Classical Music for Halloween

Halloween is near, and a number of composers have written some music that fits the mood.  Here are 10 of my favorites in no particular order (click on each title for a YouTube performance).

Music For Stringed Instruments, Percussion and Celesta (III: Adagio) by Bela Bartok  - creepy enough that Stanley Kubrick used parts of it throughout The Shining.  The composer wrote this in the early 1940s and was inspired by the very real horrors of World War II.

Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Saens - This is a usually a great orchestra piece, but this is a blog for studying the piano, so here is a very nice arrangement for 2 pianos.

Symphony Fantastique (V: known as "Dream of a Witches' Sabbath") by Heitor Berlioz.  One of the oldest Halloween classics, this was the first of many pieces to feature the Gregorian Chant Dies Irae and use it for suspenseful music.  This a superb orchestra piece conducted by the legendary Leonard Bernstein.

Sonata for Piano (III: Adagio mesto) by Samuel Barber.  I'm actually working on this piece in my own practice.  It just has a dark, foreboding tone to it.

Toccata and Fugue in D minor by J.S. Bach (arranged for piano by Alfred Cortot) - great piano arrangement of perhaps the most famous organ composition of all time.

Scythian Suite (II. The Evil God and the Dance of the Pagan Monsters) by Sergei Prokofiev - probably wins the award for most descriptive title.  It's a very energetic and sinister orchestra piece.

Symphonic Dances V (2nd section of movement III: Allegro Vivace) by Sergei Rachmaninoff.  One of the last pieces this composer wrote, this exciting piece also uses the Dies Irae chant.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Paul Dukas.  See the original Fantasia film from 1940 to hear the orchestral version.  This version is arranged for 2 pianos.

Mephisto Waltz No. 1 by Franz Liszt.  Inspired by the Faust story, this is also popular as an orchestra piece, but this is the Liszt's own piano version featured in an amazing performance.  Seriously, this may be the most incredible piano performance you ever watch!

Night on Bald Mountain by Modest Mussorgsky - This is a piano arrangement of another piano arrangement of an orchestral work (which you can also hear in the original Fantasia).  Another great performance of a classic work!