I haven't ventured much into the classical music genre, but I'm looking to over the next few weeks.

I'm looking for relatively dark pieces, I prefer piano pieces but I'm definitly open to orchestras and whatnot.

I really like some of Ravel's stuff, if that's any indication.

Thanks in advance.

:)

Look into Chopin. Granted he's got a variety of types of pieces, but some of his preludes are really nice.

Nice and dark?

I have his Nocturne in EFlat Minor (??) and though yes it was very pretty, just not my kind of thing.

Nice and Dark?

Toccata e Fuga in D minor - Johann Sebastian Bach

The first time I heard it I didn't think it was Dark... I thought it was unholy...

Nice and Dark?

Toccata e Fuga in D minor - Johann Sebastian Bach

The first time I heard it I didn't think it was Dark... I thought it was unholy...
Hey, thanks.

Dark, though very revealing. I'm looking for something a bit more subtle than this, is it Ondine by Ravel(not big on names)? That's a piece I really like, something along the lines of that would be good.

I don't know the composer name...

The Phantom of the Opera (For ensemble)

Like many said, Dark and Nice = Chopin

or = Beethoven
or = Liszt

Debussy is exceedingly similar to Ravel, so if you really like Ravel, you'll like Debussy (most likely).

Interesting, would you like to name a few pieces from the artists? I really don't know where to begin.

Thanks for your help.

I like Debussy =) his slow pieces (Claire De Lune) are nice to listen to
isn't choplin that guy who composed "The Entertainer"??....wait...that's Joplin. XD

I wouldn't call Ondine dark, but if that's what you're looking for, then maybe "Une Barque Sur De L'Ocean" (I don't know my French, so I probably butchered the spelling) by Ravel.

Concertos are very fun to listen to (and even more fun to play). I recommend Schumann, Grieg, and Chopin's piano concertos.

I would just try searching Google for Claude Debussy; I did, and this came up. It's a list of his more famous peices along with some audio samples.

http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/debussy.html

What kind of "dark" do you mean - if it's the more blatant kind, I guess the popular picks would be Mussugorsky's Night on Bald Mountain and Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. The more subtle, brooding type of darkness can be found in such pieces as Shostakovich's 1st Violin Concerto (mainly the 1st movement), Steve Reich's Four Sections (again, mainly the 1st movement), and many of Samuel Barber's vocal pieces.

Thanks for the recommendations, please keep them comming.

I purchased Beethoven's glorious 9th today on CD. Seems like a good place to start.

Oooh, that's a pretty profound symphony. I would have started with something lighter, but if you can get into the first parts of that, you shouldn't have problems getting in to many things.

I love that guy. =p

Try Paganini's 24 caprices, be sure to listen to caprice no.5...

umm... as far as Ravel goes, yes, Ondine is pretty dark towards the middle. Scarbo is also a dark piece, as is
La Valse,
Noctuelles (in the middle)
La Vallee des Cloches (again in the middle).

maybe you should also look at his Jeux d'eau if you like Ondine? it's not "dark", but if you like Ondine, i think you would like it.

As for Debussy; dark pieces of his that spring to mind are:
Preludes no 4 and 7 from book I
1,7 and 8 from book 2,
Hommage a Rameau from Images I,
Et la lune descend sur le temple qui fut from Images II,
Etude nr 8
D'un cahier d'esquisses
Nocturne in D flat
Ballade

other than that... just look at what other people have suggested... i dont really know that much Chopin.. but a lot of his Nocturnes are dark... also look at Faure's Nocturnes (dont really know those either, but the one in E flat minor is one of the darkest pieces i know)...

Liszt also wrote some dark pieces, such as;
Transcendental Etudes 6,9,11,12
Au lac de Wallenstadt
Vallee d'Obermann
Apres un lecture du Dante

Sorabji's Sequentia cyclica super "Dies irae" ex Missa pro defunctis is pretty perplexed and difficult if you want a more sinister and yet soft and fertile grasp of music...

Michael Finnissy's The History of Photography in Sound, I love playing this piece... It's not that dark but it has it's times within the series of themes in the piece. But it's such a wonderful concerto to play such a splendid marvel of history ecked in a passionate music....

You could play George Crumb's Makrosmos... It's not really a dark piece but more of a weird one... But I do like it specially the third book, "Music for a Summer Evening" for two pianos and a percussion instrument... And the wierd one is the "Celestial Mechanics" which is the fourth book for amplified piano which is for four hands...Or you could just play the two solo pieces for piano... It's your pick... You should try it...

Thanks for the suggestions.

Thorn: actually, I think it was your recording of that Ravel piece that got me into him. :unsure:

No one brought up Mozart's Requiem?
One of the best hours ever spent is listening to that piece, I think.