Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic poem Isle of the Dead was inspired by Arnold Böcklin painting below, the music starts out with a dark brooding intensity with an ocillating pattern, eventually the strings bring light and a soaring melody is heard, the music reaches a climax at about 15 minutes in, a battle of dark against Light. Then the ancient “Dies Irae” (Day of Wrath) melody is heard in the strings, this same melody has been used by many Composers to depict doom, including Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique, which was famously used in Stanley Kubrick’s film “The Shining” and Franz Liszt’s Totentanz. From YouTube: A wonderful perfomance by Vladimir Ashkenazy and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, with a spooky video.
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