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Topic: Dark Piano Pieces  (Read 3459 times)

Offline chucksutton

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Dark Piano Pieces
on: July 30, 2020, 08:38:40 PM
Looking for some more dark piano pieces, something with a creepy vibe or heavy bass. Need recommendations.

Something I always enjoyed playing was Scriabin prelude in C sharp minor (op 24 no 10).
Schubert's Erlkonig, Rachmaninoff's Isle of the Dead or the patented prelude in c sharp minor, Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor. I need more! Some that are preferably designed for piano and not transcribed but anything will do.
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Offline ted

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Re: Dark Piano Pieces
Reply #1 on: July 30, 2020, 09:14:01 PM
Something by Frank Bridge perhaps ? “Gargoyle”, “The Midnight Tide”, “Hidden Fires” and several others spring to mind.
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Offline j_tour

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Re: Dark Piano Pieces
Reply #2 on: July 31, 2020, 01:15:38 AM
Well, from Brahms, either the Op. 118 no. 6, or either of the Rhapsodies Op. 79.

If you want pretty dark, you could surely do a better job than i am with Scriabin's Op. 74 préludes right now.  I'm not going to dare mention any of Scriabin's later sonatas, mainly because there's absolutely no way I can recommend something I am very far being able to play, both technically and musically.

You have a lot of options in Bach, which you should probably pick and choose for yourself.  Or you have the Op. 26 sonata of Beethoven, or even some of his bagatelles from Op. 126.

Prokofiev's Seventh Piano Sonata.  I wouldn't say dark, but very heavy.  I'm not sure if the distinction is meaningful.

And since you mention Schubert, many of the pieces from the Winterreise are rather somber.  Of course, they're songs, but you could play the accompinaments pretty easily, and, although it's been a while since I looked at the parts, I think you could cover the vocal parts in some if not many cases.

Berg's Op. 1 piano sonata is not overly difficult for technique, and it's rather dark, but it's quite a handful to actually play it beyond just sight-reading it here and there.  I'm fairly sure someone here analyzed this piece for at least a chapter of his doctoral disseration, and I'm also fairly sure that many people here have played this work to a better level than me just plinking around with it over the years.
My name is Nellie, and I take pride in helping protect the children of my community through active leadership roles in my local church and in the Boy Scouts of America.  Bad word make me sad.

Offline klavieronin

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Re: Dark Piano Pieces
Reply #3 on: July 31, 2020, 08:22:27 AM
It doesn't get much darker than Liszt's "Unstern! Sinistre, Disastro" if you ask me.

Offline visitor

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Re: Dark Piano Pieces
Reply #4 on: August 01, 2020, 02:09:36 PM

Always liked this one

Offline visitor

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Re: Dark Piano Pieces
Reply #5 on: August 01, 2020, 02:10:46 PM
This is is cool , some neat arrangements out there  for Habermans prelude , There's some options to choose from. For effect is is O'Riley w his

Offline ranjit

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Re: Dark Piano Pieces
Reply #6 on: August 01, 2020, 04:18:19 PM
Here's one you should definitely check out.

Offline rachmaninoff_forever

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Re: Dark Piano Pieces
Reply #7 on: August 01, 2020, 08:23:34 PM
Le Gibet And scarbo
Live large, die large.  Leave a giant coffin.

Offline lowk-_-y

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Re: Dark Piano Pieces
Reply #8 on: August 07, 2020, 03:18:47 AM
Firstly because you mentioned Isle of the Dead which (as far as I know) is NOT a piano piece I feel justified in suggesting Gorecki Symphony No.3. Give it a listen.

So by composer:

Rachmaninoff
Chopin Variations
Corelli Variations
Elegy Op.3 No. 1
Moment Musicaux No.3
Piano Trio 2 in D minor Op.9


Chopin
Sonata 3 Mvt 4
Sonata 2 Mvt 3
Polonaise Op.44 F sharp Minor
Prelude No.2


Beethoven
Sonata Op 2 No.1 4th Mvt
Pathetique 1st Mvt
Sonata Op.10 No.3 2nd Mvt


Scriabin
Etude Op 42 No.5
2 Preludes Op.27
Prelude Op 11 No.6, No. 14, No. 24

Godowsky
Passacaglia (More to listen than to play)

Webern
Sats Für klavier
Sonatensatz Für klavier

Schoenberg
3 Pieces Op 11

A few that come to mind

Offline cuberdrift

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Re: Dark Piano Pieces
Reply #9 on: September 06, 2020, 11:41:55 AM
Here's a textbook example.



Sheet music link: https://imslp.org/wiki/Tr%C3%BCbe_Wolken,_S.199_(Liszt,_Franz)

Offline sachmaninoff

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Re: Dark Piano Pieces
Reply #10 on: September 22, 2020, 07:09:08 AM
Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in b minor op. 32 no 10

Other one maybe no 12 in g sharp minor but that’s not as dark as the b minor

:’)

Offline keystosuccess

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Re: Dark Piano Pieces
Reply #11 on: October 01, 2020, 11:01:33 PM
I always found Debussy's "To a Nameless Tomb" to be really haunting but strangely beautiful.

Offline musikalischer_wirbelwind_280

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Re: Dark Piano Pieces
Reply #12 on: October 02, 2020, 06:47:00 AM
Off the top of my head, chap:

• Prokofiev - Visions fugitives, nos.17 and 20, timestamps 17:30 and 20:38, respectively:



And the first movement of his second concerto (there's a piano solo transcription at IMSLP):



• Scriabin - Sonata no.6:



As well as his "Black Mass" one, of course:



• Bartók - Out of doors: Night music, starts at 6:40:



• Ginastera - Piano Sonata, 3rd mov., timestamp's 6:31:



• Medtner - Idyll op.7 no.1:



• Satie - Gnossienne no.3:



• Bernal Jiménez - Carteles: Pordioseros:



• Pärt - Für Alina:



• Mompou - Música callada: nos.VI and XVI, timestamps 10:01 and 31:16, respectively. I've always found the latter's opening and closing section's tempo way too fast; sounds much darker and menacing when played rather slowly. Just my two cents, though.


Offline keystosuccess

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Re: Dark Piano Pieces
Reply #13 on: October 02, 2020, 10:20:18 AM
Maybe also the Nocturne in C#m by Chopin

Offline aaaaaa

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Re: Dark Piano Pieces
Reply #14 on: October 05, 2020, 05:13:39 AM
Extremely creeply, but not heavy at all, so I'm not sure if it's what you're looking for, but I really like Le Gibet, the second movement of Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit. It's about a body hanging in the gallows with a blood red sunset and silence except for distant church bells and the occasional insect.

Offline robmob

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Re: Dark Piano Pieces
Reply #15 on: November 17, 2020, 11:55:58 AM
I miss this one in the excellent replies above:
Rossini (Péchées de Vieillesse): Memento Homo

Offline anacrusis

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Re: Dark Piano Pieces
Reply #16 on: January 24, 2021, 09:19:49 PM
Many excellent suggestions in this thread. I'd add Chopin's Nocturne in c sharp minor op 27 no 1. The outer sections have a very dark vibe to them, even if it ends on a picardy third. The middle section starts with a great ominousness as well.

Offline roncesvalles

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Re: Dark Piano Pieces
Reply #17 on: January 25, 2021, 07:30:11 PM
What level are you at?
Late Liszt works, including the troisieme annee de pelerinage.
Alexei Stanchinsky, first esquisse in c minor from 12 esquisses. Piano sonata in E flat minor
Assorted works by Feinberg
Explore Prokofiev
Various works by Nikolai Obukhov (Nicolas Obouhow)
Preludi Autunnali by Malipiero
Tausig's Ghost Ship
Chopin's A minor Prelude, Etude Op. 25 no. 10
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