Dissonance can be captivating
Posted this before but can't resist posting again. There is no 'bad' note! Also Seven Pounds...
= new reply since forum marked as read
I played one piece in college (I've forgotten the name) where all of the instruments had dissonant parts so it required at least two people playing each instrument to create the dissonance. For some instruments there were third and fourth parts for certain instruments (such as trumpet) to contribute to the melee.
The band conductor picked a lot of unusual pieces like "Dreams of a Psychopath" that jumped from time signatures like 13:8 (subdivided 3,3,2,3,2) to 11:8 (subdivided 3,3,2,3) to 7:8 (subdivided 3,2,2) on a frequent basis. I was somewhat surprised at how well I kept up when we sightread the piece.
His successor after he retired also picked unusual performance like "Crystals" where a gong was struck and lowered into a water vat. She also selected the wind ensemble to play "In Memoriam Dresden, 1945" that simulated the sounds of war. Portions of that piece of music doesn't have normal time signatures (see below). As the various instruments and whistles built to the finale the lighting on stage was cut from red to dark for a chilling dramatic effect.
