Classical music to blast from your car speakers

Cafe Society
#1

A friend of mine told me that she’d seen a couple driving down the street in a convertible blasting classical music the other day. Made me think. What music would be suited to car-blasting? Off the top of my head I can think of:

The Ride of the Valkyries
Come on, this was a no-brainer. Everyone’s heard it and it conveys a definite message of “GET OUT OF MY WAY!” Plus it’s used so much these days that it has become inherently amusing.

O Fortuna
Pretty much the same reasons as above.

Hallelujah Chorus
It’s loud, it’s famous, but that’s about all it’s got going for it. But hey, you can turn it up really loud.

But Who May Abide
Ahh, this is more like it. Maybe it’s not quite as famous as the others, but that whole SINNERS WILL BURN IN HELL thing is pure awesomeness. Plus it’s in English, so bystanders will catch full force of the news of their hellboundness. A disadvantage is that it takes a while to get to that bit. Not that the early parts aren’t good, but they’re better enjoyed in the comfort of one’s living room.

Chopin’s funeral march (the dun dun dun-DUN music you automatically associate with death)
Well… you know.

Spring
Works better if you are a pansy driving a pansy car.

Can’t think of anything lesser-known… anyone care to contribute?

#2

The Hut on Hen’s Legs would probably work a treat, or indeed Night On Bald Mountain.

“Sunrise” from Also Sprach Zarathustra.

Beethoven’s 5th, first movement, and 9th, last movement.

Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, Wiedor’s Toccata from Symphony No. 5, Karg-Elert’s Nun Danket Alle Gott and quite a bit more from the organ repertoire. Organ is like the heavy metal of classical music :slight_smile:

More?

#3

Oooh, the hut on fowl’s legs, or hen’s legs, or chicken’s legs, or whatever. I actually have it on CD (I don’t own much music). Very appropriate :3 And I hadn’t even considered organ, I was stuck on the brassy orchestra sound. But it would appear that you are right; organ is the heavy metal of classical music.

More please :3

#4

Wellington’s Victory more muskets and cannons than horns in the properly produced versions.

Certain pieces of Verdi’s Reqium make the grade, IMHO.

Sabre Dance if you are driving a VW beetle and can make it go in circles.

Mars, the Bringer of War

Lohengrin prelude more suited for biplanes than cars, however.

#5

Let me recommend Patti Austin’s – ! – version from Handel’s Messiah: A Soulful Celebration (a melange of black artists doing, well, Handel’s Messiah.) Full blast is absolutely the only way to play it.

#6

Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain .

#7

:smack: Sorry Malacandra. I’m not properly caffeinated yet.

#8

In the Hall of the Mountain King, of course. Starts out quiet, but gets awesome.

Flight of the Bumblebee would be fun.

A CD called Classics from the Crypt had a ton of songs you’d want to blare out - it’s worth purchasing.

#9

Rossini’s William Tell Overture
Stravinski’s Rite of Spring
Copland’s Rodeo

#10

The opening of Tchaikovsky’s 4th symphony

There ought to be something good by Liszt… I have a nifty orchestral version of his Mephisto Waltz

#11

If you mean Spring from Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons then you’d be better off listening to Winter (from the same suite). It’s much more driving than Spring is, and far less cliche. I know there’s a remixed version of it online (saw an Anime Music Video set to the remix) but I don’t know the name of the remix.

#12

From the limited selection of music I’m familiar with the only classical I feel a strong urge to blast is Mozart Symphony #25.

#13

St. Saens Symphony #3 (Organ Symphony), last movement. Nothing is better!

btw, try this with headphones - you won’t hear the low notes from the organ, but you will feel them!

#14

Secretly, I’ve always wanted to have Uber-Spectacular speakers mounted in the back of my truck so that the next time I am subjected to some butthead treating me to whatever he is listening to a ear shattering decibles ( Rap, why does it always have to be rap?) I can blast them with some Mozart or a good polka.

Fight fire with fire, I say.

#15

I’m surprised no one’s mentioned the **1812 Overture **yet.

And how about some Sousa marches?

And there’s always Florence Foster Jenkins (though that’s stretching the terms “classical” and “music”).

#16

Good call.

As would be Jupiter, Saturn, and your anus.

And various sections of Firebird.

And the 4th movement of Sibelius’s 2nd.

#17

There a handful of metal arrangements of classical pieces. Those count, right? Anyway, the list (not necessarily complete):
[ul][li]Manowar, Flight of the Bumblebee[/li][li]Savatage, In the Hall of the Mountain King[/li][li]Golem, Rite of Spring[/li][li]Therion, O Fortuna[/li][li]Toadliquor, Also Sprach Zarathustra (the introduction, which features the sweetest guitar riff of all time)[/li]In Extremo, Stetit Puella (a lesser-known selection from Carmina Burana[/ul]

#18

For longer trips I’ve had any amount of mileage out of The Dream of Gerontius. Loud bits include “Profisiscere, anima Christiana, de hoc mundo!” at the end of act 1, and various bits of act 2: “Low-born clods of brute earth”, “Praise to the Holiest” and the enormous chord that comes where the Soul goes to judgement. Also you get to come down to earth at the end with “Softly and gently, dearly ransomed soul”, which darned near makes me tear up just thinking about it.

#19

This would also work for Flight of the Bumblebee.

That was my first pick when I saw this thread. Also PDQ Bach’s Echo Sonata for Two Unfriendly Groups of Instruments for the sheer “WTF Mate?” value.

#20

This is one of my favorite pieces and what I was planning on posting when reading the thread title. My Dad played the organ (we had one at home) and I became a big fan of organ music. Once when I was a kid he took me to see Virgil Fox in concert. I believe this Saint-Saens piece was on the program.

Others mentioned in this thread are great suggestions, but to me the Symphony #3 stands above. Maybe there are louder pieces, with cannons and whatnot, but not as fine as this one.

And as long as we are on Saint-Saens, throw on a little **Danse Macabre ** as well.