Official music of Hell

[stormx]

Mozart's music was qualified, by some musichologist, as "The official music of paradise".

What would be, in your opinion, the composer whose music can be described as "The official music of Hell"?

[xhunterjx]

scriabin, a lot of his music is demonic sounding and creepy but still beautiful.

[pies]

Ligeti?  L'escalier du diable.

[soliloquy]

Penderecki

[lisztisforkids]

A lot of atonal stuff....  I think it was in C.S. Lewis's 'The screwtape letters' were the senior devil says to a junior devil that music is ugly, repulsive, but noise, noise was beutiful, beutiful noise, noise ocupying every crack of hell.

[orlandopiano]

Penderecki

I was actually just about to say Penderecki.

I'd vote for some John Zorn too. And Kronos Quartet has done some pretty hellish sounding music.

[jre58591]

id have to say corigliano. his etude fantasy is really hellish, especially "ornaments".

[shoenberg3]

I am tempted to say Alkan. For his "underdoggedness" -- shrewd, slightly comical, dark, and ultimately cynical.

[nolan]

I would also say Penderecki...there is some Penderecki music in "The Shining." Definitely creepy.

[jre58591]

late scriabin sonatas would definitely be in hell.

[phil13]

As would Vers la Flamme, the Satanic Poem, and Liszt Dante Sonata.

Phil

[jre58591]

dont forget liszt's totentanz. the opening part is a definite thing that one would hear. also, the mephisto waltz no 1 is hellish.

[apion]

dont forget liszt's totentanz.

Definitely.  Totentanz is demonic.

[orlandopiano]

dont forget liszt's totentanz. the opening part is a definite thing that one would hear. also, the mephisto waltz no 1 is hellish.

If I got to listen to Liszt and Scriabin all day long, hell wouldn't be that bad a place. My guess is they play something a little less pleasant down there.  Maybe some scratchy Penderecki, or even better some noise music (John Zorn, Yamatsuka Eye?) or some stuff Kronos Quartet has done.

[jre58591]

or maybe hell is so bad that there is no "music". maybe the only thing youll hear is the sound of screams, burning flesh and laughing demons. according to john cage, this, too, is music.

[jas]

Anything sung by Il Divo. Doesn't matter what music it is; their cheesy singing makes anything hellish.

Jas

[Waldszenen]

Richard Clayderman

[ahinton]

The most obvious candidate is surely Alkan's magnificent Grand Duo Concertant, Op. 21, for violin and piano, whose central movement - appropriately and unequivocally entitled "l'Enfer" - gives the game away here. It's pretty hellish to play as it should be played, too (although never as a consequence of any clumsiness in the writing for either player, since Alkan had in his early youth achieved at least competence as a violinist in addition to his later legendary powers as a pianist).

Best,

Alistair

[tompilk]

ginastera concertos... i have to turn those off... argh! thats scary, but not hell sounding
Lots of liszt is scary but ive got used to listening to them so i cant tell really.
not much music scares be but the penderecki threnody for victims of hiroshima is absolutly heart-ripping. It really physically scares you like being hit with a bar. I have to listen from half way through...
Tom

[prometheus]

Penderecki? Almost all his music is about christianity...

I think this question is absolutely absurd.

[donjuan]

niccolo paganini: the only one more diabolical than Liszt

[Graf Zahl]

String quartet no.1 by Henryk Mikolaj Gorecki.

This is some of the most moving music I've ever heard. Really shocking, and definately nothing for depressive people, nonetheless superb...

Stringmusic seems to be better suited for hell than pianomusic imo.

[prometheus]

Don't you people think that happy music is more appropiate for hell? I mean, wouldn't music like that of Gorecki, like his symphony remembering us of the atricities of the holocaust, in the end have a positive influence? The music does point out that humans can do wrong things and that we are better off avoiding them. In the christian sence it would conferm that the devil exists, something that the devil will rather avoid according to christians.

This remembers me of my high school days. We had candy with smilies on them. One of my friend called sad looking smilies evil. I found that rather strange. So I argued changing it the other way around. Then he taught about it and agreed. It is not like a muderer is looking sad and her or his victim is smiling.

Of course you can't equal happyness to either good or evil. But if you are going to do that then one of them is at least totally silly.

[orlandopiano]

Penderecki? Almost all his music is about christianity...

Yeah so? It's also about hell and things like witchcraft, demon possession, satan, etc. All are prevelant themes in his operas. And I don't think the directors of The Shining and The Exorcist used his music because it sounded like Johann Strauss.

[prometheus]

Which pieces are about witchcraft, demon possession and satan?

[pianistimo]

mephisto waltz (as someone else already said) first comes to mind.  it's like u hear his antics...in music.  of course, seems like all children (and many adults) like that scary moment when u hear 'boo' and everyone runs.  maybe that's the element of scary that's ok. - but getting all demonic and stuff isn't for me.  if i played that piece - it would be for the fun -scary and not the demon scary.  i think u have to be careful with music, though (as to which pieces u choose for rep).  because rhythms can have a profound impact on people.  bartok even - can be kinda wierd.  i mean, if u practice over and over - u might end up a little mental.  webern is definately wierd in terms of how high the registers of things go.  virtuosity - period - can be a bit death defying.  i can't really see haydn playing th epaganini variations but i was surprised to learn that he was dreaming up the 'creation' when hunting and fishing. 

[jre58591]

perhaps xenakis's music. some people would consider that to be torture. maybe even messiaen, even though most of his music is based on christian ideals.

[Graf Zahl]

Don't you people think that happy music is more appropiate for hell? I mean, wouldn't music like that of Gorecki, like his symphony remembering us of the atricities of the holocaust, in the end have a positive influence? The music does point out that humans can do wrong things and that we are better off avoiding them. [...]

I do agree. Maybe I did make a mistake by putting Gorecki's music in a "hell's music"-thread, I just wanted to say that this music did move me more than anything I've ever heard before or after. I didn't dare to listen to it for a second time to be honest...

[orlandopiano]

Which pieces are about witchcraft, demon possession and satan?

The Devils of Loudun contains all of those.  The Black Mask is a psychotic thriller with some nasty elements, superstition, black magic etc. Even the more mild Paradise Lost, its main character is Satan, and a good part of it takes place in hell. 

All three of these deal in some way with one man's downward spiral from grace to evil and wickedness... hey just like The Shining. Makes sense why Kubrick wanted Penderecki's music in that film.

[mikey6]

anything with a tritone in it - the diabolus of music - I live in the 16th Century

[ahinton]

anything with a tritone in it - the diabolus of music - I live in the 16th Century

You must have reached quite an advanced age by now, then...

Best,

Alistair

[musik_man]

Mozart's music was qualified, by some musichologist, as "The official music of paradise".

What would be, in your opinion, the composer whose music can be described as "The official music of Hell"?

The Beach Boys