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Dramatic classical music

GadgetFiend

Hi all,

I'm trying to put together a tape of the most dramatic classical pieces- real uplifitng stuff guaranteed to send the shivers down your spine

so far i've got:

verdi- requiem
orff- o fortuna
fantasia
and 1812 overture

assistance greatly appreciated!

cheers

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jimi_t

Hmmm.... Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony is pretty dramatic at times and a lot of Rakmaninov's Piano Concertos are amazing (And yes, it is spelt "Rakmaninov"). Another composer I have a lot of time for would be Mahler. btw Try and get the best recording yoiu can of 1812, there's a recording involving a shotgun firing blanks into a metal garbage can (in lieu of the cannons) which is supposed to be deafining

fatherdougalmag

Ride of the Valkyries?

Also try some organ stuff.
Widor Toccator from Symp no. 5.
Bach, T&F in D minor (or even a Stokowski transcription for orchestra)
Franck, Piece Heroique
Last movement of Saint-Saens Organ Symphony no. 3
I'm sure there's more I could think of.

You might also consider checking out the track list of an already existing compilation of such pieces. Have a look at disc 4 of this. You might also consider throwing in some equally heart-wrenching stuff (see this thread) to exaggerate the contrast and make the 'heavy' stuff more effective.

Let us know what you settle on.

GadgetFiend

good idea- have two different sides for whatever kind of mood i'm in

forgot about rachmaninov (sp), good suggestions there!

beardedchicken

beethoven's 7th symphony is fab, especially the third (i think) movement. it starts softly and slowly, then builds in tempo and volume, and becomes gradually more and more insistent. you'll love it.

Calina

second movement of Beethoven's 7th, also the last movement out of Peer Gynt suite no 1 by Grieg, Warsaw Concerto by Adinsell, opening movement Grieg's piano concerto.

Not sure if this is what you want but also Pavane by Faure and Adagio by Albinoni also.

Crucifix

Hmm, Polonaise from Chopin has always been very uplifting to me.

Flukey

A bit more modern, but some of John William's compositions are good. The "Flying" theme from ET is particularly uplifiting.

Morrigan

A lot of Vivaldi's Four Seasons is very intense and spine-tingling, imo. I especially love the 3rd movement of 'Summer'.

bmonkey132

-A Night on the Bare Mountain (Mussorgsky)
-Cello Concerto in B minor [first movement] (Dvorak)
-The Ride of the Valkyries (Wagner)
-Fanfare for the Common Man (Aaron Copland)
-Fantaisie Impromptu [Impromptu No. 4 in C sharp minor, Op. 66] (Chopin)
-The New World Symphony [first movement] (Dvorak)
-Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi (Carl Orff)
-"Heronique" [Polonaise No. 6 in A flat major, Op. 53] (Chopin)
-The Flying Dutchman (Wagner)
-Pathetique Sonata [Piano Sonata in C minor, No. 8, Op.13] (Beethoven)
-Piano Concerto No. 1 (Rachmaninov)
-Revolutionary Etude [Etude in C Minor, Op. 10, No.12] (Chopin)
-Prelude No. 20 in C minor, Op. 28, No. 20 (Chopin)
-Scheherazade (Rimsky-Korsakov)
-Trepak [Russian Dance] (Tchaikovsky)
-Warsaw Concerto (Richard Addinsell)

Hope you find this helpful

ilovemybrick

mahler 4 . but only the Berlin Phil recording as theyre the only orchestra to do the hammer blow in the score correctly. most orchestras use a mallet on a bare block but they use a sledgehammer crashing through a wooden grate. Mahler's specific instructions.
and shostakovich 4. the biggest orchestration for percussion ive seen.
and of course mahler 8. symphony of a thousand. which is supposed to be sung by a 800 person choir and two symphony orchestras!

HusseinSarhan

ilovemybrick wrote:

mahler 8. symphony of a thousand. which is supposed to be sung by a 800 person choir and two symphony orchestras!

Has that been recorded ever?!!! :eek:

Hermione*

I love Shostakovich's Leningrad symphony and Verdi's Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves.

ilovemybrick

HusseinSarhan wrote:

Has that been recorded ever?!!! :eek:

yup. simon rattle and the CBSO and i think Solti and the LSO also did a full cast version. its awesome. i would personally recommend Robert Shaw conducting Atlanta SO even though its not full cast its incredible.

JackKelly

On the piano front, definitely get some Rachmaninoff.

If you want dramatic, listen to his prelude in C Sharp Minor and also in B Flat. Also have a listen to his concertos. Especially the first section of no2 and third section of no3.

Some of chopins Etudes are definitely dramatic. Try the winter wind and revolutionary etude's. No 11 A minor and no 12 C minor. No 4 in C Sharp Minor is good too. You should include the finale of his third sonata too, solely for the opening bars.

The Mad Hatter

jimi_t wrote:

(And yes, it is spelt "Rakmaninov").

Well, Rachmaninoff spelled it 'Rachmaninoff' when he was living in America, so I'm just going to stick with that.

As to Mahler 8, two Symphony Orchestras is going a bit far. It's scored for one enlarged symphony orchestra (not a whole lot bigger than Mahler used generally), two choirs, a children's choir and soloists, which is a pretty large ensemble, but not the biggest there's ever been - Schoenberg's Gurrelieder, for instance, used a slightly bigger orchestra, along with two four-part male choirs, one full choir and soloists, if memory serves.

As to the question at hand:
Some of Rachmaninoff's Paganini Rhapsody is pretty wild.
There's also passages you could nab from Stravinsky's Rite of Spring.
Some of Liszt's Symphonic Poems would be good, and for relatively obscure stuff along the same lines, there's also Prince Rostilav by Rachmaninoff.
You could try the Dies Irae or Confutatis Maledictis from Mozart's Requiem.
Third movement of the Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven is a rollercoaster when it's played well (say by Daniel Barenboim in his first complete recording of the cycle).

Hope that's of some help.

My two favourites have a very English twist to them.

First is Handel's Zadok the Priest, which is used at every coronation since George II. The Uefa Champions League tune is based on it but it's not a patch on the full original.

The other is Elgar's Land of Hope and Glory. No wonder the Brits held out in the battle of britain. They must have been listening to it before they got into their spitfires.

w66w66

Holst-mars and john williams olympic fanfare

Vulpiner

Wagners Ride of Valkeryies, Prelude to Act 111 Lohengrin, chunks of the Ring, Overture to Tannhaeuser
Night on a Bare mountain, Hut on Fowls legs, cornation scene from Godunov and Great Gate of Kiev-Mussorkski
Marche-Slav, piano concerto 1 and 1812 overtures-Tchikovsky
Symphony no. 7 1st movement-Shostakovitch
Symphony 9 last movement-Beethovan

Thoben

If you're looking for dramatic I'd have to say Wagner, a lot of his pieces are fairly dramatic. Not just flight of the valkyrie, but the pilgrims chorus, the mountain king, tannhauser... all seem fitting for the "dramatic" tag.

mambo

Thoben wrote: »

If you're looking for dramatic I'd have to say Wagner, a lot of his pieces are fairly dramatic. Not just flight of the valkyrie, but the pilgrims chorus, the mountain king, tannhauser... all seem fitting for the "dramatic" tag.

Er, "In the Hall of the Mountain King" is by Grieg

To the OP, check out the "Heavy Classix" series of CDs. Lots of very dramatic loud classical like the 1812 Overture, Ride of the Valkyries, etc.
http://www.allmusic.com/album/heavy-classix-w26

clunked

HusseinSarhan wrote: »

Has that been recorded ever?!!! :eek:

Acciaccatura

Mozart- Requiem in D minor, Dies Irae
Tchaikovsky - Romeo and Juliet Overture, strife theme

rahmalec

Shostakovich symphonies

Hermy

Turangalîla-Symphonie by Olivier Messiaen

rahmalec

Hermy wrote: »

Turangalîla-Symphonie by Olivier Messiaen

Oh yes!!!

This recording in particular is amazing!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tT4KmpBXqEg

rahmalec

1st movement from Walton's Symphony No. 1 is particularly good as well.

Sulla Felix

Prokofiev: Montagues and Capulets

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RFq7cOVDF0

Smidge

Vide Cor Meum by Patrick Cassidy is a great dramatic piece, spine-tinglingly good

Un Bel Di Vedrano, Puccini, is one of my most favourite uplifting pieces.

stabeek

Before giving my two cents, I'd like to say that dramatic piece after dramatic piece will turn out to be not very dramatic at all.

I guess much of the drama comes from a sudden change, and necessarily, it can't be too long-lived either. So any half lively piece that suddenly comes in after a fairly slow piece could be classed as dramatic.

And now for my two cents: RIchard Strauss Also Sprach Zarathustra opener!!!! Yay!

IceFjoem

Hermy wrote: »

Turangalîla-Symphonie by Olivier Messiaen

A brilliant work, but I just can't get over the ridiculousness of the ondes Martenot!