I generally shy away from anthologies with a particular theme. If it has an interesting mix that sets a theme off well, however, I take notice. Such an item is Naxos of America's Music For The Zombie Apocalypse, a rather bizarre mix of gothic dark side medieval-to-romantic classic gems and modern avant-eerieness, well suited to a zombie inferno and so a great choice for scaring the heck out of trick-or-treaters or putting the psycho-frosting on your Halloween party cake.
What's interesting and fun about this particular set (which runs almost two-hours time) is that it avoids the classical cliches of the season to dig deeper into the death-in-life zombie horror possibilities in the repertoire. Fune-orial requiem excerpts from Faure, Berlioz & Mozart, chant, minor-mode glass harmonica other-worldly-ness and haunted early-music counterpoint mix with the avant horror latent in works by Penderecki, Part, Schnittke, Gorecki, Varese and Lutoslawski.
Right now you can grab this one as a fine-sounding download at a great price. This Spring it will be out as a CD. Check the Naxos link for more info. I whole-heartedly. . . but wait, I am missing my internal organs, arghghghghg!!! ....I most certainly recommend you give yourself a fine set of nitemares with this set!! It's different enough that you can raise the hair on the back of many necks with it. Happy Halloween!
