The Classics 3
Heavy Classics

It may seem ambitious to compare the rarefied world of the concert hall with the rock stadium, with its blaring amplifiers, pyrotechnics and mullets. Yet, anyone who has heard an orchestra in full cry will know that it can be a powerful experience.

Classical composers were not immune from the tendency to make big noises, to be "over the top", to bang their heads, if you will.

Turn down the lights, put on your black t-shirt and turn up the amplifier - Prepare yourself to be blasted by some of the biggest classical "anthems".

1. Orff – Carmina Burana - 1. O Fortuna
What better way to start the show than to throw our destiny to the wind in this adaptation of a mediaeval song about fate. This is one of the most famously raw pieces of classical music.

2. Beethoven – Symphony No. 5 in c minor, op.67 - 1. Allegro con brio
Frequently parodied, never trumped, this famous music still packs a mighty punch.

3. Bach – Toccata and Fugue in d minor, BWV 565
This is another well-known favourite, and always a hit with the lovers of "gothic"-sounding music. Big old organs blasting out in a church is as gothic as it gets.

4. Grieg – Peer Gynt - In the Hall of the Mountain King
This sinister music takes a creepy story-line and gives it a life of its own. It won’t take much for you to imagine yourself being chased-down by a bunch of great hairy trolls...

5. Holst – The Planets, op.32 - 1. Mars, the Bringer of War
This relentless music builds up to a mighty roar. Although it is inspired by astrology and was written just before the First World War, it’s hard not to hear the savagery of that event in this music.

6. Mozart – Requiem, K 626 - 2. Dies Irae
The Requiem mass is for the souls of the dead, and has drawn many famous musical responses, most especially this one. In fact, this composition ended up being a premonition, for Mozart’s mortal soul didn’t quite make the end of it. The Dies Irae is the day of wrath and a plea for mercy. It is the end of the world as we know it - musical death and destruction.

7. Mussorgsky – Pictures at an Exhibition (Orchestrated Ravel) - IX. La cabane de Baba-Yaga sur des pattes de poule (The Hut on Fowl’s Legs) & X. La grande porte de Kiev (The Great Gate of Kiev)
Mussorgsky’s pictures are musical sketches of paintings at an exhibition - an exhibition by one Viktor Hartmann. Mussorgsky composed this musical tribute for that artist’s premature death. There is a musical portrait of a portrait of a particularly nasty-sounding creature, immediately followed by a massive musical construction, a most imposing wall of sound. Insist on the Ravel orchestration.

8. Prokofiev – Romeo and Juliet - Montagues and Capulets (Dance of the Knights)
A dark dance that conveys the deadly rivalries of two powerful, opposed families - from Shakespeare’s drama.

9. Verdi – Requiem - 2. Dies Irae & 3. Tuba mirum spargens sonum
Verdi’s "day of wrath" is sonically awesome and truly terrifying. A big choir and a huge orchestra start the offensive, but the star of the show is the bass drummer who gets to make some of the biggest thumps in any music.

10. Wagner – Die Walküre (The Valkyries) - Act. 3 Walkürenritt, "Hojotoho! Hojotoho! Heiaha! Heiaha!" (The Ride of The Valkyries)
The Valkyries must have packed a punch judging by this full-frontal assault. These thundering women reputedly transported dead heroes to heaven. You may know this music from the dawn helicopter attack in Apocalypse Now.