Angst in Music

[canninator]

IMO the Passacaglia from Shostakovich VC1 matches the criteria you have stipulated.

[marvinbrown]

Which music has the most angst, and centers around it? What about music with:

lots of angst
contemplativeness
transcendence
world-weariness "Weltschmerz"
lack of refinement, self-control, completely indulgent
grandiose
makes you want to zone out and daydream until you stare into another dimension, and see heaven
complexity
nostalgic longing?


(even non-classical suggestions are welcome).

Thanks.

  TRISTAN UND ISOLDE  You won't find a better candidate to fit the bill!

  marvin

[Sergeant Rock]

(even non-classical suggestions are welcome).

Except for transcendence, Roxy Music's dirge "A Song for Europe" fits all your requirements.  When Bryan Ferry starts singing in French (after English and Latin), it's completely over-the-top

I sent you a low quality mp3 to sample. If you're not familiar with Roxy Music, I should warn you that Ferry's vocal stylings can be an acquired taste--but give him a chance.

Sarge

[lukeottevanger]

No, Wikipedia is always right. I must be wrong then.

[Sergeant Rock]

then wikipedia must be wrong. What is a better translation?


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weltschmerz

M's being M. Ignore him. The Schöffler-Weis dictionary defines Weltschmerz as world-weariness. So does Leo, the online German dictionary. But of course weariness doesn't mean tired in this sense, but rather pessimism or a hopeless feeling: a sentimental pessimism or melancholy over the state of the world.

Sarge

[greg]

Except for transcendence, Roxy Music's dirge "A Song for Europe" fits all your requirements.  When Bryan Ferry starts singing in French (after English and Latin), it's completely over-the-top

I sent you a low quality mp3 to sample. If you're not familiar with Roxy Music, I should warn you that Ferry's vocal stylings can be an acquired taste--but give him a chance.

Sarge

Hm, you did? Well, sounds interesting. 

  TRISTAN UND ISOLDE  You won't find a better candidate to fit the bill!

  marvin

I'm going to have to listen to that again. Went through it once a few years ago....... only familiar with the ending right now, which leaves me speechless every time I listen.

M's being M. Ignore him. The Schöffler-Weis dictionary defines Weltschmerz as world-weariness. So does Leo, the online German dictionary. But of course weariness doesn't mean tired in this sense, but rather pessimism or a hopeless feeling: a sentimental pessimism or melancholy over the state of the world.

Sarge

[pjme]

Schönberg, ofcourse!

Begleitmusik zu einer Lichtspielszene (Drohende Gefahr, Angst, Katastrophe) opus 34 / 1929/30

[Florestan]

II dislike modernity with all my being, [...]. Modern art is a distortion of what Beethoven and his self proclaimed followers were attempting to do).

Seriously Greg, you need to get over the whole modernist zealotry. There's much more to art then perversion and decadence. 

Debussy, Ravel, Bartok, Enescu, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Stravinsky --- pervert and decadent? 

[Sergeant Rock]

Hm, you did?

Yeah, to your gmail addy that's in your profile. Did you get it?

Sarge

[(poco) Sforzando]

Schönberg, ofcourse!

Begleitmusik zu einer Lichtspielszene (Drohende Gefahr, Angst, Katastrophe) opus 34 / 1929/30

And Berg, of course: the Three Pieces, Wozzeck, the Lyric Suite, the Violin Concerto.

[karlhenning]

Beethoven?

No, I don't hear Angst in Beethoven.  A stylized manner of struggle, yes.  That music of Beethoven's which sings to me most directly (something of a different matter to the music I like best axis), the emotional tone is a great distance from Angst.

The first movement of the Shostakovich Tenth?  Probably too much force and drive/purpose for it to fall within the category of Angst.

[karlhenning]

Schönberg, ofcourse!

Begleitmusik zu einer Lichtspielszene (Drohende Gefahr, Angst, Katastrophe) opus 34 / 1929/30

Perfect!

Erwartung, as well, I should think.

[pjme]

Hindemith's Sancta Susanna and Mörder, Hoffnung der Frauen

Prokofiev's Fiery angel

Dallapicola's Il prigioniero

After : La torture par l'espérance ("Torture by Hope") from the collection Nouveaux contes cruels by the French writer Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam and from La Légende d'Ulenspiegel et de Lamme Goedzak by Charles de Coster. Dallapiccola composed Il prigioniero in the period of 1944-1948.The work contains seven parts and lasts about 50 minutes.

[Guido]

Shostakovich seems to be the obvious closest match to what you are saying... Symphony no.10 (or any of the late symphonies), string concertos...

No, Wikipedia is always right. I must be wrong then.

[Guido]

There is?

I was surprised at this assertion too.

[karlhenning]

Shostakovich seems to be the obvious closest match to what you are saying... Symphony no.10 (or any of the late symphonies), string concertos...

Certainly the blistering passacaglia from the Eighth Symphony.  Though, again: is it Angst?  There's a pretty serious mega-simplification, if we take any of the major works, with their mercurial variety of tone and gesture, and just slap the posterboard label Angst on them.

[karlhenning]

IMO the Passacaglia from Shostakovich VC1 matches the criteria you have stipulated.

A fine suggestion.

[Guido]

Certainly the blistering passacaglia from the Eighth Symphony.  Though, again: is it Angst?  There's a pretty serious mega-simplification, if we take any of the major works, with their mercurial variety of tone and gesture, and just slap the posterboard label Angst on them.

Of course. He listed a few other words and descriptors which I thought also fitted Shostakovich though. But there's only going to be one Mahler (a composer whose appeal still eludes me...  )

[karlhenning]

Largely on the same page, Guido.  I've lately come to like the Mahler Ninth Symphony a good deal, but that's still exceptional for me among the symphonies.

[greg]

Schönberg, ofcourse!

Begleitmusik zu einer Lichtspielszene (Drohende Gefahr, Angst, Katastrophe) opus 34 / 1929/30

Some Schoenberg does, some doesn't. I don't think the Piano Concerto, for example, is very intense, to me. Same with Pierrot Lunaire.
There's lots of sides to Schoenberg that hint at categories I've listed..... same as Berg.


As for Shostakovich...

The first movement of the Shostakovich Tenth?  Probably too much force and drive/purpose for it to fall within the category of Angst.

That's one of things that won me over, at least. There's something about this movement, the first movement of the 6th and the 8th which is just special to listen to in the car while driving at night. I think they fit the descriptions pretty well, although I'm guessing you see something something else to see in them, rpboably. Same for the

b]Mahler Ninth Symphony[/b]

Just took another listen to the Prelude to Tristan und Isolde, after maybe two years. 
But yeah, EXACTLY what I'm looking for, Marvin's completely right.
Also, I've been obsessed with this video for a couple of months now:
http://www.youtube.com/watch/v/6XlmJtnzwkY