MetaChat - AskMeCha, can you recommend sad or melancholy music?

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25 October 2007

AskMeCha, can you recommend sad or melancholy music? I need it for the background for a presentation I'm doing. It needs to be at least 3 minutes long. Instrumental only, any genre.

post by: iconomy at: 11:49 | 21 comments

Beethoven Sonata 5 in D Major, Op. 102 No. 2, for Cello & Piano, the second movement (adagio con molto sentimento d'affetto). It's nine minutes and some seconds.

posted by crush-onastick 25 October | 12:01

Aphex Twin's "Mookid" comes to mind.
My friend's band Tulsa Drone comes to mind (go to "media" for full track samples).
Tortoise's "Corpone Brunch"

I'm sure there's tons more, I'll post as I think of them.

posted by Hellbient 25 October | 12:11

Sibelius, Valse Triste.

posted by JanetLand 25 October | 12:11

Goodbye Porkpie Hat - Charles Mingus. 4:47 of the saddest jazz ever.

posted by bmarkey 25 October | 12:13

Charles Ives, "The Unanswered Question"

posted by Hugh Janus 25 October | 12:16

Shostakovich: String Quartet #4, 2nd movement (about 7 minutes) or String Quartet #8, 5th movement (3 & a bit minutes) or String Quartet #10, 3rd movement (6 minutes plus) or the slow movement from the 2nd piano concerto.

posted by misteraitch 25 October | 12:17

Ralph Von Williams - Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis

posted by chuckdarwin 25 October | 12:38

Low in the Sky gets melancholy. Here are two instrumentals: Fax MN and Danger Money

posted by crush-onastick 25 October | 12:55

Some more ideas over here, maybe? I'll stand by my recommendation of Henry Gorecki's Symphony of Sorrowful Songs.

posted by AwkwardPause 25 October | 13:23

Perhaps some of Air's stuff? The music on The Virgin Suicides maybe.
Arthur Lyman's "Yellow Bird"
The Beatles' "Flying"
David Bowie's "A New Career in a New Town"

posted by Hellbient 25 October | 13:40

Oh yeah, there are some great suggestions here, thanks, especially for links to downloads and yt! Right now I'm at work and can't do justice to these with my horrid, tinny little speakers, but I'm going to listen to every one when I get home. I think I may make a playlist and cd from all of them.

I feel like crying right now, just reading some of the titles, and the memories they evoke.

posted by iconomy 25 October | 13:46

Sorry - didn't have time to upload earlier.

Charles Mingus - Goodbye Pork Pie Hat

posted by bmarkey 25 October | 14:05

New Order - Elegia. Seriously one of the saddest pieces I've ever heard.

posted by tr33hggr 25 October | 14:35

Kraftwerk's "Ohm Sweet Ohm"
Beach Boy's "Let's Go Away for Awhile"
Smiths' "Oscillate Wildly"
Air's "Playground Love"
Mouse on Mars' "Download Sofist" and "Albion Rose"
Neu!'s "Seeland"

posted by Hellbient 25 October | 14:37

Some links for the Shostakovich: Quartet #4, 2nd movement; Quartet #8, 5th movement; String Quartet #10, 3rd movement (arranged for string orchestra).

posted by misteraitch 25 October | 15:21

Oh, an of course, there's lots of 4AD stuff, like Dif Juz-No Motion.

posted by crush-onastick 25 October | 16:02

Arvo Pärt - "Alina". Very quiet, slow, piano piece.

posted by deadcowdan 25 October | 16:27

Me, I've always been a fan of Count von Williams.

posted by matthewr 25 October | 16:30

I used Tetrishead by Zoe Keating in a film. It worked very well.

posted by seanyboy 25 October | 16:56

Pink Floyd's Cluster One (maybe a bit long at ~6 minutes) might fit the bill - can't upload it, sorry because I only have it on my iPod here. I think the only album it came out on was The Division Bell, if that helps.
</predictable>

posted by dg 25 October | 17:35

I went with the Quartet #4, 2nd movement that misteraitch suggested...it's haunting and it gave me chills. Thanks so much for all of the suggestions...I'm hunting everything down to give a listen.

posted by iconomy 25 October | 22:02

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