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The Halloween holiday is upon us. Here are some terrifying pieces of music to play, perhaps to frighten off some of those awful trick-or-treaters who want to bully you out of your nice candy.
- Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. This is what all the mad scientists play on their pipe organs. But through the miracle of recording technology, you can play it too! It’s one of the most popular musical tropes for haunted houses, and such. And yes, it's also on everyone else's Halloween music list. Sorry.
- Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire. Some will suggest that German Sprechstimme was a pre-cursor to rap, but I have my doubts. To me, it’s hard to argue that this style of speech-singing doesn’t sound creepy to the average modern ear.
- Berlioz’s Symphony Fantastique, particularly the “Dream of a Witch’s Sabbath.” Here’s an opium-inspired vision of pure evil. Perfect for Halloween.
- Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7, movement 2. The most beautiful funeral dirge ever. I hate to cast it as terrifying, but to me, there is no more perfect expression of a dark emotion.
- Holst, The Planets: “Mars, Bringer of War.” This is certainly the music that the aliens will play when they come to take over our planet.
- Honorable Mention to Some Classic Film Scores: Bernard Herrmann’s soundtrack to Psycho, particularly “The Knife.” Truly, one of the scariest bits of music ever composed. John Williams' soundtrack to Jaws is pretty scary too.
- Country Music Honorable Mention: Charlie Daniels' Band, "The Devil Went Down to Georgia." A classic story about good meeting evil. But don't you think the Devil won this fiddle contest? To me, the possibility that music competitions can be fixed like this is pretty darn terrifying.