I need a song . . . .

[swan_tower]

Okay, great Internets ubermind. I need a rather specific music recommendation.

I'm soundtracking Midnight Never Come, and I don't seem to have anything appropriate for a particular scene. Of course, I can't share the details of the scene, but the relevant thing I'm aiming for is the somewhat ominous ringing of bells. Deep bells, not little hand-bells, and it should seem like a threat rather than a triumphant sound. (What can I say? Faeries don't like church bells.)

I know some of you listen to a great many movie scores, and that's probably one of my best bets for finding something suitable. Any suggestions I could go looking for?


Edited to clarify: to borrow Deedop's phrase, I need something aggressively ominous. I also need something that doesn't sound too modern; I'm not actually using truly period music for this soundtrack (though I listened to some while writing the book), but I'm trying to avoid synthetic sounds.

Comments

[strangerian.livejournal.com]

Must apologize that the Russian Easter Overture (discovered below by adehos_kitchell is similar to, but not exactly, what I was remembering when I recommended the music. It has lighter bells than you may want.

After some poking around among my CDs, the memory is identified (after a false start with "Pictures at an Exhibition," which does have a terrific climax with brass *drowning out* the bells during the Great Gates of Kiev, at least in my CD of it at home), as the climax instead of the 1812 Overture, Tchaikovksy, wherein a cacaphony of bells clangs and peals over the musical portions of the score between the two cannonades at the end. It's all in the last three minutes or so of the piece. This is the London label recording with Antal Dorati conducting the Detroit Symphony, made in the 1970s. The special effects on this piece can vary a good deal according to the philosophy and resources of a given performing group, so not all recordings may have the same realism of bells (or canons).

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. My recording of it, at least, is a tad too bright for what I'm after -- but thanks for your work, regardless!

[strangerian.livejournal.com]

Good luck finding the right bells, anyway. I wish I could track down the Great Gate at Kiev I thought I remembered, which had much stronger bells over the brass, but it's either an artifact of memory or inaccessible on vinyl. I didn't set up my turntable again after I moved, and there are times I regret it.

Two other suggestions for thought: First, Boris Godonov, Mussorgsky, has a famously ominous scenes with bells (the "clock" scene).
Second, there's a really astonishing short sequence of tuned anvils in Das Rheingold, Wagner, suitable for freezing anyone's marrow. These are bell-like, if not bells, and they are certainly intended as both aggressive and ominous. The short passage (about a minute) takes place during the transition from Scene 2 to Scene 3.