The 10 Most Emotionally Draining Vocal Works
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ก.ค. 2022
- If you still need more emotional drainage after the previous list of orchestral works, try these vocal pieces--songs, choral works and operas. If you've got anything left afterwards, you're not human.
Bach: St. Matthew Passion
Strauss: Elektra
Wagner: Tristan und Isolde
Verdi: Requiem
Puccini: Madama Butterfly
Mahler: Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection”
Berg: Wozzeck
Schubert: Die Winterreise
Poulenc: Dialogues of the Carmelites
Janáček: Jenůfa - เพลง
A real life story: During a concert performance of Tristan in Chicago conducted by Solti, a man seated directly behind Solti fell asleep at the beginning of King Marke's monologue. Towards the end of the monologue, the man woke with a start and audibly exclaimed "OMG, he's still singing!" This caused Solti to laugh out loud. I know this happened because I was told this by one of the orchestra's violinists.
Wonderful story! Thanks for the laugh.
I laughed out loud at Mr Hurwitz explaining what King Mark is singing about.
...truly hysterical...priceless...)
And that day was the first documented use of the acronym "OMG" in speech, surprisingly by a senior citizen. Thank you for uncovering this artifact of etymological archeology.
@@tortuedelanuit2299 Not true! The gentleman in question had no clue as to the abbreviated form of "Oh, my G-d!" I only used the contemporary shorthand for the sake of brevity. I post this for those readers who may not have understood the abbreviation, certainly not for your benefit.
Years ago, I attended Tristan und Isolde in Lyric Opera of Chicago. During the Isolde's the Liebes Todd, one gentleman, for whatever reason, decided to leave the performance. It was on balcony and man lost his balance on the very steep strares and fall backwards. He was just inches from my seat and I tried to catch him but, unfortunately, was unable. Emergency came and took him to hospital. Few days after invent, the tragedy was reported in Newspapers that he didn't survive. An incredible tragical struck of crude destiny.
I love Verdi's Requiem, the final crescendo of the libera me, and then the long breath after. I've heard a quote in a video somewhere that said Verdi's Requiem is his greatest opera, haha.
Mmmm my
Not
Noticed the chapter headings lists "Porcini's Madama Butterfly" - not draining, but makes me hungry!
An anecdote about Madama Butterfly: Mirella Freni told once it was almost impossible for her to sing Butterfly on stage because she couldn't help crying.
As for Wozzeck (which is my favourite opera and my nickname in many internet places), I also think it has the saddest opera ending in all repertory.
And Winterreise: what can be said. I absolutely agree with your feelings in this amazing cycle.
An amazing list, with I agree completely.
I would add Strauss' Four last songs and Bruckner's Te Deum that are at least for me extremly emotionally draining.
You are one of my very favourite people to listen to talking about music.
Not only are you obviously passionately in love with music and unafraid to voice your opinions - whether popular or unpopular - but you say intelligent and nuanced things AND do so extremely clearly.
Thanks for what you’re doing!
Thanks very much! I really appreciate that.
My list would be:
1. Handel - Theodora
2. Poulenc - Dialogue of the Carmelites
3. Mahler - Das Lied von der Erde
4. Wagner - Tristan & Isolde
5. R. Strauss - Elektra
6. Berlioz - Requiem
7. Schmidt - The Book of the 7 Seals
8. Puccini - Madam Buttterfly
9. Schubert - Wintereisse
10. Bach - St. Matthew Passion
Based on my own live performance experience, the Britten War Requiem would be on this list. Incredibly effective performed in a hall with the various parts distributed in space… the way that the last Dona nobis pulls it all together… just devastating!
The St. Matthew's Passion was the first concert I attended, with my paternal grandparents, as a 7-year old. Mum was the concert master, and dad sang in the choir. The work is draining for sure but only if you listen to it non stop - back then I had my pencils and drawing book and now I just put on something else in between the 2 parts or earlier. Kabalevsky's piano concerto no.3 helps - it's one of the most euphoric pieces of music ever written.
Britten War Requiem gets me every time, I usually sit benumbed for 10-15 minutes. Shostakovich 14 also has to be in my top ten. Nothing in music confronts our common fate so unflinchingly and remorselessly than that.Speaking of Puccini, I always tear up at the end of Fanciulla del West, Addio mio California. Weird because it's the rare Puccini opera with a "happy ending" but I'm verklempt along with those miners.
I love Poulenc's music in Dialogues when Blanche shows up and Constance sees her. Wow. Dave, your story about the nun who was just devastated when she saw it at the Met stuck with me. A Poulenc punch to the gut is La Voix Humaine, heartrending, no catharsis just incredible pity.
I agree with your choices! One that always gets me is Purcell Dido and Aeneas. That final one-two punch of 'when I am laid' followed by the haunting chorus 'with drooping wings' ...especially the rests between phrases at the end always leaves me drained
Dido and Aeneas is truly a delightful work. First of all, I think Purcell is a VASTLY underrated composer of genius , not only for his choral and vocal works but instrumental. Also, Dido and Aeneas has it all in a reasonably timed opera - humor, sadness, catchy tunes, etc.
Kabelac's 8th symphony drained my soul and shattered me into pieces. Yet, I still keep listening to it.
I'm currently reading Ian Bostridge's book on the Winterreise and it's informative and entertaining. He knows the piece inside out and his commentary is thoughtful. Good summer reading, paradoxically.
On a different note, I realize it will never make it to Dave's faves, but Sciarrino's Morte di Borromini is a harrowing look into a suicidal frame of mind.
To your operatic list I would add Puccini’s Suor Angelica. There is some thing about all those religious chords that just tugs at my heart strings. I know you don’t want biographical stuff, but the first time I heard it was right after my mother had passed. Two other works just ring me out because I am a choral conductor: Ralph Vaughan Williams DONA NOBIS PACEM and the Britten WAR REQUIEM. What I particularly love about the two of them is the connection between the RECONCILIATION movement in the former and the STRANGE MEETING in the latter.
The biographical stuff is fine when it has a direct musical connection, as it does here. Thanks for sharing this with us.
Hello David Hurwitz...I agree with each and every one of your choices. Dialogues of the Carmelites reduces me to a blubbering mess each time I hear it. I put my head in my hands and moan 'no no' and jump at the sound of the guillotine. Thanks Dave, for your most educational and entertaining vids...You obviously are in love with music and it does come through quite clearly.
Tristan und Isolde killed two conductors too, Felix Mottl and Joseph Keilberth. I saw once a great performance of the opera, and it was too much, I was crying during the last 20 minuts of the third act. Wagner created an overwhelming attack on our senses, it's almost pornographic.
I would also add Götterdämmerung, especially in a live performance of the whole Tetralogy. Every time I have a sense of "the world has ended, what now?"
In 1974 I was 18 yrs old and flew from Los Angelesto San Francisco to hear Birgit Nilsson and Jess Thomas do Tristan and had a rear orchestra seat . That evenings performance was to this date the greatest night I ever spent in an opera house . Nothing, no words can describe the sound that came from Birgit's voice in person and Jess Thomas was equal to hear . It was a night unlike any other .
It also killed the original Tristan :)
I find the end of Walkuere even more emotionally draining than the end of the cycle. Just heartbreaking every time but so beautiful
@@bbailey7818 I agree. To see it live as I did at the Met in the 90.s in a traditional production is thrilling.
I knew Puccini had to be on the list! My parents saw Madama Butterfly in Tokyo and the audience was overcome with emotion with a lot of the audience loudly weeping.
My first encounter with Mahler was a concert in Paris with Kubelik conducting No.2 with Barbara Hendricks singing the finale. Everything you say about your experience in the Rostropovich concert, i went through it. 30 years later, it still makes me shiver. Thanks for the video.
There is nothing more devastating than Wozzeck. It is not a Night at the Opera.
I would add Puccini's SUOR ANGELICA. After Senza Mamma it is gut wrenching! The brief chorus "La Grazia è discesa dal cielo" gives me goosebumps and brings tears to my eyes
Every piece you mentioned resonates with my experiences. Bravo Dave!
I want to thank you, David, for sharing your enthusiasm of classical music with the TH-cam universe. Your videos came as a breath of fresh air during the pandemic; it was wonderful to know that there were still passionate listeners out there!
I agree with the comments that offer the Samuel Barber "Knoxville: Summer of 1915," for inclusion on the list-- my go-to recording has always been Dawn Upshaw's. But for me the most draining piece of vocal music has to be George Crumb's "Ancient Voices of Children." I've heard the piece live twice and bawled at the end of it both times. Thanks for including Crumb's "Black Angels" on the list of emotionally draining chamber music!
Thanks. I agree, AVoC is a powerful event.
David, both this list and the orchestral works, are marvelous. What a great idea and thank you for taking time to produce these lists. I look for emotionally draining music because I want to "feel" a connection to the music. It is unlike any other experience.
One of the most harrowing works I think is Schoenberg's A Survivor from Warsaw. It packs the most amazing punch in less than 10 minutes. It leaves me exhausted, and it's so short. I'm so glad you had Wozzeck on your list. I'd love a repertoire video on it. I'm also a big fan of Strauss's Elektra, but you could say about the same thing for Salome. I love Winterreise but can only listen to it every decade or so. It is just too bleak but beautiful. Madama Butterfly was the one that immediately came to mind when you announced the list. Really interesting! Thanks! You make me want to hear all of Jenufa even more than last time.
A marvelous list, with which I couldn't agree more! I am going to replay them all during next 10 days... Wow!
Some more I would put out there for consideration:
Gotterdammerung - the finale has it all, the ring/curse theme, the Siegfried theme, the Wotan theme, the Valhalla theme, the Rhine theme, the Mother's Love theme, and even a bit of The Ride of the Valkyries. My wife and I were weeping at the end at the Kennedy Center performance several years ago.
Gorecki Symphony #3
Turandot - there's just no getting around Nessun Dorma. Yes, it's in commercials, it's on every reaction channel, but still ... damn!
Parsifal - the emotional exhaustion of Nur Eine Waffe Taugt followed by Hoechsten Heiles Wunder. A friend of mine who has been in choruses for decades has said that nothing in music is harder than singing at the top of your range quietly.
Ravel's L'enfant et les Sortilèges ... "Maman!" ... heartbreaking
Procol Harum's "Whaling Stories" ... wait, sorry. Wrong site. :)
A pair of superb presentations sir, I have my listening order set up. Thank you.
How cool! When I saw your title, I thought of my own top picks, and they all made in your list, namely, Tristan, the St Matthew, and Carmelites. Thank you so much for a great topic and your deep insights.
I think you really nailed it… Jenufa! I’ve seen it once studied the plot carefully and never heard it again since, too hard for me. A total masterpiece. Thank you for mentioning it, Jenufa isa lifetime experience.
Yup, Madama Butterfly makes me cry every single time. Even before I knew what the words meant I cried! I had Jenůfa on my list as well. I might be a masochist, because I went to hear it three weeks in a row when it played in Malmo, Sweden.
I did the same when it was last that the Met. Stupid production, but Mattila as Kostelnicka was amazing.
Great talk Dave. Thanks! Love your choices & agree wholeheartedly that Tristan requires a good performance. I recall seeing a late Reginald Goodall outing in which the opera dragged interminably & was utterly shorn of all Eros. Less a case of feeling wrung out at the end as a sense of relief! After a good performance you just need to go home afterwards & sit quietly. On this night we went out drinking into the small hours!
Wonderful list!! I was almost in tears listening to you David! I would add: Henryk Górecki - Symphony of Sorrowful Songs -
I'm sure others agree. Not to subtract any of your wonderful, meaningful and tragic choices.
SAnjosemike (no longer in CA)
Great choice, in fact, I’d suggest that it could be at the top of the list, especially the song about the young woman in the Gestapo prison. The first time I listened to it, I found it so intense that I started hyperventilating. I think that any recording should come with a warning label that you should not listen to this if you’re the least bit depressed.
I'll leave opera to others, but here are my selections: N.B. I'm proud of this list.
1. Handel's "Messiah": By the time you get to 'worthy is the lamb', you know you've been on a journey.
2. Schoenberg's "Ewartung": You get all the expressionist intensity in a fraction of the time.
3. Vaughan Williams' "Sea Symphony": All you need to hear is the opening "Behold the sea itself" and you'll understand.
4. Berlioz's "Les nuits d'ete": One of the saddest cycles of songs. By the final song concerning going on a voyage, you know the lover is gone and it's more of a memory than anything.
5. Dvorak's "Stabat Mater": Liturgical music made superlative, extra = emotionally draining.
6. Peter Lieberson's "Neruda Songs": Love and love lost is a potent subject, made more impactful because the composer wrote them for Lorraine Hunt Lieberson who ultimately died of cancer. The final song will get you every time.
7. Delius' "Sea Drift": Whitman's story of sea birds separated forever is devastating, with music to match.
8. JSBach's "Ich habe genug, BWV 82": A small, fierce cantata that speaks of the desire for death. The opening movement is pure tragedy.
9. Gade's "Elverskud": A wonderfully executed piece of storytelling set to music. The Elf-King Daughter's music is the height of drama.
10. Barber's "Knoxville: Summer of 1915": It has an indescribable ability to put you in a place and gives you all the feels. No one is better than Barbara Hendricks.
What a great chat! I don't think I've ever seen a more powerful statement of forgiveness than Janacek's Jenufa. An opera friend gave me a VHS production of it 100 years ago for Christmas and was apologetic because he couldn't find anything else. You're full of surprises DW! From another chat, I thought you didn't care for lieder. Glad to see you appreciate Schubert's Winterreise. I have so many recordings. I loved your commentary.
I don't care of the "Lieder culture." The music is another story entirely.
I would definitely add Dvořák's Stabat Mater. It is the most honest, emotinally draining confession you'll ever hear. You can experience the devasteting pain of a parent who lost his child (or three of them to be specific) almost on your own skin. Yet, there is always a hope through out the work. And then, that liberating final coda (almost Janáčkian with its short, rythmic Amen) is IMO just as catharsistic as the ending of Mahler's Auferstehung. And it's Dvořák, so there a plenty of beautiful tunes.
An excellent choice.
@@DavesClassicalGuide But then you want to consider Rossini's and Pergolesi's, which might be described in the same way.
I hadn’t heard of Janacek when I first heard Jenufa at an Edinburgh Festival in the 70s
It blew my mind - overwhelming !
It was with the Royal Stockholm Opera
abd had Elizabeth Sodestroem and Kerstin Meyer who was amazing as Kostelnicka
The same company did Elektra with Birgit Nilsson that week !
Janacek's From the House of the Dead was a really draining experience, I saw it on stage more than 30 years ago!
Great list!
Great list. "Elektra" would be my choice, and by a mile. "Wozzeck", but only if presented in a great performance such as the one I saw in Toronto. I'm with you on the rest of your list, except Puccini. I know I'm alone in laughing where he wants you to cry. The music and "travelogue settings" are sooooo contrived! Add the B Minor Mass.
I’ve gotta dig back to an all-time favorite for this one, George Lloyd’s Symphonic Mass. that work leaves nothing left but lingering catharsis.
I never managed to make it to the end of Verdi's Otello. I would say that it has a better claim to being in this list than the Requiem, however glorious that is.
Another excellent presentation. Not only did you highlight some of my "draining" faves (Elektra, Wozzeck, Mahler #2, and even Madama Butterfly), you also lumped together two works I acknowledge as great masterpieces but find it hard to listen to: St. Matthew Passion and Die Winterreise. These are too painful to bear, sometimes.
Since it has been performed in opera houses, it's fair to mention Sondheim's "Sweeney Todd." It's of course totally Grand Guignol , but it's also a magnificent, harrowing example of using music to connect emotionally to people in extremis, to say the least. And boy, does it put you through the ringer. (Saw the original production toward the end, and the first touring version with Angela Lansbury and George Hearn. Wow!)
Sondheim's "Passion" is more emtionally draining though.
Same goes for Les Mis as well, not sure if it has been performed on opera stages but if you go and watch it on stage and it doesn’t make you feel emotionally drained, the directors haven’t done their job properly!
All that drama, over a loaf of bread!
I love your talk of “drainage” and brevity. I’ve worked in opera for over 40 years as a stage manager, and all my colleagues, when asked “What’s your favorite opera?”, would invariably answer with “Whatever is the shortest!”, i.e. Salome, Elektra or Wozzeck.
Similar to me then. All my favourite operas are either really short, or really, REALLY long. The operas of a sensible length I can live without.
"But the old man would not so, but slew his son, and half the seed of Europe, one by one." Britten's Requiem. You've responded to a comment on Britten's operas, which are great. But the Requiem sends chills down my spine. I'm so glad humanity has learned the lesson and hasn't engaged in wars since WWII.
for the St Matthew Passion I have to give a shout out to the utterly superb way that "Christus" is sung in the live perfromance by the Netherlands Bach Society. It's an amazing performance that has swiftly become my favorite.
Shostakovich 13th Symphony. Even though there is relief and a sense of hope in the Finale, the tolling bells make it impossible to throw off the horror and darkness of everything that has gone before. Uncanny, outstanding sense of drama and pacing on the composer's part..without stage action. (Wozzeck, Butterfly, Carmelites, Jenufa...all great choices, but the dramatic impact is "built in" to the format). LR
True, but it's still the music that matters. Shost 13 is a great pick, though, and so is No. 14.
@@DavesClassicalGuide Maybe you should revise this fascinating series concept, one list for straight Vocal (w/orchestra) works, another one for Opera.
One of the very best live performances of I have ever seen was a Carnegie Hall performance of Elektra with Boston Symphony and Andris Nelsons with Christine Goerke. Unbelievably thrilling.
I was thrilled by the emotional power and suspenseful fulfillment achieved by Terrace Blanchard's A Fire Shut Up in My Bones.
Stravinsky's arrangement of Two Songs by Hugo Wolf expresses sadness in a way that Stravinsky thought he couldn't.
I also am overpowered by Lilly Boulanger's tiny Pei Jesu.
I'll be seeing Tristan und Isolde next month in Santa Fe. Looking forward to some quality drainage.
The last two Poulenc and Janacek are not very often played. Will listen to them. I think two works should be on the list: Der Abschied from Mahler's last song of Das Lied von der Erde and R Strauss' Four Last Songs.
Like a few others, I 'd add Britten's War Requiem to the list. Mahler's 'Das Lied von der Erde' would also have to be on my list of such works. Martinu's 'Epic of Gilgamesh' fits the bill too . Not surprisingly, the older I get, the more emotionally drained I am by the end of it.
Putting in my 2 cents:
Rossini - Stabat Mater last movement, a true apocalyptical ending. Jesus is crucified, the world comes to an end.
Tremendous recording by Muti, with a surprisingly good italian choir: Coro e del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Certainly the greatest last movement among all the recordings of the piece that I have.
Another one that is more Hungarian related. Kodály - Psalmus
The faith of David depicted in the psalm can be associated with the faith of the country. The end of the piece seems to bring redemption, but then the glorious cord collapses and there is the incertain resolution in a gregorian singing style.
+1 Penderecki - Agnus Dei
Thanks Dave. All your choices are just right. I suppose that last image in Wozzeck works so profoundly because there is that huge and cathartic pressure release in that D minor interlude, it swerves into tonality in the most extraordinary way as though the opera is temporarily mourning for tonality.
A number of commentators are mentioning Britten - I think the War Requiem relies on an entirely different form of sentimentality than Wozzeck, relying on the war poetry but that’s just me. But Britten couldn’t have done so much of what he did without Wozzeck, really. I do find the Serenade for Tenor Horn and Strings a bit emotionally draining, but in a sort of self-pitying way, not the same compassion we find in the Berg or the Janacek.
I am curious how far Berg knew Puccini works such as Butterfly looking at this. I know Puccini paid attention to Schoenberg, Debussy et al
The Verdi Requiem needs the Sanctus to set you up for the devastation. Contrast is more powerful than unending misery. That is why I suggested Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet for your orchestral list. All of this is a setup for my vocal suggestion: Bernstein's West Side Story. From the opening shofar-call-as-a-whistle warning us to pay attention, through the love duets, to the death you know is inevitable. Bernstein shows us beautiful need not be maudlin, but can be heartbreaking.
I was agonizing over adding that one.
In contrast with Die Schone Mullerin, Winterreise's melodies aren't immediately engaging, but upon second or third exposure open up to reveal unsuspected beauty that seems to surpass anything you've ever heard. Der Leiermann struck me from first hearing, however, not least because it seems more like something Mahler would have written. How did Schubert come to write it?!
Good picks! My list would probably include Mussorgky’s Songs and Dances of Death. Perhaps Sibelius’s Kullervo as well. As far as Shostakovich is concerned there’s a pretty stiff competition, but I guess I would choose Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Although symphonies nr. 13 and 14 are right on the heels.
Regarding a good time: Its impossible not to have one with you. Each video is fascinating, this one even more so. This is my second time listening to it.
Whether it is a message from a guardian angel, or a silly, baseless premonition, I have always felt that the two Berg operas are not for me. If I value my mental health, it is the musical door I dare not open (yes, I am making an allusion to another opera). Maybe toward the very end of my life.
I certainly have listened to everything else by Berg. I am sorry I didn’t list the violin concerto after the previous video. For years, it was my practice to listen to that concerto with a glass of wine at dusk on New Years Eve. With the advent of Covid I finally had to give that tradition up. Things were tough enough.
In my early 20’s, to the consternation of my neighbors, Elektra was the first opera I ever listened to. David, I don’t know which I love more, the aria of the recognition scene, or that brief heart attack set to music preceding it. I often wonder with Strauss, just who was this man? When he wrote Salome and Elektra, he was more than merely a man.
What I would put on my own list: Sea Drift by Delius. Despite its beauty, it is a work I can rarely listen to. There is a passage at the heart of that work which is so devastating emotionally, I have a difficult time recovering from it afterwards.
I am glad you have plans to continue this series.
Thank you!
Dave's list is great, though I would go for Kindertotenlieder rather than the 2nd Symphony.
And here's a choice that many would think odd - but it works for me - Hansel und Gretel.
Me too
What a great list-again. Two thoughts: even though it’s a mass setting, isn’t Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis about as draining as anything? The vocal writing borders on the abusive. It’s a masterpiece, and it always makes me think “I need a drink.” And then there’s Shostakovich 13 and 14-both, as your friend said about Barshai’s Babi Yar, “are death.”
Sure. Add to the list if you like! I drew the line at 10. It had to be somewhat arbitrary.
Picture yourself at a Catholic Mass listening to the Missa Solemnis. You, along with others, would leave the mass in droves if this were actually performed as the Mass. I would go bonkers, but that is just me, LOL.
Missa Solemnus is definitely a tear jerker
For Winterreise I always go back to Hotter EMI 1954. In that last song Der Leiermann he is unapproachable and the way he sings the very last note letting it fade into nothingness is so moving. As for Butterfly I recall the last MET production by del Monaco. During the Humming Chorus Butterfly stripped her little boy down to his underpants and dressed him in a little sailor suit. Well my tummy started to heave and I said to myself that I would not break down sobbing in front of 3000 people but it was tough. Where I DID break down was during a performance of Suor Angelica with Teresa Stratas. She is a theater animal and at the end when she saw the vision of her child with her nuns cowl half hanging off of her head. OMG EVERYONE around me was crying. It was unbelievable and an emotionally wrenching experience.
I know I am a little late to the party here. I had a very busy couple of weeks and got behind, on my listening. I would add Mahler's Kindertotenlieder. The whole thing is powerful and draining, but for me the drainage kicks in big time in the last song when it moves from minor to major and that gentle lullaby starts. That's when I really have to reach for the kleenex box. So simple, yet so moving.
Here's my list (the film music picks are not purely vocal but contain vocal elements):
1) Puccini - Madama Butterfly
2) Puccini - La Boheme
3) Verdi - La Traviata
4) Wagner - Tristan und Isolde
5) Korngold - Die tote Stadt
6) Mahler - Das Lied von der Erde
7) John Williams - A. I.
8) John Williams - Saving Private Ryan
9) Ennio Morricone - Once upon a Time in the West
10) James Horner - Titanic
Dave is on a roll. Incidentally, when I heard the Verdi Requiem live, I ended up a sobbing mess.
Really surprised at the absence of Gorecki's Symphony No.3 (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs).
Odd choice: Knoxville 1915 by Barber, especially the Levy/McNair version. Why? The performance puts you in the psyche of a teenage girl in a long bygone world ... When it ends, you struggle to slowly and reluctantly return to your life from this beautiful recreation and borrowed persona ... Sylvia McNair simgs with an all embracing and enchanting innocence.
Was at the top of my list, too. Intense emotional impact in a relatively short piece. Your assessment of McNair is beautifully apt.
Knoxville is on my list, too. It's one of the few pieces of music that causes my tears to well up. You know where I mean. The text is especially beautiful, also, and it's usually pretty clear in performance.
Genuinely surprised that the Kindertotenlieder didn’t make the list, but that’s the only thing that surprised me. The one I’ll add, is the Arvo Pärt De Profundis, like the Poulenc, there isn’t a single note out of place and it absolutely wallops you emotionally.
Can't argue with any of the choices here except maybe "Das Lied von der Erde" instead of Mahler 2.
Others that came to mind:
Gorecki: Symphony of Sorrowful Songs (do I need to explain?)
Bernstein: Jeremiah Symphony (I find it threads the needle very well between hope and despair, and as such - quite taxing)
Schoenberg: Survivor from Warsaw (maybe more towards the terror end of things, but that final chorus just absolutely gets me every time I hear it)
I always enjoy being drained to death by Schnittke´s Requiem. And for epic draining, I go for Martinu´s Hry o Marii, last part Soeur Pascalina.
As for Mahler, having participated in both the 2nd and the 8th as choir singer I feel split on the question as the first part of the 8th generate or unleashes a particular energy that both drains and gratifies, and this sensation returns to an even more extatic level towards the end of the second movement that just feels like a penultimate catharsis.
And as for another emotionally draining vocal Mahler experience: "Revelege".
You're which right on about Jenufa which I've seen live several times, the last at the Prague State Opera. But what about From the House of the Dead? Is there a more bleak or harrowing work? But it's so humanistic and ends like Jenufa and The Makropoulos Case on a kind of hopeful note, but not a glib one.
I recently saw a staged and balletic St. Matthew Passion performed by LA Opera. I remember the first time I heard and saw it live in the 1960s at Manhattan's St. George's Episcopal Church (J.P. Morgan's). I remember how I felt when the chorus shouts out "Barrabas!" This was only a year or two after Vatican II. Harrowing here had another aspect.
What an entertaining talk! Well, your list is nearly mine (with exception of „Tristan“ - the 1st act is a bore, and in the 3rd one fever monologue would be sufficient). But Schubert, Berg, Poulenc aso would be also my 1st choice. So, I try a quasi secondary list, doubling some composers, but not works. My list comes without rating, just alphabetically, until the last three.
1) ARGENTO: "The Andree Expedition". A kind of "Winterreise", and one of the most neglected song cycles. Andree was an adventurer, who would, with a few fellows, reach the north pole by balloon; the balloon went down, and they all perished. Argento sets parts of their diaries. The style is not song-like, more monologuing, but of an intensity rarely achieved in songs for voice and piano.
2) BERNSTEIN: „West Side Story“. I know, it‘s just a musical. But it‘s symphonic structured, the whole work centers about a major-minor-clash and a tritone. That‘s sufficient for me to think it higher than many operas, and it’s one of my tear-pieces.
3) MONTEVERDI: „Poppea“. One of the most immoral operas of the whole repertoire, but when, after all that bloodshed, they sing „Pur ti miro“, I‘m in tears. Perhaps this is „my Tristan“.
4) POULENC: „Tel jour, telle nuit“. What a cycle of songs! „Un herbe pauvre“, and I‘m done. How can one write something like that?
5) SHOSTAKOVICH: „Lady Macbeth“. A true thriller in three acts, and the 4th is pure emotion. The song of the old convict, repeated at the end, they all go to Siberia, where death waits... What an opera!
6) VERDI: „Rigoletto“. The immorality he shares with my Monte- pick. Here, the only innocent person is killed. And what gripping music!
7) WAGNER: „Götterdämmerung“. I hate it and I love it. Hate it because of the length and the unsympathetic characters of Siegfried and Brünnhilde, but when Waltraute sings „...da brach sich sein Blick“ or the dark 2nd and 3rd act with the tiny hope at the end.. - well...
8) JANÁCEK: „The Cunning Little Vixen“. I could have named also „Makropulos“ or „Kata“. But the death of the fox and the circle of life never ending moves me every time I see or hear this marvel of music.
9) MAHLER: „Das Lied von der Erde“. Oh dear, „Ewig...ewig“ with the frozen orchestra. Needless to say more.
10) BRITTEN: „The Turn of the Screw“. She sits there, the dead boy in her arms, and sings „Malo“, and I start to weep. (Same at the end of „Billy Budd“; it‘s nearly unbearable for me.)
PS.: I hope for a list of the most funny music - this would be needed in such times...
@@jasonclark901 The case with West Side Story is strange, indeed. But it's fact that the quasi operas of the USA have short peaks and lose appreciation afterwards - think on Menotti's "The Consul" (there was nearly no opera house in the 60ies and 70ies, which did not stage it, even in Vienna, there was a stage and a TV production). And then comes that awful Spielberg-movie with the crippled music. It's a shame.
In my opinion, West Side Story works even nowadays very well on stage, it's a sharp edged, wonderfully structured work with more brain and more emotion than many of the new-music-operas.
Count me among the Das Lied von der Erde and Babi Yar proponents. It's a close call against some of your other choices, but a good performance of either never fails to grip me.
Fear not. They will feature elsewhere, promise.
Really good list, another piece in that St Matthew Passion vein for me is the Beethoven Missa Solemnis. In particular, the climax of the two fugues in the Credo and Gloria ( Especially the Credo where he spends almost half the movement on "Et Vitam Venturi Seculi" or I believe in the life of the world to come amen amen amen...amen) as well as the Benedictus and the depths of the Agnus Dei.
Thus far, in my 72 years, the only baroque music that ever brings tears to my eyes is that of Bach (his vocal works, I should clarify.) And the opening and final choruses of the St. Matthew Passion are two great examples for me...along with the alto/violin aria Erbarme Dich, Mein Gott.
An interesting list could be great concert works that were commissions
In Messiah, the recitative "Thy Rebuke" and aria "Behold and See" are pretty gut wrenching as well.
Dvořák: Stabat Mater
Berlioz: Requiem
Górecki: Miserere
Chesnokov: Memorial Service
There's a difference between "emotionally draining" and simply dismal.
My addition: Martin - Sechs Monologe aus 'Jedermann'.
I would add Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915
Indeed.
Hey Dave :)
What do you think about Handels Theodora?
A fabulous work, very moving.
Verdi’s Requiem, to me, is second to Otello of his emotionally wringing works. I would also add Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex.
I think Don Carlo(s) is also up there, though its definitely depressing.
Hi Dave! I know you receive tons of suggestions so here goes another one (if you didn’t already received from other fans): interpreters. Conductors, pianists, violinists etc, their repertoire, strong and weak points and so one. I guess it could be interesting. Keep on talking! Best regards!
I'm doing it already as a special feature for ClassicsToday.com Insider subscribers.
A lesser known work that I consider to be emotionally draining is the "Credo" by Penderecki. It's in his later Neo-Romantic style, but I find it more emotionally draining than listening to his avant-garde vocal works.
When I started reading music reviews in the early 60s The Daily News critic would call both Elektra (and Salome) one-act shockers. I wondered what a one-act shocker was. And I've seen since Elektra and Salome and you know they are one-act shockers.
I agree with all your selections even to the extent that Strauss’ Elektra, Berg’s Wozzeck, Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites and Janacek’s Jenafu will never be part of my collection, not because the music is not great, but at my age I require a little light at the end of the tunnel. I have tried listening to these, especially Elektra which I used to own on reel to reel tape. Life is bleak enough as it is these days. If I need a temporary fix of wallowing despair, Mahler is my go to guy.
David, are you also making a list of the most draining piano works?
Asked and answered. Sure, but give me some time!
The Sunken Cathedral
Oh, I wondered if the "Resurrection" would not appear on the "vocal" list after all. :) Although it only summons the angelic forces for the last 20 mins. or so of the opus, it is fair to argue that they intensify and complete the drainage. :))
P. S.: High marks for the inclusion of "Madame Butterfly", which was pretty obvious (but still!), and for "Dialogues des Carmelites", which probably wasn't - bearing in mind how many people in the ranks of the "critics" think it a faux Puccini, a pastiche of sorts... Well I guess they never listened. The music is Poulenc, and he always amalgamated into his creation that which came before. But the dramatic arch is soo well accomplished, and the end just beats any dozens of operatic heroes dying for love, for the Motherland or for any number of more unconvincing causes! I have not really concentrated on "Jenufa", but I believe, with its glimmer of humanity and hope against prejudice at the end - it is above many tragic endings that just fail to make you relate. A must-listen for me now.
How about Cherubini Requiem Mass in C Minor?
Puccini has emotional drainage down pat. Butterfly, Boheme, Suor Angelica, take your pick.
do you think you'll ever do top 10 most emotionally draining keyboard works?
Sure, why not? Can I have a little time please?
@@DavesClassicalGuide Take your time! No rush. Was just wondering if it was something you were interested in doing at all.
Rachmaninov Vespers has an undeniable* spiritual intensity
Gorecki Symphony of Sorrowful Songs (I heard the original Polish recording years before the work was well known, and remember feeling very numb.)
*go on, give it your best shot
The main theme of Once upon a time in the West for me
I would include Britten's War Requiem. Not just because of the music, but also Wilfred Owen's devastating poetry.
Sounds good to me. It was on my list
@@DavesClassicalGuide I assume you mean that you considered it, since it's not on the list now.
@@charlescoleman5509 Yes.
Ok now I can include my addition (jumped the gun with the last video): Otmar Schoeck’s “Elegies”.
I'd like to add a couple of works, that drive me emotionally away if it's sung in the right way:
Bellini "Norma"
Donizetti "Roberto Devereux" (especially the finali).
Verdi "La Traviata".
And Brahms:
"Alt-Rhapsodie" and "Vier ernste Gesänge"
I believe that goes for several bel canto (Donizetti/Bellini) masterpieces if you are tuned in to the emotionality of the genre. The finale of Roberto Devereux sure! But then also the duetto finale of Lucrezia Borgia. And the list could go on.
@@igorgregoryvedeltomaszewsk1148 I absolutely agree! The list could be continued...
I'd add Mussorsgky's Songs and Dances of Death and Mahler's Wo die schönen trompeten blasen.
...and Mahler's "Revelege". True horror.
Hedging my bet that the quartet for the end of time is on the chamber music list :)
Nope.
I have to add Das Lied von der Erde to this ...... otherwise perfect list :)