# A CD's worth of dark music **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 23, 2004, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cds-worth-of-dark-music/281250 "2004-12-23T00:18:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Paladud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Paladud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paladud)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cds-worth-of-dark-music/281250/1 "2004-12-23T00:18:17Z")
I’m trying to compile a disk of darkness/despair/horror themed music. It will be pretty much for personal use. Mostly looking at classical, and will probably only have two specific vocal pieces; instrumental from other genres might work. So far I’m looking at: -Dies Irae from Mozart’s _Requiem_ (Perhaps it should be the first piece? might be interesting to open and close with vocal). -Second movement from Shostakovich’s _String Quartet #8_ or its symphonic version. -In Diesem Wetter from Mahler’s _Kindertotenlieder_ (This will be the closing piece). Another possible piece to stick in there is the Tristram theme from the original Diablo, though I’m not sure how well it would work. Any thoughts as to what else to throw in are greatly welcome. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cds-worth-of-dark-music/281250/2 "2004-12-23T00:36:14Z")
You’ve got the Shostakovich angle covered, but on a similar-yet-different vein, try Prokofiev, fifth symphony, slow movement (it’s either the second or third). Nick Cave: _The Mercy Seat_, _The Curse of Millhaven_, and plenty more… Some parts of Bach’s St John Passion are pretty bleak, although I susepct out-of-context they will lose some of their effect. Dido’s Lament from Purcell’s _Dido & Aeneas_ is heart-breaking, and despite being a staple of Remembrance Sunday hasn’t quite become a cliche. I guess the obvious suggestion from Berlioz’s _Symphonie Fantastique_ needs to be made, although I’d personally rather eat nails 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cds-worth-of-dark-music/281250/3 "2004-12-23T00:41:19Z")
Bach’s _Tocata and Fugue in D Minor_? It’s my favorite piece although I am an admitted neophyte. ---
**Author:** ![Paladud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Paladud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paladud)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cds-worth-of-dark-music/281250/4 "2004-12-23T01:07:53Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > I guess the obvious suggestion from Berlioz’s _Symphonie Fantastique_ needs to be made, although I’d personally rather eat nails 😉 May I ask which part? Never heard it in its entirety. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cds-worth-of-dark-music/281250/5 "2004-12-23T01:13:40Z")
> [@Paladud](#): > > May I ask which part? Never heard it in its entirety. The final two movements ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cds-worth-of-dark-music/281250/6 "2004-12-23T01:19:49Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > Bach’s _Tocata and Fugue in D Minor_? It’s my favorite piece although I am an admitted neophyte. I love this piece! When I was a kid in San Diego, there was a place called Organ Power Pizza. It had animated mounted animal heads on the wall that would crack wise (I guess sort of like Chuck E. Cheese’s, though I’ve never been to one), but the big draw was the pipe organ at the end of the dining room. I suppose I was about eight or ten years old, and I’d always request _Tocata and Fugue in D Minor_. The version I remember liking the most was by Virgil Fox. 🙂 As for the CD, how about Carl Orff’s _O Fortuna_? O Fortuna velut luna statu variabilis, semper crescis aut decrescis; vita detestabilis nunc obdurat et tunc curat ludo mentis aciem, egestatem, potestatem dissolvit ut glaciem. Sors immanis et inanis, rota tu volubilis, status malus, vana salus semper dissolubilis, obumbrata et velata michi quoque niteris; nunc per ludum dorsum nudum fero tui sceleris. Sors salutis et virtutis michi nunc contraria, est affectus et defectus semper in angaria. Hac in hora sine mora corde pulsum tangite; quod per sortem sternit fortem, mecum omnes plangite! * * * O Fortune, like the moon you are changeable, ever waxing and waning; hateful life first oppresses and then soothes as fancy takes it; poverty and power it melts them like ice. Fate - monstrous and empty, you whirling wheel, you are malevolent, well-being is vain and always fades to nothing, shadowed and veiled you plague me too; now through the game I bring my bare back to your villainy. Fate is against me in health and virtue, driven on and weighted down, always enslaved. So at this hour without delay pluck the vibrating strings; since Fate strikes down the string man, everyone weep with me! ---
**Author:** ![screech-owl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@screech-owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/screech-owl)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cds-worth-of-dark-music/281250/7 "2004-12-23T02:21:18Z")
Bartok - _Music for Strings, Percussion & Celeste_ (Remember _The Shining_?) Trying to find a piece that was used in a theatre Halloween production of _The Woman in Black_ - I know it’s by Arvo Part (ulmauts over the a’s). I think (but am not sure) it’s from _Tabula Rasa_ [[Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com) is being an unhelpful yutz tonight], but the piece pretty much was strings and a single chime echoing through the piece. Very dark. I know you wanted to concentrate on classical music, but if you can, pick up Jerry Goldsmith’s original score to _The Omen_ - 12 minute suite excerpted on the (first) _Cinema Choral Classics_. Ah, the _Kindertotenlieder_ (aka _The Dead Kid Ditties_) - definitely the _The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald_ of its day. Guaranteed to suck the life out of any party - great way to get rid of people who stay too long. screech (_I speak italics as a second language_) -owl ---
**Author:** ![Hodge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Hodge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hodge)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cds-worth-of-dark-music/281250/8 "2004-12-23T02:32:40Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > Dido’s Lament from Purcell’s _Dido & Aeneas_ is heart-breaking, and despite being a staple of Remembrance Sunday hasn’t quite become a cliche. Damn you! I opened this thread just to mention this piece. Plus, now I’m going to have that descending bassline stuck in my head all night. Other suggestions: Franz Schubert’s _Death and the Maiden_ (written while he was dying of syphilis) Modest Mussorgsky’s _Night on Bald Mountain_ (supposedly about witches in congress with Satan) Richard Wagner’s _Siegfried’s Funeral March_ from **Gotterdammerung** (of course, the mere thought of sitting through this marathon should be depressing enough) Also, may I suggest the tomb scene from Verdi’s _Aida_ for the final piece? The lovers who are trapped in a tomb to suffocate to death certainly fits your theme but the music is ethereal and uplifting. An excellent piece to close the CD and cleanse the palate. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cds-worth-of-dark-music/281250/9 "2004-12-23T04:26:32Z")
The third movement, _Elegia_, of Bela Bartok’s _Concerto for Orchestra_ has a pit of despair sound to it, written by the Hungarian composer during the darker days of World War II. The third movement, _The Housatonic At Stockbridge_, of Charles Ives’ _Three Places in New England_ has a mysterious swirling on the upper strings while the rest of the orchestra plays a nostalgic, melancholy melody. (Ives was recreating the atmosphere of a fog shrouded walk he took one morning with his wife.) The title of the seventh movement, \*Neptune, the Mystic[/], of Gustav Holst’s _The Planets_ says it well. Mussorsky’s _Pictures at an Exhibition_ has two choice horror-movie selections: _Catacombae, sepulchrum romanum_ (Catacombs, Roman tomb), and _Con mortuis in lingua mortua_ (Among the dead in a dead language). Mussorsky of course also wrote _Night on Bald Mountain_, and at least two CDs come with both works on them. ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cds-worth-of-dark-music/281250/10 "2004-12-23T05:34:39Z")
The last movement of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony #6 is arguably the most famous “dispair” music in the Classical realm. Some have labeled it “suicide” music, and assume that Tchaikovsky was forshadowing his soon-to-be death. Another very tragic movement is the second from Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola. The K number escapes me. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cds-worth-of-dark-music/281250/11 "2004-12-23T06:09:22Z")
Hmmmm, guess Nick Cave’s “O’Malley’s Bar” wouldn’t really fit in here. Okay, how about “Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima” by Krzysztof Penderecki, which is absolutely chilling when the sound of sirens begins to congeal out of the seeming chaos of avant garde violins. Even the composer didn’t know what he had wrought --or give it its present name–until he heard its first performance. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cds-worth-of-dark-music/281250/12 "2004-12-23T06:42:41Z")
> [@screech-owl](#): > > Trying to find a piece that was used in a theatre Halloween production of _The Woman in Black_ - I know it’s by Arvo Part (ulmauts over the a’s). I think (but am not sure) it’s from _Tabula Rasa_ [[Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com) is being an unhelpful yutz tonight], but the piece pretty much was strings and a single chime echoing through the piece. Very dark. _Cantus in memory of Benjamin Britten_ by Arvo Pärt is written for string orchestra and bell. It’s part of the collection _Tabula Rasa_. Audio clip [here](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000262K7/qid=1103784064/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-9530016-9226469?v=glance&s=classical). ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cds-worth-of-dark-music/281250/13 "2004-12-23T06:45:00Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Okay, how about “Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima” by Krzysztof Penderecki… I still have shivers down my spine when I hear his _Credo_. He’s a powerful and brilliant composer. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cds-worth-of-dark-music/281250/14 "2004-12-23T09:00:43Z")
The Funeral music from the last act of Prokofiev’s **Romeo and Juliet** : one of the most menacing and yet saddest pieces of classical music ever composed - you might remember it from such movies as **Caligula** , although hopefully you won’t. ---
**Author:** ![PookahMacPhellimey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pookahmacphellimey/32/3175_2.png) [@PookahMacPhellimey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PookahMacPhellimey)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cds-worth-of-dark-music/281250/15 "2004-12-23T11:26:13Z")
Practically anything by Gorecki is heartbreaking. ---
**Author:** ![ryanbobo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b4bc9f/32.png) [@ryanbobo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryanbobo)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cds-worth-of-dark-music/281250/16 "2004-12-23T14:54:41Z")
_Night on Bald Mountain_ by Moussorgsky. Also, the _Lacrimosa_ from Mozart’s **Requiem** might fit. The _Commendatore Scene_ from act II of Mozart’s **Don Giovanni** is menacing. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cds-worth-of-dark-music/281250/17 "2004-12-23T15:11:38Z")
> [@ryanbobo](#): > > _Night on Bald Mountain_ by Moussorgsky. As long as it’s not the Rimsky-Korsakov version, which is disturbing for all the wrong reasons 😛 ---
**Author:** ![DemonSpawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac8455/32.png) [@DemonSpawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonSpawn)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cds-worth-of-dark-music/281250/18 "2004-12-23T16:27:11Z")
A non-classical suggestion: “Sleeping sun” by Nightwish makes me want to drive into the oncoming traffic when I listen to it riding my bike. Also “Bittersweet” by Apocalyptica is a good choice for this theme, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilvert_s_Pagan)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cds-worth-of-dark-music/281250/19 "2004-12-23T16:45:26Z")
_Threnody for Souls in Torment_ by the Robert Fripp String Quintet. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cds-worth-of-dark-music/281250/20 "2004-12-23T16:56:16Z")
How about the slow (3rd) movement of Mahler’s 1st symphony: he takes _Frere Jacques_ and makes it sound dark and brooding. Then there’s the famous “Funeral March” movement (3rd) of Chopin’s 2nd piano sonata. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cds-worth-of-dark-music/281250.md?page=2)