Time for a little Halloween Music

Mahler · 10-02-2009, 07:51 PM

As I have done in the past, here are some favorite selections for Halloween.

I'll try to post one each day up to Halloween night.

# 1 - Modest Mussorgsky: Night on Bald Mountain

Mahler · 10-02-2009, 07:52 PM

#2 - Hector Berlioz: Dream of a Witch's Sabbath (from Symphonie Fantastique)

Mahler · 10-02-2009, 07:54 PM

Since I will be out of town for the weekend, here is the third installment.

#3 - Bela Bartok: Music for Strings, Percussion & Celesta (3rd Movement)

This eerie piece could find a place in many a horror movie.

Mahler · 10-02-2009, 08:02 PM

What the hell. Here is Sunday's installment.

#4 - Gustav Holst: Mars, the Bringer of War (from "The Planets: Suite for Large Orchestra")

Mahler · 10-05-2009, 01:27 PM

# 5 - Giuseppe Verdi: Dies Irae (from the Mass for the Dead)

Mahler · 10-06-2009, 08:00 AM

# 6 - Krzysztof Penderecki - Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima

This one is an aural challenge. Written for 52 string instruments it is all the more horrific due to the subject matter. It is said that Penderecki wrote it with no theme in mind and only afterward decided that it fit the tragedy of the bombing of Hiroshima. Listen through to the end. You will hear the tension of expectation, the warning, the air raid sirens and the final dropping of the bomb.

OldGuy · 10-06-2009, 01:14 PM

That was incredibly eerie. Good stuff.

Mahler · 10-07-2009, 01:03 PM

# 7 - Henryk Gorecki - Lento e Largo from Symphony No. 3 - "Symphony of Sorrowful Songs"

I am taking a few liberties here, but since I featured a Polish composer yesterday, this piece came to mind. Gorecki's symphony to me is hauntingly beautiful, yet horrific in its subject matter. The symphony is set to the words scrawled on the wall of a Gestapo prison by an eighteen year old girl. This particular performance took place at the Auschwitz death camp.

The girl survived.

Mahler · 10-08-2009, 01:45 PM

# 8 - Havergal Brian: Judex Crederis from Symphony No.1 "Gothic Symphony"

This is arguably the most massive work ever composed for an orchestra and holds the Guiness Book of Records title as the world's longest symphony. This excerpt from the 5th movement captures a very mysterious and most gothic sounding element of the work. Brian went unappreciated through much of his life and went on to compose dozens of symphonies and other works.

stingo · 10-08-2009, 08:22 PM

I'll be hearing #2 on Saturday. (Actually, I'll be hearing the whole Symphonie Fantastique...

)

Mahler · 10-09-2009, 09:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stingo

I'll be hearing #2 on Saturday. (Actually, I'll be hearing the whole Symphonie Fantastique...

)

It's a real pot boiler, for sure. Enjoy.

I'll be at the York Symphony hearing Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto and Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony. Not spooky at all.

Mahler · 10-09-2009, 10:50 AM

# 9 - Bohuslav Martinu: Symphony No. 4 (excerpt)

Martinu is a Czech composer from the area of Bohemia. This little tidbit from his fourth symphony seems to me to have a sense of urgency and just a little touch of the grotesque.

RacerBill · 10-09-2009, 08:01 PM

I'm enjoying this. You're coming up with some interesting and lesser-known selections. Can't wait to see what's next.

stingo · 10-10-2009, 08:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mahler

It's a real pot boiler, for sure. Enjoy.

I'll be at the York Symphony hearing Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto and Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony. Not spooky at all.

It's not? Then why, after coming up with such a great opening to the concerto, does Tchaikovsky never use it again in the piece?

stingo · 10-10-2009, 08:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RacerBill

I'm enjoying this. You're coming up with some interesting and lesser-known selections. Can't wait to see what's next.

There's a few names I'm looking for myself.

sportsdad · 10-10-2009, 08:28 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCN3CjH1KNY

Mahler · 10-12-2009, 10:36 AM

I missed posting on the weekend, so here is Saturday's installment.

# 10 - Serge Prokofiev: Romeo & Juliet - "Montagues and Capulets"

Mahler · 10-12-2009, 10:56 AM

Catching up on the weekend. Here is Sunday's installment.

#11 - Dimitri Shostakovich: Symphony No. 8 - Allegro non troppo.

Mahler · 10-12-2009, 11:42 AM

# 12 - Ralph Vaughan-Williams: Symphony No. 6 (excerpt)

This particular part of the the symphony by the great English composer has a very eerie and mysterious sound.

Mahler · 10-13-2009, 08:51 AM

# 13 - Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 2 - 1st movement (excerpt)

You didn't think you would get through the month without some Mahler, did you? This funeral march from the opening of the second symphony fits the bill nicely.

Mahler · 10-14-2009, 11:16 AM

# 14 - Francis Poulenc: Concerto for Organ, Strings and Timpani. (first movement)

Composed in 1938, this concerto has an opening with all the elements needed to accompany a good horror flick; disonant crushing chords, mysterious timpani strokes, other worldly string backup.

Mahler · 10-15-2009, 10:58 AM

# 15 - Leonard Bernstein: Symphony No. 2, "The Age of Anxiety" - 4th movement - "Dirge"

I've always found this symphony to be among the finest of Bernstein's serious works. Listen for the little shift with the stroke of the tam, tam (gong) at 1:15. It just does something for me and begins a section that is very appropriate to this topic.

Mahler · 10-16-2009, 11:34 AM

#16 - Jerry Goldsmith - Ave Satani - Main Theme from "The Omen"

This needs no explanation. It just send chills up the spine.

stingo · 10-17-2009, 07:52 AM

Ok, this selection puts another name/piece to look for.

Mahler · 10-19-2009, 11:26 AM

# 17 - Igor Stravinsky: The Firebird - Infernal Dance

Mahler · 10-19-2009, 11:28 AM

# 18 - Sergei Rachmaninoff: Symphonic Dances - 3rd movement (Dance of Death)

In his brilliant set of dances for orchestra, Rachmaninoff closes the piece with an astounding movement based on the "Dies Irae" from the mass for the dead. The entire movement is split on youtube, so I have provided both links.

Mahler · 10-20-2009, 09:33 AM

# 19 - Franz Liszt: Totentanz (Dance of Death)

Here is yet another piece that uses the Gregorian Chant of the "Dies Irae" (Day of Wrath) from the Mass for the Dead for a series of variations for piano and orchestra. It is a brilliant tour de force for the soloist.