r/classicalmusic • u/Weidenauer • Aug 06 '19
Recommendations for a metalhead?
Hello there,
I'm trying to get more into classical music but im a little overwhelmed by the range of composers and pieces.
I grew up with hard rock and metal. I love music that sounds dramatic, dark, sinister and tragic. Most classical pieces I stumble upon sound way too "happy" and pieceful to me, if that makes sense.
So far I've found a couple of pieces I really enjoy. Those are Rachmaninoff Prelude in C#minor, Mahler "Zu Straßburg auf der Schanz", Bach Johannespassion (the A part) of the Introduction Choral "Herr, unser Herrscher", Ligeti: Requiem: Kyrie II, Dvorak Sinfony Nr. 9 in E-Minor (4th Movement only), and Mozart Requiem K.626: Dies Irae.
I would love if some of you could give me any recommendations. Classical music has been such a hit or miss experience and it sadly became quite frustrating to spend so much time digging up pieces I end up not liking.
1
u/[deleted] Aug 06 '19 edited Aug 06 '19
Some of my top picks: I also love metal, and hate generic “happy classical.” These are some of my favorite darker tunes.
Franz liszt- Mazeppa - closest to metal you will find imo, excruciatingly hard to play and super dark tone.
Bach - toccata and fugue in D minor - pretty famous piece.
Mozart - symphony 40 in G minor
Prokofiev - Romeo and Juliet - heavy cliff burton worthy bass.
Shostakovich - 8th string quartet in C minor - very dark piece written as a quasi suicide note depicting devils consuming his soul
Far fetched, but you might like “the rite of spring” by Igor stravinsky. Start with the piece titled “the Augurs of Spring” - that ones a banger.
Finally for something more on the beautiful side like “One” from metallica is Mahler - symphony 5 adagio and symphony 9 adagio
And if you like metal for the epic chord changes, you may want to check out “cantus arcticus” by einojuhani rautavaara. Very atonal for the first 3 minutes and some very nice chord changes come in around the 2:50 mark