Re: Mahler's Kindertotenlieder (and Other Morbid Classics)
 

'Dialogues of the Carmelites' is live on BBC Radio 3 this evening at 6.45.

Re: Mahler's Kindertotenlieder (and Other Morbid Classics)
 

It was a marvellous Simon Rattle performance and literally oozed spiritual angst.

The repeated slice of the blade actually felt as if it cut through my own neck!

Re: Mahler's Kindertotenlieder (and Other Morbid Classics)
 

Thanks Des

I just listened to the recording (available for a week on BBC3 website):

BBC Radio 3 - Opera on 3, Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmelites

extraordinary finale as you well put.

Also, I will never forget that Marta piece especially when coupled with an understanding of the history behind it and that clear message to Marta from the Csangos (who provided the vocals) - "Do not come again".

Re: Mahler's Kindertotenlieder (and Other Morbid Classics)
 

Gymnopédies, assembled by Damien Roach (2012), the first part of it anyway:
http://vimeo.com/38767919

Re: Mahler's Kindertotenlieder (and Other Morbid Classics)
 

I've found this thread very useful and a little exciting because I'm a newbie to classical music (I've got maybe 8 classical albums at most) but for several years I've felt it should be more of a priority because I adore symphonic and pipe organ music but somehow never get around to buying more of it. But there's just so much music and it's not easy to cover all genres as much as you'd like.
Sometimes I worry about getting jaded by art and it comes as a comfort that I've got so many great symphonies ahead of me.

I just finished my replays of Havergal Brian's Gothic and I'm totally blown away by it. Just fills me with visions.
It isn't really all that dark considering the title, there's some sinister bits in the first part (I think the notes said it was based on Faust) but it mostly seems a happy thing to me. Like an epic evocation of heaven.

I first heard of it on tv with a documentary called Curse Of The Gothic Symphony. Sadly I missed most of the thing.

Re: Mahler's Kindertotenlieder (and Other Morbid Classics)
 

I don't know if we could call them morbid, but I find certain works by Leoš Janáček filled with killing sadness and a terrible melancholy, which almost invites reflections on mortality. In the Mists absolutely slays me:


His last opera, From the House of the Dead - based on Dostoyevsky's novel - is pervaded by brutal bleakness.

The Quay brothers did an animated short film inspired by Janáček's life and work and that's how I learned of him. Outside of the circumstances of his personal life - difficult marriage, death of his daughter - his interest in Slavic folk music might also explain some of the weariness and despair that many of his compositions carry.