Elegiac Music Recommendations

August 9, 2012 9:41 PM

Music recommendation filter: propulsive, elegiac, sinister, orchestral and/or choral, at least somewhat melodic music. Examples inside.

Arvo Pärt - Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten.
Brian Tyler - Begin (from The Killing Room OST).
A Silver Mt. Zion - 13 Angels Standing Guard 'Round the Side of Your Bed
Elliot Goldenthal - Funeral, Coda (from Michael Collins OST).
Zbigniew Preisner - Sanctus.

I'm not looking for stuff in the vein of Carmina Burana, at least not with regard to this question.

posted by Sticherbeast to media & arts (10 answers total)

How about Max Richter's November, Smetana's Moldau, Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis, Mahler's Piano Quartet in A minor, Lustmord's work (not technically music? or elegiac, but very sinister), Albinoni's Adagio in g minor, Gorécki's Symphony No.3, Handel's Rinaldo Lascia Ch'io Pianga, Mozart's Ach, ich fühl's, es ist verschwunden, or Sigur Ros' I Gaer (warning: gets very loud around the 1:00 mark)?

I know you already mentioned Part and Preisner, but here a couple more of theirs in case you weren't already familiar: Part's Tabula Rasa (1st Movement) and Preisner's Van den Budenmayer Concerto.
posted by Oliva Porphyria at 10:40 PM on August 9, 2012 [1 favorite]

Adagio for Strings, op.11 immediately pops into my head. Choral version
posted by Pryde at 10:53 PM on August 9, 2012

Shostakovich 8th quartet, 2nd movement. Enraged, very enraged.
Vitali Chaconne for violin with organ. Elegiac.
Prokofiev Therenody to the Victims of Hiroshima, if you're into atonality.
Mahler 5th symphony, 1st movement.
Shostakovich 8th symphony, 2nd movement (but also the 3rd, which has machine gun like propulsion)
Grieg Funeral March for Rikard Nordraak. Takes about a minute to get going.

Special shoutout to my favorite, Mahler 6th symphony, all of it. You have to listen to the whole thing, but I have yet to encounter more catharsis through despair. Hammer blows, man. Hammers.
posted by Hollywood Upstairs Medical College at 11:03 PM on August 9, 2012

Erm...the Therenody would be Penderecki, not Prokofiev.
posted by Hollywood Upstairs Medical College at 11:11 PM on August 9, 2012

Giya Kancheli - Caris Mere - all sorts of atmospheric orchestral business.
Jan Garbarek and the Hilliard Ensemble - Officium - 4 part plainsong + a saxophone. Kind of astonishingly beautiful.
Rachmaninov's choral stuff is worth a spin too: try Vespers, or his Liturgy of St John Chrysostom.
posted by ZipRibbons at 12:46 AM on August 10, 2012

Cantus Arcticus by Einojuhani Rautavaara - orchestral music featuring the calls of Arctic birds.

To a Dead friend by Eleni Kariandru from Eternity in a Day soundtrack.
posted by rongorongo at 1:31 AM on August 10, 2012

Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms: 1, 2, 3a, 3b.
posted by Johnny Assay at 5:13 AM on August 10, 2012

Might be a little too propulsive for the op but Reich's Tehilim ticks most boxes. Here's a cool performance of the whole piece.
posted by Smegoid at 6:27 AM on August 10, 2012

I think you'll enjoy this:

Elgar - Owls
posted by Marlinspike at 8:51 AM on August 10, 2012

I am a fan of Pergolesi's Stabat Mater , which I got into because of Lera Auerbach's wonderful Dialogues on Stabat Mater, which I once asked about here, but still have not found a recording of.
posted by mariokrat at 5:50 PM on August 10, 2012