Any "sinister" sounding pieces?

[ted]

Many of Frank Bridge's piano works sound sinister to me. Whether he intended it or not is another question.

Gargoyle
The Midnight Tide
Hidden Fires
In Retrospect
Through the Eaves
.
.

[amanfang]

I think some of Liebermann's pieces sound sinister too.

[EthanT]

Buahaha....... i am a fan of the "sinster" stuff... I have a few that i play myself heh

Etude No.12 Scriabin... Come on... the melody is pretty dark .. except for the middle section where all the flats go natural =p!

One of the hungarian rhapsodies... i dont remember...the number.. but the very beginning is SO COOL! the first 4 notes make the song awsome. Starts on an octave on C, goes up to D flat octave.. then E octave, then a trem. on F octave... lol can somone plz tell me the number... my guess is Number 14... wild guess though. its 11-15 though.... dam somone tell me plz!

Then theres this song by the underrated Mozkowski, however you spell it. Caprice Espagnol No.5 i think... starts of very "sinister" =p.

I have a ton that trying to remember would give me a headache...

[EthanT]

O yeah i remembered one...

Variations on a theme by Paganini- By Lutoslawski...


I played this song as a duo, and it is very devilish! Its awsome on the violin (which it was originally made for)

[etuden88]

Schubert's Piano Sonata in A-major (second to his last sonata in Bb)...certain parts of the first movement sound sinister--but the second movement in F#minor, in my opinion, shows Schubert's eeriest writing for piano...strangely followed by two movements of his happiest...

[donjuan]

One of the hungarian rhapsodies... i dont remember...the number.. but the very beginning is SO COOL! the first 4 notes make the song awsome. Starts on an octave on C, goes up to D flat octave.. then E octave, then a trem. on F octave... lol can somone plz tell me the number... my guess is Number 14... wild guess though. its 11-15 though.... dam somone tell me plz!

Yep, Hungarian Rhapsody No.14...Brilliant piece!!  However, It's not my favorite.  You seem infatuated with the opening motif.  I like the ending more- everything from "Vivace assai" onwards..
Have you heard the orchestral version?

donjuan

ps.- stop using the word "song"!!

[EthanT]

bleh.. peice peice.. whatever  



14 rules!! ( and yes i have heard the orchestral version... also known as Hungarian Fantasia in some album)

[janice]

ps.- stop using the word "song"!!

YES!!! You SING a SONG, but you PLAY a PIECE!!  My biggest pet peeve!!

[nerd]

Bach: Fugue in c# minor from WTC I. I like the prelude, too, bit it's not so sinister IMO.

BTW, are, for example, Mendelssohn's "Songs Without Words" songs or pieces?

[trunks]

BTW, are, for example, Mendelssohn's "Songs Without Words" songs or pieces?

Pieces. Easy rule . . .

A song has music and lyrics and is for singing. The vocal can be solo or accompanied by music from other instruments.

A piece is for instrument(s) alone with no vocals.

"Song" is a very common misnomer for "piece", even among the Chinese community here in Hong Kong, and I alway correct my friends on this. So you folks out there are not alone!;)

[EthanT]

lol ok... this topic is lame, im sorry for using the term SONG!!! bad habit..

[toomuchrice]

for orchestra

gounod's funeral march at marionette

[schnabels_grandson]

Man, I am surprised nobody mentioned Prokofiev's "Montagues and Capulets" from Romeo and Juliet.  I just heard this piece recently and am obsessed with it now.

[Spatula]

SONG PIECE SONG PIECE!

(ok.....)

I think Liszt's Dante Sonata...that one is drainning...like what I posted to peterHK, but I like that (SONG, PIECE)

How is this different than a "NUMBER"?

Unless a number refers to your repertoire having more than one SONG, piece.

[Spatula]

Rach's Rhapsody on Paganini was probably the best array of Dies Irae (spelling?) motif I've come across.  It starts out playfully, but the later variations demonstrate the robust difficulties between light and darkness and its perlious struggle, with a "reflection" time in the Var 18.  Later decending back right down to the main theme and delivers its exposition in full strength at the end.

(I am not on drugs,Imagine if I were on it )

[eugene_oneg]

Menacing and sinister at the same time:

Berlioz's Berg Symphony 1st movmt.  TRY IT !! You will not be disapointed. It feels like some big evil watching you somewhere behind ready to swallow you up at any moment. You get a sensation of danger.

Rachmaninoff Barcarolle 13. It is a purely evil piece. Fast and demoniac, especially Rachmaninoff interpretation  on 'Window in time CD'.

Liszt wrote some of the most sinister music.

[Terry-Piano]

Hey i cant believe Liszt's


la lugubre gondola 1 and 2
lugubre means sinister
quite my definition of scary music

[Phantasmagoria]

hmm.. no one said the obvious choice of bach's Toccata and Fugue in Dm, also Fantasia and Fugue in Gm, Fantasia's BWV 561-563, I wonder what some of his other really creepy works are though.

come on, lets hear some more crypt/haunted house/mad genius/sinister/halloween esque suggestions!  prehaps ones playable by intermediate players, all this liszt and rachmaninov is scaring me enough in its technical aspects!

[dinosaurtales]

Nobody's mentioned Prokofiev's Suggestion Diabolique -and it's Halloween!

[Nightscape]

Has anyone mentioned "The Isle of The Dead" by Rachmaninoff?  Now that is a creepy piece.

Also "The Tempest" and 6th symphony of Tchaikovsky are a bit on the sinister side.

[Nightscape]

Hey, here's another really, really good one that no one hear has probably heard of.

"Music For a Great City" by Aaron Copland (Yes, the guy who wrote the Beef commercial music)

Its the concert suite from a movie soundtrack Copland did- the movie is kind of like West Side Story - except its about a girl who gets brutally raped in New York at night.  Its very creepy music, with a very heavy jazz influence.

[presto agitato]

Adding more:

Chopin: Prelude op 28-18, Etude Op 10-4, Scherzo num 1 in B minor.

Mussorgsky: The Old Castle from PAAE

Mendelssohn: Song Wthout Word Op 62-3, Capriccio in F# minor Op 5

Beethoven: 32 Varations in C minor Wo80

[jbmajor]

Rach's prelude op. 23 no. 3 in d minor is creepy.  It reminds me of a haunted house or something.

I always think of that when I hear Chopin's Op 25 no.10 in B minor.  Rach's prelude Op32 no 10 in B minor is also very distraught sounding throughout the middle section.

[Rob47]

WHOA! What about the opening of the 1st movement of Mozart Sonata K545! That opening c major melody is hauntinG! 

I'm listening to the scherzo from Medtner's Sonata Romantica right now and its driving intensity is kind of sinister.

your friend,
Rob