music not for chicken wuss

[Carlo Gesualdo]

Well there is Penderecki St Luke passion that give me goose bumps, name work and composer in that vein, music that so spooky, you're like oh my god, not for the fainted heart.Is there spookier than St. Luke passion I dare you, to find me darker?

[T. D.]

You might consider
Miloslav Kabeláč, Symphony No. 8 'Antiphons' for soprano, mixed choir, percussion & organ, on the words from the Bible, Op. 54
I have this recording:

I've seen it on youtube but can't swear to sound quality (the SQ on the above CD is not stellar, either).

Less spooky, but I find Bernd Alois Zimmermann's Requiem für einen jungen Dichter really chilling. Especially considering that it's basically the valedictory statement of a suicide. That's also on youtube. I don't listen to it often because it's so depressing.

[Carlo Gesualdo]

cool thanks T.D, I will check this out right away 

[vandermolen]

Allan Pettersson Symphony No. 12 'The Dead in the Marketplace'?

[pjme]

B.A. Zimmermann's "Die Soldaten" is a hard nut to crack. You could start with the "Vocal symphonie" extracted from the opera
https://youtu.be/2coivDJgsoU

I suppose you know Ligeti's Requiem. Here's a 2018 performance from Paris : https://youtu.be/wqrJmxy4q3A


Here are a few works from ca 1970-1990 -  frightening? Possibly!

Lubos Fiser : 15 prints after Dürer's Apocalypse : https://youtu.be/Md-N_vKEnRY
                    The Lament over the ruined town of Ur: https://youtu.be/wnMxvXlL8QI

Tera de Marez Oyens : Symfonia testimonial : https://youtu.be/bY8De0nDfAc

A (classic...) filmscore: Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov Andrei Rublev.
https://youtu.be/D3REhHukPng

[Mandryka]

Well there is Penderecki St Luke passion that give me goose bumps, name work and composer in that vein, music that so spooky, you're like oh my god, not for the fainted heart.Is there spookier than St. Luke passion I dare you, to find me darker?

Benjamin Britten's Turn of the Screw. Part of the reason it's so freaky is that you don't know what's real and what's hallucination. The music, along with the 3rd quartet, is the most interesting Britten wrote too.

[Maestro267]

I personally reckon Penderecki's Utrenja is more inaccessible than the St. Luke Passion. At least I found it so. And Utrenja is the work I dove into first with Penderecki, so... /shrug I guess.

[Mirror Image]

Benjamin Britten's Turn of the Screw. Part of the reason it's so freaky is that you don't know what's real and what's hallucination. The music, along with the 3rd quartet, is the most interesting Britten wrote too.

I disagree. He wrote A LOT of interesting music. Have you explored much of his oeuvre outside of those two works?

[Mandryka]

Have you explored much of his oeuvre outside of those two works?

I think so. If you are in London you come across his music quite a lot, though admittedly less so the instrumental music.

[Mirror Image]

I think so. If you are in London you come across his music quite a lot, though admittedly less so the instrumental music.

You think so? Ummm...okay.

[steve ridgway]

Luigi Nono: Ricorda cosa ti hanno fatto in Auschwitz.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z-IUbwaMC0

[some guy]

I dare you, to find me darker?

I've told these anecdotes before but maybe not here at GMG. But they do seem appropriate. (I'm listening to the Nono that Steve mentioned right now and not finding it particularly dark or terrifying.

Anyway, when I played Michèle Bokanowski's L'etoile absinthe at a listening party awhile back, several people said it was "dark." When I relayed this to Michèle some time afterwards, she looked startled and said "But that's the bright one! If anything, it's its sequel, Chant d'hombre, that's the 'dark' one." (She was, just by the way, perplexed by the whole dark/bright thing, seeing it as impertinent. But, given that it IS a thing, she would choose L'etoile as the bright one and Chant as the dark one.)

I also played Poul Ruders' Gong to a similar group at another listening party, with the similar response from a few people: "dark."

The subject matter, as it were, of Gong is the sun.

Near as I can figure, "dark" is a word people sometimes use to describe their reaction to unfamiliar music is all.

It is very common in threads of this sort to treat reactions to things as if they were descriptions of the things. But reactions to are quite different things from descriptions of.... (I've mentioned this point numerous times, so am under no sort of illusion that this wee post will go very far in correcting that misapprehension. Misattribution I suppose I should say.)

[steve ridgway]

I've told these anecdotes before but maybe not here at GMG. But they do seem appropriate. (I'm listening to the Nono that Steve mentioned right now and not finding it particularly dark or terrifying.

Anyway, when I played Michèle Bokanowski's L'etoile absinthe at a listening party awhile back, several people said it was "dark." When I relayed this to Michèle some time afterwards, she looked startled and said "But that's the bright one! If anything, it's its sequel, Chant d'hombre, that's the 'dark' one." (She was, just by the way, perplexed by the whole dark/bright thing, seeing it as impertinent. But, given that it IS a thing, she would choose L'etoile as the bright one and Chant as the dark one.)

I also played Poul Ruders' Gong to a similar group at another listening party, with the similar response from a few people: "dark."

The subject matter, as it were, of Gong is the sun.

Near as I can figure, "dark" is a word people sometimes use to describe their reaction to unfamiliar music is all.

It is very common in threads of this sort to treat reactions to things as if they were descriptions of the things. But reactions to are quite different things from descriptions of.... (I've mentioned this point numerous times, so am under no sort of illusion that this wee post will go very far in correcting that misapprehension. Misattribution I suppose I should say.)

Yes I suppose I suggested a piece I thought the questioner would find dark. The actual piece of music feels more eerie and spacey to me, not unpleasant; it is thinking of Auschwitz as per the title that is the dark and terrifying thing. I'd rather it wasn't mentioned at all as it tries to force associations on the listener. This can be rather suspect as per the piece on Wikipedia about Penderecki's abstract, experimental composition "8'37". When he heard it performed he felt it was very emotional and began to hunt round for associations, eventually re-labelling it "Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima". I have no idea how genuinely he felt it matched but it raises the possibility of naming pieces as a marketing exercise to draw attention.

[some guy]

Yes I suppose I suggested a piece I thought the questioner would find dark. The actual piece of music feels more eerie and spacey to me, not unpleasant; it is thinking of Auschwitz as per the title that is the dark and terrifying thing. I'd rather it wasn't mentioned at all as it tries to force associations on the listener. This can be rather suspect as per the piece on Wikipedia about Penderecki's abstract, experimental composition "8'37". When he heard it performed he felt it was very emotional and began to hunt round for associations, eventually re-labelling it "Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima". I have no idea how genuinely he felt it matched but it raises the possibility of naming pieces as a marketing exercise to draw attention.

This is where I say "plus one," isn't it?

OK. +1.

I have the same preference about titles....

[steve ridgway]

Five out of six reviews for this on Amazon UK used the word "dark". The other one went for "landscapes of blight and destruction" .

[asin] B004W7GPLU[/asin]

[some guy]

Night's Black Bird made one member of the now defunct Amazon classical music group flip out as I have seen few people flip out.

Very strange choice, I would say (actually, come to think of it, I DID say), as it's a very pretty, even voluptuous piece by a composer who specializes in pretty and voluptuous pieces.

I found myself liking it in spite of its gorgeousity. (I would say, "to coin a word," but I didn't coin it. A dear friend of mine takes that honor.)

[Carlo Gesualdo]

How come no one said Olivier Messiaen and is ''apparation de l'église éternelle'' kind of dark or the frightening Turangalilla symphony.This frighten me to this day, I love messiaen works but ishe spooky, maybe this is based on me getting high and listening to his music, perhaps this music is not as scary but high it is...

Kids at home never get high  and listen to Messiaen...

[pjme]

You may like this then:

https://www.youtube.com/v/3f4qdJHatNM

I could not find a complete performance of Jean Guillou's "La révolte des orgues" for 9 organs (1 large/ 8 box) and percussion
This gives an idea however: https://www.youtube.com/v/z1XDr3ZzK0A

How are you feeling? Better?

[Abuelo Igor]

"Turangalila" spooky? But if much of it is about having sex, reaching climax and spending sweet quiet moments with your partner in bed afterwards!

[some guy]

It's the ondes martenot. Ondes martenot makes it spooky ooooOOOOooooo.

Never mind Messiaen's own remark about it's being a love song. It has ondes martenot, so it's gotta be spooky.

That makes this piece super spooky, I guess. -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooLBuCmV3Vw