i must say, thank you all for giving me more classical music to listen to. the xm classical station direct tv has is getting a little old, even tho i don't mind listening to beethoven 50 times a day.

I came upon a CD of Hector Berlioz' "Symphonie Fantastique" at Best Buy last weekend. It's been in my CD player since. I highly recommend it.

As I read, I suppose that most of you see classical music as a background to gothic, but isn't it just because we're all music lovers, gothic or not, metalheads or not. Classical has influenced everything worth of listen in modern music, Sure we still find classical part in metal, we have darkwave, neo-classical, that's all music that has feelings, something to say, I think this is the link between classical and rock (gothic rock, darkwave, metal ...)

I love any classical music with the classic gothic quality: soft, dreary piano solos, pipe organs, Gregorian chants, etc. I see this a lot in Beethoven (especially the Moonlight Sonata) but there are other composers too. I just wish I remember their names and the titles of the pieces. But I like ethereal wave, new age, neo-classical and symphonic metal for these elements.

I'll be honest when I say that it wasn't goth rock that drew me into the gothic subculture musically wise, but "gothic" classical music or "gothic" classically-influenced genres like ethereal and symphonic metal. My influence didn't just come from listening to classical music, but the soundtrack to Tim Burton's Corpse Bride also reeled me in too. I just loved Victor's piano solo, because it reminded me so much of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, sad, mysterious but so beautiful. It just makes up my personal imagery and definition of what "goth" is (which I won't explain here of course ).

What can I say, for me, it all began with 'Fantasia'... I recommend the soundtrack of that whole movie. However, the second one not so much, as I found it much lighter than its predecessor.

Too true.

My pick would be György Ligeti and then Rachmaninov (Piano Concerto #2 In C Minor) for when Ligeti finally does my head in.


-LS

Chopin's Marche Funebre and maybe the Gadfly by Shostakovich spring to mind. And I love Brahms Requiem more than life itself.

The Organ Concerto by Francis Poulenc (an early-20th century French composer) is pretty spooky, especially with the combination of Romantic sound with dissonant organ chords.

Another ominous-sounding one is the first movement of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 13, "Babi Yar".

Bartok's Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta has some creepy sounds, and parts have been used in movies. For example, the second movement was played during the opening credits of "Being John Malkovich", in a rather dark marionette sketch.

I'm in need of assistance. I've given this thread a read and taken some recommendations but I feel I have more specific tastes. I'm very fond of symphonic metal. So, I'm looking for something heavily laden with violins and such. I tend to like melodic but not overwhelmingly so and without much dissonance, something beautiful rich and dark but not tenebrous...

Something along the lines of...

Beethoven's Moonlight sonata
Antonio Vivaldi's Violin Concerto No.6
Mozart's Requiem Mass

Or perhaps something with a more modern sound...
I'm very sorry, I can be quite picky.

WOW! glad you reminded me of Mozart's requiem - hadn't listened to that in a long time.

Some suggestions:
Since you mentioned Mozart I suggest his Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor. I remember that it was played in the movie "Amadeus".
One of my favorites: Saїnt-Saens Symphony No. 3 in C minor “Organ Symphony” very rich sounding but does not sound drippy over-the-top romantic (like some of Tschaikovsky and Rachmaninoff can be) because of its chord progressions. The second movement is especially haunting.
And he's done other great organ works.
You might also like either one of Chopin's piano concerti.

Perhaps also Brahms' Piano Quintet in F Minor? gorgeous, rich stuff. But I'm not sure whether you'd like chamber music as opposed to symphonic works.

Hope that helps...

-- Fri Feb 27, 2009 6:46 am --

Darn! Too late to edit my earlier message.

Could you give some examples of works that you consider to be overly melodic? I'm trying to figure out which pieces to rule out.

Polish composer Henryk Gorecki may qualify as well, with his Symphony no. 3 being of the 'sadder' end of the spectrum. I heard some of it and its rather impressive. Methinks that going out tomorrow and looking for some CDs of his works is a good idea.

I'm awfully sorry to leave you hanging harpy I completely forgot about this post. I fear I might not be able to answers your question to your satisfaction as my repertoire is somewhat scarce.
Heck, I don't even think I expressed myself properly!
Ok... so here goes.
I can say with certainty that the following sections are my favourite parts of Mozart's requiem, with Dies Irae being my absolute favourite.
Lacrimosa
Rex Tremendae
Dies Irae
I think what I meant by overly melodic was melodic meandering to the point of sounding somewhat disjointed. I think I like Dies Irae the most because it has a certain sequential fluidity and more of a "polished" sound. It's intricate and fast paced but still relatively predictable. Maybe I just like classical lightcore or classical a la... slightly catchy? But one thing I can ascertain is that my preferences are painstakingly peculiar and particularly specific. So I understand entirely if I'm nearly past all hope. I'll appreciate any help that can be given.

P.S. I also love minor key, an inclination towards string instrument oriented aesthetic, and don't mind chamber music or anything else as long as the music type meets a fair portion of my inane criteria.
And once again, I'll be very appreciative of any kind of help that can be provided. No pressure...

Well, if we want to get away from "classical" classical music, we can always check out neoclassical darkwave: a sub-sub genre of music that might satisfy the lot of us.

Ophelia's Dream: A German band that has a very Baroque sound to them.
Suggested Tracks - "Egredimini" (Not a Second Time)
"Stabat Mater Dolorosa" (All Beauty is Sad)

Dargaard: An Austrian band. They use acoustics, which is new, and brings on a new kind of sorrowful tone. They also have some powerful horns in their music.
Suggest Tracks - "Bearer of the Flame" (Fall and Rise)
"Queen of the Woods" (Fall and Rise)

Artesia: A French band. Lot's of strings and ethereal voices.
Suggested Tracks - "Invitation" (Chant D'automne)
"Une Ancienne Legende" (Hilvern)

And of course there's Dark Sanctuary and Arcana... But we all know of them by now.

These are my favorites... but I can see why there is a high demand for classical-classical music, since that has a more "natural" sound and not so much "studio" sound. So you can bet that I will be making a list of this section.

I personally do not agree. Those composers are not "gothic" and I don't think you should classify classical music as gothic, because it almost makes no sense. I mean yeah, violins and dramatic symphonies do sound dark, but i think that classical music is a genre of it's own that have been developed through history, and the famous modern term for "gothic" is just a metaphore, I believe.

When it comes to dark kind of composers, I can really point out Beethoven and the composers of the romantic era.
My personal favorite is Dmitry Shostakovich [which is modern] and I really recommend to listening to his famous cello concerto and also th quartets. His music is full of drama, darkness and sounds like a nightmare soundtrack, it really eats you from the inside.

One last thing:
The impressionists do sound as we may call it "gothic", but the composers of the second viennese school are something totally different.
I don't wish to argue about it because it's subjective of course, that was just my opinion.

Nobody mentioned Beethoven's symphony #7 (second movement) yet? It was used recently on a really bad film (not giving it the air of publicity), but I also remember it used on the uber-weird movie Zardoz. Its one of those pieces of music that just takes you over, bypassing cognition and going straight for the soul.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdfNTO_o-3k or http://www.archive.org/download/BBCSymp ... kb_mp3.zip (15:30)

-LS

PS: Required if you are English - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUgoBb8m1eE