Contrasting Periods :: Halloween List :: October

Oct

Filed Under Music on Tuesday, October 30th 2007

Happy Halloween!

Inspired by National Public Radio’s article Musical Mayhem: Top 5 Creepy Halloween Classics I have some thoughts of the five pieces I might add to make this list a Top Ten rather than merely a Top Five. To make it more fun, I’m limiting myself to music from the last 107 years and trying to stay on the beaten path, so to speak.

First, here are the five works proposed by NPR’s Mark Perzel:

1. Stravinsky - Firebird Suite: Infernal Dance
2. Saent-Sains - Danse Macabre
3. De Falla - Dance of Terror
4. Liszt - Mephisto Waltz No. 1
5. Berlioz - Symphonie Fantastique

And then my additions:

6. George Crumb - Black Angels
Starting with the easy one, this was the first piece I considered when I first conceived of this post.

7. Béla Bartók - Music for Strings Percussion and Celeste: Adagio
Did you listen during the opening credits to The Shining? Terror in additive series!

8. Arnold Schoenberg - Pierrot Lunaire
What list of spooky music would be complete without a little Sprechstimme? Besides, I couldn’t single out a single “spookiest” movement and that must be worth something!

9. Igor Stravinsky - L’Histoire Du Soldat: Triumphal March of the Devil
Maybe not as spooky musically as some of these choices, but still my favorite in the ever popular “Deal with the Devil” category.

10. Silvestre Revueltas - Sensemaya
Persistent and relentless ostinato with a hard edge. Vaguely reminiscent of Bolero, but much less friendly.

What pieces would fill out your top ten list of “spooky” tunes?

permalink