for Vampire
Authorial Note — I would respectfully suggest to those who say classical music is tame that they have never sat sweating and sawing away in the middle of a great symphony with brass blasting and timpani rumbling and feeling the emotional momentum of eighty people climb to musical climax. Thank you very much.
- Beethoven, Ludwig van. Symphony #3 (Eroica)
- This piece is on the list because the second movement is
a famous funeral march, but do listen to the other movements.
(In fact, do try out the other eight symphonies while you're
at it. Or the string quartets. Or the sonatas.)
- Berlioz, Hector. Symphonie Fantastique
- Unrequited love — bad for Hector, good for you, particularly
the "March to the Scaffold" and "Witches' Sabbat"
movements. (Catch that Dies Irae quote?) A feverish phantasmagoria,
depicting the not-terribly-cheery visions of a suicidal lover
who has just OD'd on opium. See if you can identify the recurring
theme which represents his obsession with the unnamed "beloved."
The waltz movement makes for a fine Elysium mood-setter, too...
- Bloch, Ernest. Baal Shem Suite
- A simple suite of short pieces for violin, but if you want
Hasidic melancholy and passion, this is a good place to find
it, especially in the opening "Vidui" ("Contrition")
movement.
- Brahms, Johannes. Hungarian Dances
- Brahms' admiration for the rhythmic and melodic verve of
Rroma-influenced Hungarian music is given voice. Dances #5 and
#6 are the most famous, but there are many more.
- Dukas, Paul. The Sorcerer's Apprentice.
- Dukas deserves to be remembered for more than this famous
tone-poem, but it alone was enough to make his name immortal.
Try it without Mickey Mouse. (Your Tremere will love you —
a scary prospect, I know.)
- Sarasate, Pablo. Concert Fantasy on Gounod's "Faust"
- The plum bits of Gounod's score, arranged into a stand-alone
work by the great Spanish virtuoso. Personally the music doesn't
sound all that Satanic to me, but it's thematically correct
— and the Viennese waltz that finishes it off was definitely
cooked up by some devil somewhere, presumably whichever one is
in charge of driving violinists into advanced tendonitis.
- Khatchaturian, Aram. Violin Concerto.
- The first movement of this work by the great Armenian composer
is full of fire and Near East-flavored tonality. We violinists
live for stuff like that opening theme.
—. Sabre Dance
You know this tune, you just never knew its name. I'll have you know the accompaniment parts in the middle section are harder to play in time than one would think. - Kilar, Wojciech. Bram Stoker's Dracula — Movie Soundtrack
- Definitely. The opening track and the Dracula/Mina theme
are especially lovely. Even the Annie Lennox ballad at the end
ain't bad (and of course it's not exactly classical either, but
hey).
- Liszt, Franz. Mephisto Waltz
- If I recall correctly, this waltz is supposed to depict an
episode in the story of Faust wherein Mephistopheles strikes
up a dance at somebody's wedding, or party, or what-have-you,
and gets the whole company whirling in rapturous abandon (to
a greater extent than usual with waltzes, one assumes)...something
like that. Anyway, check it out, it's quite cool. Liszt, by the
way, is the Original Goth. Or at least shares the title
with Byron.
- Mahler, Gustav. Symphony #1 (The Titan)
- It's big. It's bad. It's angsty. It's got the Prozac version
of "Frere Jacques" in the slow movement. What more
do you want?
—. Symphony #2 (Resurrection)
As ambitious as the subtitle implies, with two sets of orchestra bells and children's chorus all crammed on the same stage as the outsize orchestra, and they all get to go nuts for the finale. The piece got a cameo in Fright Night II. (I got the joke.) -
- Mozart, Wolfgang. Don Giovanni
- The opera itself has a lot more comic than dark moments,
but the Overture and the "Commendatore Scene" are full
of underworld menace. The revenge aria sung by the Commendatore's
daughter isn't bad for moments of heroic resolve.
—. Requiem
All movements of this unfinished work are definitely not created equal. Still, you can't beat the "Kyrie," the "Rex Tremendae Majestatis," and the "Confutatis Maledictis" for a nice little chill down the spine. Scare Catholic vampires silly! -
- Mussourgksy, Modest. Night on Bald Mountain
- Ravel's incredible arranging helped turn this piece, originally
composed for piano, into one of the creepiest orchestral tone-poems
of all time. We've got your Chernobog right here, baby.
—. Pictures at an Exhibition
A delicious range of moods and impressions, written by the composer upon a beloved artist friend's death and, again, orchestrated by Ravel. Try the Baba Yaga movement ("The Hut on Fowl's Legs") and "Con Mortuis in Lingua Mortua." -
- Orff, Carl. Carmina Burana.
- Remember that old movie Excalibur? There's more great
music to steal from this collection of choral songs based on
irreverent medieval poetry. Check out the roasting-swan (creepy),
tavern-scene (not creepy), and soprano-having-an-onstage-orgasm
(draw your own conclusions) songs.
- Prokofiev, Sergei. Scythian Suite
- Impressionistic scenes drawn from the mythology of pagan
Eurasia. Deities both good- and ill-natured enjoy musical representation.
—. Symphony #5
The last movement of this sucker is Malkavian music if I ever heard it, but don't let Petrucchio know I tipped you off...he's claimed it as his theme song already. -
- Puccini, Giacomo. "Nessun dorma" from Turandot
- I know, it's a chestnut, and it's romantic in mood rather
than spooky, but how can a Vamp player not love an aria that
ends with the words "Depart, oh night! Set, you stars! At
dawn I shall win! I shall win! I shall win!" And you might
even have somebody besides the Toreador weeping buckets for once,
never a bad thing.
- Saint-Saens, Camille. Danse Macabre
- Feel sorry for the concertmaster, who has to tune the E-string
down to E-flat; past that, just enjoy this midnight waltz for
goblins and ghosties. (Bonus points if you can catch the Dies
Irae quote in this one — Camille shifts the downbeat,
changes the time signature, and messes with the mode, just to
be extra wicked.)
—. "Bacchanale" from Samson and Delilah.
This is just what it sounds like, music for a Dionysian orgy. Starts off with a justly famous little oboe solo, then proceeds into the main theme, followed by a "drunk act" about as subtle as Otis of Mayberry's, and finally bursts into a very up-tempo and Arabian Nights-esque finish. Those timpani will get you going, trust me. -
- Stravinsky, Igor. The Firebird Suite
- Don't miss the "Infernal Dance of King Katschei"
(for combats and other oh-shit moments) or the "Berceuse
and Finale" (for the occasional happy ending).
—. Petrushka
Getting into Igor's weirder works now: Petrushka is an incredibly cool and twisted piece illustrating how much it sucks to be a sentient clown puppet. Famous for its use of bitonality, which is when you love two keys too much to settle on one even for a single chord.—. The Rite of Spring
Hear what people considered worth rioting over in 1911! Seriously, wild, irregular rhythms and expressive textures do more than justice to this ballet's theme of human sacrifice. Excellent Tzimisce mood music. Or Malkavian, for that matter. -
- Schoenberg, Arnold. Pierrot Lunaire
- Speaking of Malkavians and clowns...This is some of that
weird 20th-century classical music that always has to thumb its
tonal nose at the preceding several centuries, now put in service
to the idea of recasting that sweet old harlequin Pierrot as
a raving maniac. Quite disturbing.
- Shostakovich, Dmitri. Symphony #5 ("A Soviet Composer's
- Response to Just Criticism")
More than a hint of bitter irony underlies an ostensibly "nationalistic" piece. Warning: Shostakovich is known to be habit-forming.—. Symphony #11 ("The Year 1905")
A bit bombastic, but still Russian angst at its finest.—. String Quartet #8.
Composed in memory of the victims of the Holocaust. Passages of hysteria, sarcasm, and deep sorrow. -
- Strauss, Richard. Salome
- Keep it turned down low and let the tense, chaotic mood of
this one-act opera gradually bleed over onto your players. There's
a "Dance of the Seven Veils" scene, too.
—. Tod und Erklaerung
"Death and Transfiguration." Appropriate, no?
Recommended Albums
- Fiedler, Arthur, conducting the Boston Pops. Night on Bald Mountain
- A collection of orchestral spookiness that includes many
of the pieces listed individually above.
- Kunzel, Erich, conducting the Cincinnati Pops. Chiller
- Very similar in content to Night on Bald Mountain,
but with a few different and rather enjoyable selections, particularly
those excerpted from movie scores.
- Shaham, Gil, with Jonathan Feldman. Devil's Dance
- Taking to heart the old admonition about the violin being
the devil's instrument, Gil Shaham tackles some of the most fiendish
music in the solo violin repertoire, including "Ronde des
Lutins" (Goblins' Round Dance), Ysaye's Obsession Sonata
(opening movement, with the obligatory Dies Irae quote),
Paganini's 13th Caprice, the Devil's Trill Sonata,
and Graceful Ghost Rag — as well as a really fierce
arrangement of the theme from The Witches of Eastwick
and a lush rendition of the "Transylvanian Lullaby"
from Young Frankenstein.
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