage in Corigliano's Sym #1 - Mvt II Tarantella - c. ms. 203 - contrabassoon, contrabass clarinet, tuba - a very low rising line over sustained timpani percussion...it depicts the creeping, swelling madness and mental dissolution brought on by AIDs dementia...

Yes, that's another recent favourite of mine. Along with the climax of the 3rd-movt. Chaconne. Absolutely overwhelming and crushing music!

[Parsifal]

The opening of Tchaikovsky symphony no 6 also featured growling of instruments in low register. Quite effective.