the scariest moment in music?

[stevie]

i dont just mean a whole piece, i mean a single moment.

not scary as in - scary hard - but scary as in - OMGIBETTERCHANGEMYPANTS

for me, nothing beats the moment the orchestra comes back in after the cadenza in prokofiev's 2nd piano concerto, first movement.

WOW!

[musicsdarkangel]

actually,

the Barber sonata (fugue) ending.

[pseudopianist]

Are we talking "AH THE KILLER JUMPS OUT" type of scarey or "Whoa... this piece is so scarey"

[Nightscape]

Here are a number of scary moments.

Yusupova's "The Birth of Venus", when the computer-generated voice comes in.

Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring" several places, notably "Glorification of the Chosen Victim"

2nd movement of Shostakovich's 8th String Quartet

5th movement of Bartok's 4th String Quartet

Several places in Scriabin's "L'act préalable"

Climactic points in Rachmaninoff's "Isle of the Dead"

I second that Prokofiev concerto.

One of Webern's Five Pieces for Orchestra (don't remember which - it has a creaking sound in it), it's not scary loud, but just extremely creepy and intense

Crumb's "Night of the Electronic Insects"

Pendrecki's "Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima"

Copland's "Music for a Great City" - the end of the first and last movements are some of the most frighteningly intense things I can think of.

[hodi]

the beginning of alkan's symphony for piano solo is extremly gothic and scary.

[Etude]

Penderecki's threnody - At the end of the first minute the slow vibrato on harmonics....

[janne p.]

The ending of Penderecki's "Song of Cherubim" for mixed chorus. Of course with the low bass F.

[JCarey]

Moussorgsky's Night On Bald Mountain.

[Skeptopotamus]

When your teacher says "I want to take you to the next level of pieces," after playing what you thought was the hardest piece ever written.

[thalbergmad]

The beginning of Orf's Carima Burana scares the hell out of me.

Actually the whole piece does.

[stevie]

The beginning of Orf's Carima Burana scares the hell out of me.

Actually the whole piece does.

its sad that this piece has been commercialied and used now on TV almost as a joke.

it is genuinely scary though, amazing what can be done with so little.

[mlsmithz]

Again, "scary" could mean either "shocking" or "eerie", and the following are not necessarily all one or the other.

Hodi mentioned the beginning of the Alkan Symphony for Solo Piano; the beginning of the third movement (also in C minor) of Shostakovich's Quartet No.4 in D major establishes a similar eerie atmosphere.  Nightscape cited the second movement of the Shostakovich Quartet No.8 in C minor; I'd also add the opening of the third movement of his Quartet No.2 in A major (the entire movement fits, really - it's played entirely with mutes, even when marked fortissimo, lending it an otherworldly air), the third movement of his Quartet No.3 in F major (a violent and terrible forerunner to the second movement of No.8 - it even shares the key of G-sharp minor with the later movement), and the lead-in to and first half of the finale of his Quartet No.7 in F-sharp minor (for that matter, the second movement is rather eerie in parts).

Moving away from Shostakovich string quartets (something I'm always reluctant to do), I'm always startled by such moments as the full orchestral burst at the beginning of the trio of the second movement of Rachmaninov's Symphony No.2 in E minor, or a similar moment after the fugal passage in the lower strings at the beginning of the trio of the third movement of Mahler's 'Resurrection' symphony.  Moments when the piece is either fading away or has been faint for a while, and suddenly - WHAM! - the entire orchestra bursts in at ff or louder. (Or even such moments at the beginning of a piece - the first chord of Dvorak's Slavonic Dance Op.46 No.1 in C major always catches me off guard.)

And then for violent passages, there's always the development of 'Quasi-faust' from Alkan's Grande sonate.

[the_ts]

The opening of Liszt's Totentanz.

[thalberg]

The Wolf's Glen scene from Der Freischutz.  Or, at least it was scarey back then.

[pianote]

prokofiev 2nd concerto

and scriabin's black mass sonata is creepy

[JCarey]

Also, according to mikeyg, my Prelude in C Major sounds like a horror movie.

[orlandopiano]

i dont just mean a whole piece, i mean a single moment.

not scary as in - scary hard - but scary as in - OMGIBETTERCHANGEMYPANTS

for me, nothing beats the moment the orchestra comes back in after the cadenza in prokofiev's 2nd piano concerto, first movement.

WOW!

Schoenberg's A Survivor From Warsaw the buildup right before the Sh'ma Yisrael.

There are a number of moments in The Rite of Spring that are pretty terrifying.

The scariest quiet moment is the opening to the 3rd mvmt of Bartok's Music For Strings, Percussion and Celeste. Pretty freaking spine-chilling (possibly because I always associate it with Redrum Redrum...)

[Skeptopotamus]

Corigliano Etude Fantasy
Cowell The Banshee
Goldsmith Score for "The Omen"
Penderecki Cello Concerto
Penderecki Partita for Harpsichord
Xenakis Pleiades

[brahmsian]

The first movement of Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms scares the crap out of me.

[tolkien]

A most scary and unsettling moment is in Medtner's Sonata Romantica. The transition from the first-movement Romanza to the second-movement Scherzo with sinister eddies of semiquavers that rush into the tempestuous second movement is truly evocative of menace and terror.

[Skeptopotamus]

mmmmmmmmm trying to play the Boulez Sonate No. 2



quite scary

[pseudopianist]

its sad that this piece has been commercialied and used now on TV almost as a joke.

it is genuinely scary though, amazing what can be done with so little.

I've sung the whole piece with my choir. We made it sound scarey in a good way.



Scarey piece: Hamelins Prelude and Fugue

[da jake]

The day I approach a Steinway in a hushed auditorium. 

[brewtality]

anything by Cannibal Corpse

[musicsdarkangel]

anything by Cannibal Corpse

LOL

HHHAAAMMMMMEEERRRR    SMMMAASSHHHEEEDDDD  FFAAAACCCEEEE!!!!

agreed

....

Well, actually, dying fetus might be scarier.

[janne p.]

LOL

HHHAAAMMMMMEEERRRR    SMMMAASSHHHEEEDDDD  FFAAAACCCEEEE!!!!

agreed

....

Well, actually, dying fetus might be scarier.

Try Deathspell Omega. Better prepare for panicking.
Also, of course, the harshness of Darkthrone is always frightening.

[musicsdarkangel]

Try Deathspell Omega. Better prepare for panicking.
Also, of course, the harshness of Darkthrone is always frightening.

I know both of those bands, I used to really like Darkthrone.

How about Darkane?

oooo Converge is really scary.

[pita bread]

Cannibal Corpse is pretty much a joke, along with The Locust

Some Emperor is pretty terrifying.

[prometheus]

Yeah Emperor has some instrumental stuff which is worth listening to.

[musicsdarkangel]

Emperor = good black metal.

[theodopolis]

Without a doubt, the end of Julius Reubke's Sonata on the 94th Psalm for organ.

[Kassaa]

Also, according to mikeyg, my Prelude in C Major sounds like a horror movie.

It does, in a good way .

I really like that prelude, and it sounds indeed scary.

[nanabush]

Listen to this recording of suggestion diabolique, and listen closely at 2:20 in the recording, is there not a person screaming in the background?!?

https://www.synergyduo.com/mp3_ruslan.htm

Just look for the recording suggestion diabolique... I swear there's something 'extra' at 2:20...

[janne p.]

Could be a baby crying in the audience.

[nanabush]

It just sounds freaky lol...and I thought that was a recording on from a cd free for dl, w/e.

[raffyplayspiano]

traumerei ....

lol just kidding
raffy

[pies]

­

[stormx]

I find the beginning of Brahms first piano concerto somewhat scary. A good choice for a terror movie 

By the way, both Brahms piano concertos are truly amazing 

[luc]

Listen to this recording of suggestion diabolique, and listen closely at 2:20 in the recording, is there not a person screaming in the background?!?

https://www.synergyduo.com/mp3_ruslan.htm

Just look for the recording suggestion diabolique... I swear there's something 'extra' at 2:20...

Lol.. Doesn't sound like a baby

[ahinton]

i dont just mean a whole piece, i mean a single moment.

I have heard it said on more than once occasion that certain moments in the finale of the piece recorded on Altarus AIR-CD-9066[3] (the third of the three CDs in the set) may fit this description but, in accordance with the line made famous some years ago by the English actor Ian Richardson "I couldn't possibly comment"...

Best,

Alistair

[nightmarecinema]

anything by Cannibal Corpse

Hahahahahahahaha

That was unexpected.

Although, I'm going to have to go with most likely, either something off of Deliverance, by Opeth, or something by Nevermore. I just can't think specifics, but those are very likely candidates.

[ahinton]

Hahahahahahahaha

That was unexpected.

Although, I'm going to have to go with most likely, either something off of Deliverance, by Opeth, or something by Nevermore.

I had thought that "Nevermore" was a piece by the English composer and pianist Jonathan Powell; not sure how "scary" it might be considered to be, however...

Best,

Alistair

[stevie]

nevermore is a heavy-metal band from seattle

i like them alot, but i wouldnt really describe their music as scary.

and cannibal corpse is just plain hilarious, not scary

they have some good songs, but their work lacks diversity, youve heard 1 album, youve heard them all

i love the song titles though, especially 'entrails ripped from a virgin's c**t' and 'necropedophile'

naturally these songs are about sexually molesting the dead bodies of infants and babies, but somehow they are so ridiculous that it isnt scary, its funny.

[Etude]

i feel quite sick now, thanks for that description stevie.

[Tash]

The first movement of Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms scares the crap out of me.

i have a friend who'd agree with you on that- we had it in our music listening test last year and she was listening to it the night before at like midnight and it was fully windy outside and stuff and there was this massive tree outside her window which kept smashing against the glass, so she's now very scarred by that movement!!

[brewtality]

nevermore is a heavy-metal band from seattle

i like them alot, but i wouldnt really describe their music as scary.

and cannibal corpse is just plain hilarious, not scary

they have some good songs, but their work lacks diversity, youve heard 1 album, youve heard them all

i love the song titles though, especially 'entrails ripped from a virgin's c**t' and 'necropedophile'

naturally these songs are about sexually molesting the dead bodies of infants and babies, but somehow they are so ridiculous that it isnt scary, its funny.

Ya, I was just kidding when I mentioned CC. Their titles are hilarious especially when people (christians in particular) take exception to them. We used to have "create CC-esque titles" threads on GW forums.

I can't think of any music that scares me, well maybe a John Williamson concert

[pianobil]

Hello, All!

     This is my inaugural post, and it seemed like as good a thread as I could begin with.

     I certainly have some pieces in mind for the scariest moment title, but I've been wondering about physical reactions stemming from "scary" music, as opposed to just exhilarating.  I’ve noticed that when a piece has a scary point, or greatly heroic, or emotionally transcendent, it all comes to that same wonderful sensation of pure emotional overload (that spine tingling thing).  So, here are a few pieces that cause me to react physically, emotionally, and completely.

Beethoven’s 9th symphony.  I realize that this may be a bit clichéd, but Beethoven was after all Beethoven, and this piece was the culmination of a body of work more emotionally intense than probably any composer before or since.  Listen to the Szell recording, or the Furtwangler, start to finish, and see if you don’t get chills by the end.  (I do realize that this is not a “moment,” but found the piece to be a necessary point of departure.)

Richard Strauss’s Tod und Verklarung (Death and Transfiguration) and Metamorphoses.  Both of these pieces are rather death obsessed, and are harmonically structured for the willies nearly from the beginning.  Strauss’s ability to pace a twenty-odd minute single movement work has a listener on the edge of their seat from the beginning.  Tod und Verklarung, especially, just overwhelms me at the point following death, where the solo trumpet plays [sol, do, re, mi, MI, RE].  What a moment.  The only problem with the Strauss is that it sakes an exceptional orchestra, as well as a creative conductor to pull it off, not to mention a trumpet player with quite the cahones.

I have one more piece in mind that trumps the others mentioned, though, and I was quite happy to see that it was the first piece mentioned on the thread.  Prokofiev’s Second Piano Concerto, and as rightly specified, the return of the orchestra in the first movement, just leaves me breathless.  This is a piece I have been working on for two years now, and have performed several times.  My personal experience is that it takes all that I have and more to even continue playing when the orchestra returns; I have already been more or less drained from the cadenza, and proven that the piano is capable of being a juggernaut of an instrument, but then the timpani followed by the tuba comes in and all but crushes me.  Thank god I only have to survive nine measures of that before the final collapse of the movement.  However, starting the second movement immediately after…ouch.  I want a nap.  I would like to bring everyone’s attention to the circumstances surrounding the composition of that work, that it was to be composed for pianist Max Schmidthof, a close friend of Prokofiev’s that committed suicide.  For more details (performance/liner notes written by the performer), and the supreme performance of this work, listen to Alexander Toradze with Gergiev and the Kirov Orchestra.

So there is my input, and thank you all for welcoming me on board.

Best,
Bill

[mozoot]

Echo Sonata for solo Violin, by Rodion Shchedrin.

[danyal]

An under-prepared performance of something like a Chopin Nocturne. A sensitive piece, usually meant to calm and rest dear gentle audience souls... But in this case (Op 48 no1) I spent the entire 5 mins or so on the edge of my seat, constently waiting for the piece, the poor girl, or both to fall apart at any moment. At the end, the piece was completely unrecognisable. She was just hitting random chords. Very very VERY scary, as I hold Chopin's nocturnes quite dear to my heart, and to play one like that is to stab my soul with a blunt butchers knife.