Circle City Clarinerd

This Halloween, forget "Scream" costumes, zombie flicks and vampire novels and let orchestra music scare your socks off!

In the spirit of the approaching weekend of witchery, I chatted with a few ISO musicians about their favorite creepy concertos, haunting hymns and ominous overtures. Play some of these pieces as you're doling out candy or slathering carmel onto your apples!

"Berlioz’s "Symphonie Fantastique" features the Dies Irae tune, a hymn to the 
dead. We’ve played Paul Dukas’s "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" and Saint-Saens’s "Danse 
Macabre" for Halloween Learning Community concerts. There are also a number of piece 
about witches, including "Kikimora, by Liadov, which is 
maybe less well known. Charles Ives’s "Halloween" is kind of crazy but pretty fun."  -Roger Roe, Acting Principal Oboe

Berlioz's "Symphony Fantastique," movement 4: "March to the Scaffold"



Berlioz's "Symphony Fantastique," movement 5: "Dream of a Witches' Sabbath"



Dukas's "The Sorcerer's Apprentice"



Saint-Saens's "Danse Macabre"



Liadov's "Kikimora"



Ives's "Halloween"

“Some spooky symphonies include ‘Night on Bald Mountain’ by Mussorgsky and ‘Baba Yaga’ from ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ by Mussorgsky.” - Jill Boaz, Horn

Mussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain"



Mussorgsky's "Baba Yaga" from "Pictures at an Exhibition"


"There are two incredible works by the Swiss Romantic composer Joachim Raff. The first is the "Ghost Ride" Movement, where the heroine waits for her beloved to return from war. He does, but as they ride off, he becomes a spectre. The second excerpt is from his Spring Symphony. This piece is more frenzied and is full of spooks and goblins. There's also Dvorak's tone Poem, "The Noonday Witch", which has a horrific story. ["The Noonday Witch" is based on the demon "Lady Midday" from Slavic Mythology]."  -Geoff Lapin, Cello



Raff's "Ghost Ride" movement from his Symphony No. 5


From Raff's "Spring Symphony"



Dvorak's "The Noonday Witch"

"I think the chiming of midnight in Prokofiev’s "Cinderella" is super creepy. Also, Bartok's Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste has some creepy stuff in it, too." -Jennifer Greenlee, First Violin

Prokofiev's "Cinderella" Suite



Bartok's Music for Percussion, Strings and Celeste

ISO fans, what are your favorite "spooky symphonies?" Comment below!

Happy (Musical) Halloween from the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra!