Calling all classical musicians!?

Question

Does anyone know of any classical music that is scary and/or upbeat.

Something that would play when a person is walking through the woods, all alone, and they are lost and someone is chagin them.

Thanks!

I would preferably like piano music. Thanks.

And the current songs that are here, I searched for on iTunes, and the portion that iTunes played is not very upbeat or very scary.

Remember, Scary, and piano.

Thanks!

By upbeat I mean a fast tempo, not happy.

Answer 1

Try:

"Night on the Bare (Bald) Mountain" (Mussorgsky/Rimsky-Korsakov).

"Danse Macabre" (Saint-Saens)

"The Sorcerer's Apprentice" (Dukas)

"The Rite of Spring" (Stravinsky)

"Scythian Suite" - mvts. 1,3,4. (Prokofiev)

Although it is not classical, sections of Bernard Herrmann's soundtrack to the movie "The Day the Earth Stood Still" can raise a few goosebumps (listen to the movements titled 'Outer Space' and 'Radar') !!

And of course as mentioned by others, Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King" from the "Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 , Op. 46."

Musician, composer, teacher.

Answer 2

"The Hall of the Mountain King" is a creepy-sounding one with a repetitive melody, each time through a bit stronger, more powerful-sounding, and more threatening. It's quite familiar to people. It's sometimes called "In the Hall of the Mountain King" and is from "Peer Gynt" by Edvard Grieg.

Portions of "A Night on Bald Mountain" by Modest Mussorgsky also could be used. If you've seen "Fantasia", you'll be familiar with this powerful piece of music.

Why don't you try Midnight Syndicate's albums? They're referred to as soundtracks for horror films that haven't been filmed yet. That's very accurate! I have several of the albums, and they're quite inspiring when I'm writing stories.

"Sadeness" by Enigma is an interesting piece of music. Actually, Enigma albums contain many excellent pieces.

Answer 3

Scary sounding and on the piano? How about Chopin's Revolutionary Etude? The first time I heard it, I got major goosebumps. Give it a listen, I thought that it sounded scary. Now that you've said that you mean fast, the tempo for this song is fairly quick. Hope this helps.

Answer 4

Robert Schumann::: :Liederkreiss, Op. 39

"Liederkreiss" is a song cycle, belonging to the German lied (art song) repertoire. It is nothing if not haunting, the whole thing.

The three songs that you might use:

Waldesgrsprach - about meeting the witch, Lorelei, in the woods late one cold night

In der Fremde - all alone and quite crazy

Zwielicht - full of warnings to beware, to be watchful, and to .....be ..............q u i e t !!!


It is a quintessentially German cycle
The best performance I have heard is on a recording by the ever-so German baritone, Dietrich Fisher- Dieskau - trouble is there are two recordings, one of them especially great, but I don't recall which one it is: the one with Gerald Moore playing for him on the EMI label or Cristoph Eschenbach on Deutsche Grammaphon ..... I have never heard more beautiful lieder singing, bar none ... it is beautiful to the ear, warm and expressive, full of the most incredible vocal inflections and is spooky to the 'nth' degree with regards to his understanding of the German poetry ... only a German would understand how !!! Wooo ....hoooo! (sorry ! Hallowe'en spirit got me here !)

Answer 5

I think I have to save the answer somewhere because I have repeated it 1000 times by now. there is a question like this everyday. Scarbo from Gaspard de la nuit by Ravel is nice.
It's so much like film music because it's impressionistic. Le Gibet is nice too. It's from the same suite. It suits your purpose better. Because it's all quiet and soft and eerie. Actually, one of Ravel's sources of inspirations for writing Scarbo was a fiend (or something like that) scaring a person at night.

Answer 6

The 2nd movement of Shostakovich's 8th Quartet is definetely upbeat and the dissonance is quite disturbing

An arrangement of O Fortuna by Carl Orff or Ride of the Valkyries by Wagner would also be good

Answer 7

1.You can try "Theme of Sugar Plum Fairy by the Nutracker", it's about a cold forest, dark and scary place.

2."Theme of the Swan Lake", alone on the middle of a scary lake and sorrow woods.

3."Serenade of Haydn", I tells a man/woman going to die in a minute or hour.

I think all the recomendation is right, and remember, play with your feeling. It's the basic to give the situation on a music, good luck.

Answer 8

Why not try Gustav Holst's "Mars, the Bringer of War"? Scary piece. Fun to play also.

I agree on "Night on Bald Mountain" by Modest Moussorgsky, great song.

Answer 9

If you want something a little off the beaten path, the first movement of Bartok's "Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste" is quite erie.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=3ueEpQobZB8

The opening of Mendelssohn's "Hebrides" overture (sometimes knwon as "Fingal's Cave") has a spooky, murky feeling to it.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=z0jxiUq9c4k

Answer 10

You might find some good material in "Gaspard de la Nuit" by Ravel.

I would also check out Prokofiev, some of his stuff is really eerie.

Also check out Ligeti, his piano music is incredible.