Darkness descends on Exploring Music as Malcolm Arnold leads a pair of drunken bassoonists through a dark foggy peat bog, Henry Cowell conjures a banshee from the piano, and Paganini’s violin flirts with the devil. Bill lines up the composers who delighted in the supernatural – but it’s not all about Hallowe’en in America: there’s Walpurgisnacht (throughout Europe), and St. John’s Eve (international). EM conjures the ghosts, the goblins, Mephistopheles, and other phantasmagoria depicted by Brahms, Berlioz, Verdi, Busoni, Offenbach, and more.
Demons, Spooks and Other Things That Go Bump in the Night
Playlist
Episode 1
Camille Saint-Saëns: Danse Macabre
New York Philharmonic Orchestra/Leonard Bernstein
Favorite French Spectaculars
CBS 37769; 7:05
John Cage: The Perilous Night, V
Markus Hinterhauser, prepared piano
Prepared Piano
Col Legno 20027; :46
Franz Liszt: Totentanz, S. 555
Boston Symphony Orchestra/Seiji Ozawa; Krystian Zimerman, piano
Totentanz
Philips 456997; 15:15
Charles Ives: Hallowe’en
New York Philharmonic Orchestra/Leonard Bernstein
Symphony No. 2 • Central Park In The Dark • The Unanswered Question • Tone Roads No. 1 • Hymn For Strings • Hallowe’en • The Gong On The Hook And Ladder
DG 429220; 1:57
Niccolò Paganini: Le streghe – Op. 8, (arr. for solo violin)
Rachel Barton Pine, violin
Instrument Of The Devil / Rachel Barton, Patrick Sinozich
Cedille 041; 10:07
Henry Cowell: The Banshee
Cowell, piano
Piano Music
Smithsonian Folkways 40801; 1:44
Hector Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique, Op. 14, V
Boston Symphony Orchestra/Charles Münch
Complete Collections – Munch Conducts Berlioz
RCA 6210; 8:46
Pickett, Capizzi: “Monster Mash”
Bobby (Boris) Pickett and The Crypt-Kickers
Dr. Demento 20th Anniversary Collection: The Greatest Novelty Records Of All Time
Rhino 70743; 3:15
Episode 2
Modest Mussorgsky: Night on Bald Mountain
Philadelphia Orchestra/Eugene Ormandy
Classics From The Crypt
RCA 61238; 11:41
Felix Mendelssohn: Die Erste Walpurgisnacht, Op. 60
Cleveland Orch & Chorus/Christoph Von Dohnanyi; Christine Cairns, mezzo-soprano; Jon Garrison, tenor; Tom Krause, baritone; Jeffrey Wells, bass-baritone
Classics – Mendelssohn: Symphony No 3, Etc / Dohnányi
Telarc 80184; 18:11, 14:33
Johannes Brahms: “Walpurgisnacht”, Op. 75/4
Gil Shaham, violin; Jonathan Feldman, piano
Complete Chamber Music
DG 463483; 1:49
Robert “Bob” Cobert: Theme from Dark Shadows
Cincinnati Pops Orchestra/Erich Kunzel
Scary Music
Telarc 80580; 1:31
Matthew Fisher: Procol Harum: “Repent Walpurgis” (excerpt)
Repent Walpurgis / Conquistador
Stateside FSS 628; 2:41
Episode 3
Edvard Grieg: “In the Hall of the Mountain King”
Philharmonia Orchestra/Andrew Davis
Fright Night
CBS 45530; 2:27
Antonio Bazzini: Round of the Goblins
Rachel Barton Pine, violin
Instrument Of The Devil / Rachel Barton, Patrick Sinozich
Cedille 041; 5:09
Joaquin Rodrigo: Seguidillas del diablo
Artur Pizarro, piano
Rodrigo Piano Works
Collins 14342; 4:06
Luigi Boccherini: Symphony In D Minor, Op. 12/4, La Casa Del Diavolo, III
Tafelmusik Orchestra/Jean Lamon
Symphony in D minor (“La casa del diavolo”), G. 506 (Op. 12/4)
RCA 7867; 5:49
György Ligeti: Piano Etudes, Book 2 –L’Escalier Du Diable
Pierre-Laurent Aimard, piano
Works For Piano: Études & Musica Ricercata
Sony 62308; 5:16
Franz Schubert: “Der Erlkönig,” D. 328
Malcolm Martineau, piano; Bryn Terfel, bass-baritone
An die Musik – Favorite Schubert Songs
DG 445294; 4:24
John Morris: “Transylvanian Lullaby” from Young Frankenstein
Gil Shaham, violin; Jonathan Feldman, piano
Morris: Young Frankenstein – A Transylvanian Lullaby
DG 463483; 3:59
Michael Tippett: “Ritual Dances” From The Midsummer Marriage (excerpts)
English Northern Philharmonia/Michael Tippet; Rita Cullis, soprano; Mark Curtis, tenor; Margaret McDonald, mezzo-soprano; Matthew Best, bass
Ritual Dances, Praeludium, Etc / Tippett
Nimbus 5217; 8:28
Malcolm Arnold: Tam O’Shanter – Overture, Op. 51
Philharmonia Orchestra/Sir Malcolm Arnold
British Composers Series – Malcolm Arnold: Symphony
EMI 64044; 7:56
Episode 4
Giuseppe Verdi: Macbeth – Act 3: “Tre Volte Miagola La Gatta In Fregola”
Chicago Symphony Orchestra & Chorus/Georg Solti
Macbeth / Act 3 – “Tre volte miagola la gatta in fregola”
London 430226; 4:06
Bedrich Smetana: Macbeth and the Witches
Radoslav Kvapil, piano
Macbeth and the Witches, for piano, JB 1:75
Unicorn 9152; 10:57
Hector Berlioz: La Damnation de Faust – The Ride to the Abyss, Pandemonium and Epilogue on Earth
Chicago Sympony Orchestra & Chorus/Sir Georg Solti; Kenneth Riegel, tenor; José van Dam, bass-baritone; Frederica von Stade, mezzo-soprano
La Damnation De Faust Highlights / Solti, Riegel, Von Stade
London 410181; 9:11
Manuel De Falla: El Amor Brujo
Montreal Symphony Orchestra/Charles Dutoit
The Three-cornered Hat, El Amor Brujo / Dutoit
London 410008; 24:15
John Williams: “Devil’s Dance” from The Witches of Eastwick (excerpt)
Gil Shaham, violin; Jonathan Feldman, piano
Devil’s Dance from the Witches of Eastwick
DG 463483; 3:37
Episode 5
Robert Schumann: Scenes From Goethe’s Faust (excerpts)
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra/Claudio Abbado; soloists
Scenes from Goethe’s Faust / Terfel, Mattila, Abbado
Sony 66308; :56, 10:58
Franz Schubert: “Gretchen Am Spinnrade,” D. 118
Bernarda Fink, mezzo-soprano; Gerold Huber, piano
Lieder / Bernarda Fink, Gerold Huber
HM 901991; 3:39
Ferruccio Busoni: Doktor Faust (excerpts)
Lyon Opera Orchestra/Nagano; Henschel, baritone; Begley, tenor
Doktor Faust
Erato 25501; 6:51, 5:05
Ferruccio Busoni: “Lied des Mephistopheles” (Faust, Teil I)
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone; Gerald Moore, piano
Recordings From the Archives
EMI 63167; 1:30
Jacques Offenbach: Les Contes D’Hoffmann – “Scintille, Diamant!”
Munich Radio Orchestra/Julius Rudel; Samuel Ramey, bass
Date the Devil
Naxos 8.555355; 4:11
Charles Gounod: Faust – “Le Veau D’Or Est Toujours Debout!”
Munich Radio Orchestra/Julius Rudel; Samuel Ramey, bass
Date the Devil
Naxos 8.555355; 2:18
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 8, “Symphony of a Thousand,” II (excerpts)
Bavarian Radio Orchestra & Chorus/Colin Davis; soloists
Mahler Symphony No. 8
RCA 68348; 13:30