haunting/dark classical

Chopin.

Myrai

I never would have suggested Chopin to someone looking for haunting and dark melodies. But as a classical pianist who plays a fair amount of Chopin; I agree with you. This is especially true of his minor scale Nocturnes. My first thoughts turned to contemporary composers.

Chuck

Myraj didn't mean Chopin, it was Chop in, as in Chop in half with a chain saw, now that is dark and haunting!

Here's a short list of mostly 20th Century "Dark" works.

Shostakovich 14th Symphony: Don’t listen to this if feeling suicidal.

Schubert Piano sonata in A, D959. He knew he was dying when he wrote this. The slow movement laments the inevitable and is in parts angry. Powerful.

Allan Petterson’s 8th Symphony: Petterson suffered through out his life and it shows in his music. The 6th is also worthy to be on this list.


Birtwistle: Triumph of Time

Gerhard: The Plague

These next three were all written in the late 30’s as the cloud of war were gathering over Europe. It’s interesting how each differently handles the subject matter.

Hartmann: Concerto Funebre
Martinu: Double Concerto for Two String Orchestra’s, Piano & Timpani
Bartok: Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste

Mozart - Piano Concerto #20 in D minor K.466
Brahms - A German Requiem Op.45
Tchaikovsky - Marche Slave Op.31
Liszt - Totentanz for piano and orchestra
Prokofiev - Scythian Suite Op.20
Mahler - Symphony #9
Shostakovich - String Quartet #8 Op.110

A good sampler. All of the compositions are "standard repertoire" and recordings are readily available.

Cheers.