Favorite Spooky Classical Pieces?

[ALynn]

We have a user created spooky music thread, but how about a list of our favorite spooky pieces from classical (or any other!) literature?

A few to get us started, some quite obvious:

Night on Bald Mountain - Mussorgsky
Danse Macabre - St. Seans
Scherzo from Symphony # 7 - Mahler
Last movement of the Symphonie Fantastique - Berlioz

I won't go any further so that there are a few for others to add...

[DarwinKopp]

Three of my favourites:

Gounod - Funeral March of a Marionette
Moussorgsky - Catacombs from Pictures at an Exhibition
Holst - Mars, the Bringer of War from the Planets

[chambermusic]

Don't forget "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" by Paul Dukas

David

[Pingu]

Intake of Breath by Jonathan Rutherford - for violin, soprano, and saw.

Black Angels - George Crumb

[trentpmcd]

Liszt Totentanz

This may seem strange, but I think things like Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor make great Halloween music. I also think plain chant is the scariest style of music ever.

[Gesticulator01]

The slow movement of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik was very disturbing in 'Alien'. Not so disturbing on its own.

[kanazo]

-Rachmaninoff's Isle of Dead
-Mozart's piano concerto in d- 1st movement and Don Giovanni overture (introduction)
-Beethoven's piano trio in D (Ghost) second movement, scherzo from 5th symphony, 9th symphony 1st movement
-Bruckner's 9th symphony opening of 1st movement
-A lot of Mahler's (slow movement of 1st symphony, first theme group of 1st movement of 3rd symphony, almost the entire 6th symphony, scherzo in 7th, landler (2nd movement) of 9th)

[reberclark]

Lots of Edgar Varese and Gyorgy Ligeti, and don't forget the incredibly lonely and spooky Gayne's Adagio from Khachaturian's "Gayne Ballet Suite."

[Renan Fersy]

Very good Tips here guys!!

There is also some Bartok haunting pieces...like the Wooden Prince...there are some very spooky passages

Best hauntings!!

[Jon Bryson]

Alfred Schnittke's "Faust Cantata"

Jon

[rbowser-]

Ah - Darwin already beat me to it. When I saw this thread, something popped instantly into my head:

"Funeral March For a Marionette," by Gounod.

Younger folks may not know that this was used as the theme song for Alfred Hitchcock's great mystery TV series in the late 1950's. But before I knew it as that, it was one of the pieces on a classical collection my parents had on vinyl - and its playful spookiness would just thrill me as a toddler. I played it over and over, marching around and enjoying how weeeird it sounded. :)

Randy B.
(rbowser)

[Jon Bryson]

Younger folks may not know that this was used as the theme song for Alfred Hitchcock's great mystery TV series in the late 1950's.

Thanks to the wonder that is Nick at Nite I have enjoyed many an episode of Hitchcock!

And yes, the theme is great! :D

Jon

[LouisD]

I always found Le merle noir by Olivier Messiaen a very scary piece. I always felt creepy when I played it, especially when practicing in a practice room late at night by your self.....:wow:

The second movement of Bartòk's 2nd piano concerto also makes me feel a little uneasy sometimes.....

[Jon Bryson]

I always found Le merle noir by Olivier Messiaen a very scary piece. I always felt creepy when I played it, especially when practicing in a practice room late at night by your self.....:wow:



I'll have to check that one out! I don't know if 'scary' is the right term, but the first movement of Messiaen's Visions de L'Amen (Amen de la Creation) is certainly ominous!

Jon

[Styxx]

OK, I dunt know if this falls into this cat of gorries but one of me favorites ezz - "Aquarium"Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921)

Ezz goodt, yes? No?

[Aziraphal]

Spohr's The Last Judgement never fails to give me the chills (The Gefallen Ist Babylon part)

[Jonny Lost]

I've always thought that Carl Orff's Carmina Burana was one of the most haunting pieces of music.

Jonny