Vampire-inspired classical music for Halloween
As the nation gears up for Halloween, here's our playlist of blood-curdling vampire-inspired music.
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1. Dracula, Glass
Haunting trills and raspy textures, Glass' soundtrack to the 1931 Dracula film is suitably spooky. It's another collaboration between Glass and the Kronos Quartet, as well as the 1985 recording of Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters and two tracks from Songs from Liquid Days, recorded in 1986.
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2. Transylvanian Dances, Bartók
Bartók was inspired to write his Sonatina in 1915 after collecting folk tunes in neighbouring country, Romania, home to the legendary vampire stronghold, Transylvania. He named the suites the Transylvanian Dances when he arranged them for orchestra.
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3. Dracula, Kilar
Wojciech Kilar, the Polish film composer, made his English language debut scoring the music for the 1992 film, Dracula, starring Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Anthony Hopkins and Keanu Reeves. The theme is suitably eerie, with relentless marching lower strings, ominous drums and high-pitched screaming violins.
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4. Der Vampyr, Marschner
Save the woman you love, or keep quiet and lose her to a vampire. A complex love story, a Witches' Sabbath, and a lightning storm - Marschner's opera from 1828 is packed full of action.
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5. Grohg, Copland
An adaptation of the Dracula tale, and inspired by the film Nosferatu, Copland completed Grohg around 1925. The music uses jazzy syncopations and cheery melodies with sinister undertones to add to the feel of unease. Copland used this ballet as inspiration for his later Dance Symphony.
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6. Dracula, John Williams
It's 1913, and Count Dracula arrives from Transylvania, ready to descend upon Mina Van Helsing and drink her blood. Horror, intrigue, suspense, and a great plot - so who better to compose the film's soundtrack than movie music genius, John Williams.
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7. Brides of Dracula, Williamson
Vampire hunter Van Helsing returns to Transylvania in this Dracula sequel, with a suitably menacing soundtrack from Malcolm Williamson.
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8. Transylvanian Spinning Room, Kodaly
Kodaly's Székelyfonó, known in English as Transylvanian Spinning Room is another folksong-inspired work, this time, a one act theatre piece. The title is a lot more haunting than the music itself, which tells the tales of traditional Hungarian villagers through traditional songs.
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9. Nosferatu, Erdmann
German composer Hans Erdmann wrote a uniquely dark soundtrack for the 1922 expressionist thriller, Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (Nosferatu, a symphony of horror). It's based on Bram Skoker's Dracula film, but the studio couldn't obtain the rights to 'Dracula', so called him 'Count Orlok' instead.
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10. Symphony No. 2 'Resurrection', Mahler
"Rise again, yes, rise again!" Setting text by Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, Mahler's 'Ressurection' symphony tells the story of the dead rising again and being born into eternal life.
