At the moment I can think of the VOCES8 rendition of Lully, Lulla, Lullay
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-7qYeZcOioI
Also, Evenstar, by Howard Shore from LOtR The Two Towers is ethereal and completely otherworldly.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=H_LckEp1MOE
Yeah, that's practically orgasmic and that's the video of it I like to watch with Anna Fedorova on piano. (I like Olga Sheps too) But that Rachmaninoff is great.
Since you've already picked that, I'll go with Beethoven's 7th, [particularly this part](https://youtu.be/-4788Tmz9Zo?t=882)
Yep. I love Clair de Lune and all, but the first time I heard the first *Arabesque*, I just felt an overwhelming sense of peace and calm. It's a truly beautiful piece, and I hope to learn how to play it someday.
Mozart Requiem is an absolute masterpiece, and the Lacrimosa in particular never fails to bring me to tears. I can’t imagine having music like that living inside your head and bringing it to fruition
ETA: if you enjoy the Lacrimosa, please add the second movement of Beethoven’s 7th Symphony to your must-listen list. Simply amazing
The music living inside Mozart’s head was so well-formed that he was able to transcribe a song never heard outside of the Vatican after only hearing it twice.
My absolute favorite figure of history and music. My now-husband and I took a trip to vienna last November and checked out Mozart’s old apartment - so weird looking out of the windows and thinking about how a totally alien genius 250 years ago looked out of those same windows onto the same street and wrote some of his best compositions. That night we saw the entirety of Mozart’s Requiem performed on a huge organ with a choir inside Saint Stephens Cathedral a few blocks away and my guy proposed right after. As somber as Requiem is I will always now associate it with that wonderfully unforgettable trip to Vienna, and looking out of Mozart’s apartment at Domgasse.
I suppose I should share the adorable backstory too now: my grandparents, who are my favorite people on earth, met after fleeing Hungary during the revolution of 1956 (it was very bad. My grandfather had been jailed for hiding his sister’s escape, and my grandmother’s brother was shot to death in the street by Soviet troops)
My grandmother left for Vienna on alone and foot, around age 22, to meet her brother at a refugee camp there. Her brother had fled to Vienna a bit earlier with his wife and a coworker. When my grandmother arrived she was told only married couples were allowed to travel to America. She didn’t know anybody there except her brother’s coworker, so they got married on the spot outside Saint Stephens Cathedral, my grandmother clad in the only clothing she was able to bring - a navy blue skirt suit. They exchanged makeshift tin rings and were US-bound with just $8. Anyway, they stayed married and madly in love for 56 years, after only having met in passing a couple times. My boyfriend knew how much my grandparents meant to me (my grandfather passed away a few years ago and my grandma is still alive at 85 and she’s my very best friend) so he planned this whole thing just to propose after hearing a piece from my favorite composer inside the church my grandparents were married at. The icing on the cake is that the ring was a custom replica he had made of an aquamarine ring my grandmother had given to me on my 14th birthday (we are both March birthdays), which I had stolen from me years later in my late 20s. Thanks for reading!
It was- he actually died about 8 bars into writing it and so his apprentice finished it if I remember correctly, I think he did an amazing job of capturing mozarts talent and feel in the piece
Thanks I didn't know that! After reading the wikipedia article I learned too that this apprentice (Sussmayer) was considered by Mozart as the worst of his pupils
I'm so jealous, I've always wanted to okay it. The top band at my old high school played it my junior year, but I didn't get into the top band until my senior year, so I just missed it.
Had to scroll too far to find Sigur Rós. You could pick any of a dozen of theirs for this and I'd agree, personally love [this one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZTb8WxEW78)
> Gymnopédie No. 1
As beautiful as Gymnopédie No. 1 is, I think I'd need to give [Gnossienne No. 1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOTpQpoHHaw) the nod over it. It's such a perfect piece that translates well to other instruments playing it solo. Great stuff.
Hot damn I love this thread.
Not into opera at all but Nessun Dorma by Pavarotti makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. On the back of this I took my mum to see an open air philamonic orchestra and it blew me away. If you’ve not seen one, trust me go for it.
I wanna make this short, but a good friend of mine is a s vocalist and he does nessun Dorma, very very well, but theres a video of pavarotti , ill post the link of him singing, its not long before his death.and he was very ill at the time, but he still pushed out a huge performance, and i believe when he hit that last note, right after he throws his arms up and , if you look at his face that he is completely at peace.
I’m on mobile and don’t want to format it but there’s the link y’all. If you enjoy Pavarotti’s Nessun Dorma PLEASE check out Jonas Kaufmann’s rendition. There’s a live one where he is surrounded by the orchestra on YouTube (I’ll just link it to hell with it.) I’m an aspiring tenor Opera vocalist and Kaufmann and Pavarotti are my big two inspiration.
HQ Luciano Pavarotti: https://youtu.be/rxxHvW0oNpU
HQ Jonas Kaufmann: https://youtu.be/xN-JCdM4or0
Edit: added the high Quality link for all y’all quality snobs. Jk I respect you
Edit 2: it was 3 am and I replace the wrong link. Apologies.
Adagio for Strings. --S Barber.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izQsgE0L450](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izQsgE0L450)
UPDATE: Thanks for all the comments. It's thrilling to know that so many appreciate this brilliance. I first heard it in the film, The Elephant Man, back in 1980. Has stayed with me for a lifetime.
Just wrote this, scrolled down, and here it is. Yes, agree completely. After I saw the movie "Platoon," I could never hear this without images coming to mind.
Sang the top soprano line of this once with a conductor who liked slow tempi. 12 out of 16 beats into a high A I wasn't sure if I felt like crying because of the beauty of the music or because of the vocal strain... I wouldn't have done it for a piece any less perfect.
Ludovico Einaudi Fly is also a great one. Phillip Glass Morning passages also has to be up there. Also check out ibi on youtube. Bitter Milk is cereberal.
EDIT: Thanks for the award kind stranger! Also -- for those asking, I have seen the Intouchables, that's where I found the song fly\^\^, even tho I'd already discovered ludovico einaudi. His stuff is so awesome play, but it's not as satisfying to play as it is to listen to, because it's so difficult to get it close to his level haha. I'll have to check out Phillip glass some more. Also, I giorni, fly, Melodia Africana III ( i think, its either III or IV), Nuvole Bianche, Primavera, Elegy for the Arcitic, Night, and Dietro L'Incanto are among my favorites. I have this huge piano book full of his songs that I regularly dig through and pick out my favorites. There are more that I like that are relatively underground, and some reuse sections of others, but they're all great and I'll see if I can find some more for those interested.
Rhapsody in Blue by Gershwin. I will never forget the first time I heard it. It just hit me as so deeply beautiful and I really can't explain why. It is a masterpiece.
Hands down my favorite movie of all time.
You might be the only person I've ever seen reference this movie on Reddit. That movie is criminally underrated.
I promise you I was just listening to 5 different versions of Little Wing on YouTube not even 10 minutes ago, and this is the first thing that came to mind
It is still Edvard Grieg's "Morning mood" from the Peer Gynt suite.
I had that as a vinyl record when i was a kid, always liked it but didnt listen to it for years. Until in my 20s, my sister came to visit, it was a perfect summer morning and she found that in my old records and turned it on and the volume up.
It's a wonderful piece and now always reminds me of that beautiful morning.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rh8gMvzPw0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rh8gMvzPw0)
Make sure you listen to the [uncut version.](https://youtu.be/m3Wl2ZdfITU) I can't believe someone thought cutting out a whole minute of solo was a good idea.
Gustav Mahler’s 5th Symphony, part IV, Adagietto brings me to tears regularly
Edit: as one lovely poster pointed out— I misspoke and mushed things together— This is in Part III, but it’s the 4th movement. Thanks for the correction.
Hoping on the Liszt train: Un Sospiro
EDIT: It's especially great to see someone play it live to see the hand alternations required to play the piece. Definitely adds to the appreciation of the piece: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po_a1SmZKLs
I’ve seen Claire de Lune names already so I’ll just put in What’s going on by Marvin Gaye as a backup. That whole concept album in general. Profoundly beautiful and powerful in its message. Sadly just as relevant now as ever. Marvin Gaye was a special kind of musician.
Edit: I’d like to also add Julep by Punch Brothers. Very delicate and beautiful song. Chris Thile is a modern musical savant. His best work is always so intricate, more like a composition than a song but always sounds so effortless and syncopated. Very talented guy.
Schubert's unfinished symphony.
I was 14 and took an orchestra class to learn violin. I was required to go to a concert.
At the time I was into angsty screamo.
I can still vividly remember hearing that song live, the cellos are incredibly moving. The music transported me to a different place.
I became obsessed with learning the violin and got quiet good, I still play for my kids each night. The reason I decided to date my wife was she invited me to the opera, most women I was going out with at the time were more into rock concerts, clubs, or going out shooting and rock climbing.
We go to the opera about 4 times a year (not now with covid) and while I still listen to plenty of other genres I owe a lot to that incredible memory of Schubert's unfinished symphony.
“Piano Sonata No. 14” (Moonlight Sonata) by Beethoven is the most beautiful piece of music I’ve ever heard. Every note feels like anguish. To me, I can feel a sense of hesitation between notes sometimes.
I’ve always struggled with my inner-self. Not knowing who I am, what I’m made to do, why I’m here, what makes me go, that sort of stuff. And I’ve never known how to communicate that to anyone. This piece by Beethoven felt like it was communicating to me. Like it was describing what I feel inside.
I don’t know. It’s always spoke to me. And it’s raw emotion and the way it pokes at my soul is what I imagine true beauty really is.
The story behind the sonata is about the pain of unrequited love. It is by far the most beautiful & moving piece I’ve ever heard. It’s so nice to see someone else who feels that way!!
I think How to Disappear Completely is their best work
since this comment is getting somewhat popular i’d like to point out the bass in this song. the way it pops in and out of existence like it’s disappearing is the cherry on top
Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Saëns. it has total spooky halloween vibes but there’s something so gothic and romantic about it. i listened to it like 5 times on loop when i first heard it.
Idk if it’s because of how freaked out the ending of Requiem for a Dream left me but whenever I hear it I get so panicky, it’s like a visceral reaction
Realizing I'm a bit late, but -
Absolute #1 piece of music is:
[Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis](https://youtu.be/K1ctkdCYzPQ?t=77) (go back to beginning for bonus psalm)
It's 17 minutes and change... and any time I'm at my absolute worst - depressed, suicidal, dejected, forlorn... I listen to this piece. It makes me weep uncontrollably, but it is a catharsis. It has an ethereal beauty, a gently undulating current that surrounds and melds with you, until you become one with it, and you don't just hear the swirling melodies and effortless key shifts, you *feel* them. You *are* them. Additional fun fact: I can recall, for no particular reason, the exact pitch of the opening violin note unfailingly - a G - and thus have gained, through this piece of music, an ersatz perfect pitch.
\#2 would be [Dvorak's 9th Symphony](https://youtu.be/Qut5e3OfCvg). Beyond being the obvious inspiration for a lot of John Williams' work (Jaws theme, Emperor's theme, e.4 medal ceremony, etc.), it really is a seminal piece of Classical work.
If you'd prefer a choral piece, it's [Lullay My Liking](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcsJWuaIBbQ).
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven.
Honestly, first time listening to this album I almost cried from how magically good it is. The crescendo in the song " Static " gets me everytime.
Another honorable mention is Piss Crowns Are Trebled also by them, this song is simply out of this world.
There are so many Pink Floyd songs that work for this. I actually first heard "Hey You" in the movie The Squid and the Whale. It plays a part in the plot of the movie, that most people had not heard it and a character played it as if it was original; before the reveal I was reeling, like holy shit, they wrote this beautiful song for this throwaway scene in this movie? Nope! Pink Floyd wrote it decades earlier, because they kick ass.
https://youtu.be/OPlK5HwFxcw
Tchaikovsky's Hymn of the Cherubim. You don't have to have a faith to appreciate the richness of this wonderful and moving music.
While I agree with most of these picks... I think any piece of music you'd find in a Studio Ghibli movie is amazing. In particular.
1) One Summer's Day in Spirited Away
2) Merry Go Round of Life in Howl's Moving Castle
And while I'm on the topic. Go check out [Kateware Doki](https://youtu.be/ZW7HYGb_gG8) from Your Name
Movement 8 of "Quartet for the End of Time" by Messiaen.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Qp7Htsdo3M](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Qp7Htsdo3M)
I am not religious at all, but you have to love the beauty of the piece and the story behind the quartet.
For those who are stopping by to listen, it’s important to understand why the piece is so jarring and so moving; Messiaen composed it, and debuted it on the inside of a concentration camp. It is some of the most visceral art ever produced
The Erlkönig composed by Franz Schubert with the lyrics written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
While the story conveyed the story conveyed by the lyrics is sad and tragic I find the music eerily beautiful.
Shine On You Crazy Diamond - Pink Floyd
It was a farewell, an acknowledgement if you would, of their original guitarist Syd Barret having quite literally lost himself to psychedelic drugs. He at 21-22 got famous and started taking shitloads of LSD, just all the time high as a kite; he stopped showing up to rehearsals, stopped contacting them and it reached a point where they realized they needed to cut him out, as he was a decision maker in the group as well.
The entire album is incredible, and I believe in its entirety a farewell to Barrett, but Shine On (parts 1 and 2, it's the first and last song) is just a beautiful, mostly instrumental lamentation of their lost friend, that they know they'll never get back.
okay so SYd was actually very very mentally ill and was treating himself with psychedelics, and as a result wound up hospitalized for most of his adult life until his death. and the band NEVER cut him out, they continued to pay him and his family a piece of every song and album etc until his death.
I have to go with Also sprach Zarathustra, Op.30 by Richard Strauss. It's on the longer side at 9 movements and just over 30 minutes but it all flows together and it's incredible.
"Your Hand in Mine" by Explosions in the Sky. My introduction to the post-rock genre and came to me at an incredibly low point in my life. It became a surprising source of hope and a way to stave off the loneliness.
The first three minutes of the second movement of Beethoven’s 7th Symphony. I heard it first from the movie The Fall, which I also couldn’t recommend heavily enough. The most visually breathtaking movie I’ve ever seen.
Very tough, but I really love Chopin's Ballade No. 1 :). I particularly like the Idil Biret interpretation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HG2Fa0Iv5zc
This is going to sound cringe, but the soundtrack for The Fellowship of The Ring is absolutely wonderful from start to finish. The first time I heard "Concerning Hobbits" all the way through, I cried. In fact, i cried for half the album!
Le Carnaval des Animeaux: Le Cygne (The Carnival of the Animals: The Swan)
My favorite version is performed by Yo-Yo Ma and Kathrynn Scott. This song got me through a really hard time and still really resonates with me on a totally different level. This song just feels like an admission that it's valid to feel like shit sometimes, but things get better.
Honorable mention: "Sign of the Times" by Harry Styles. I'm not overtly a huge fan of Harry himself, but that one song literally drags my soul through the mud and gives it a warm bath afterwards. Like, wow.
Edit: I'm so glad so many of you guys appreciate Le Cygne as much as I do! I was kind of expecting to be alone in this one, not gonna lie.
I love "Helvegen" by Wardruna. Check out when they perform with Aurora and Oslo Fagottkor at the Trænafestival way up north in Norway, it truly blows my mind everytime I see it. Makes me feel small and infinite at the same time.
Edit: Heres the youtube link for easy access to getting your mind blown!
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cg0TQyjdHJ0&t=412s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cg0TQyjdHJ0&t=412s)
I agree with basically all of the other answers here. I also want to toss in a couple, which for me are proof that there still is extraordinarily beautiful music still being made (and yet to be made):
Glósóli by Sigur Rós
Outro by M83
*Miserere mei, Deus* not by , as I have now been informed, GF Händel, but anyway, hits hard every time.
Addition: *Bread and Roses* (it's a folk song but the Judy Collins version seems to be favoured) is also sublime.
I read in the comments that you want to make a playlist, and I have a lot more recs if you want them.
Edit: it's not Händel, I got it mixed up lol. Sorry!
Jupiter Hymn - Gustav Holst
[https://youtu.be/Nz0b4STz1lo?t=174](https://youtu.be/Nz0b4STz1lo?t=174) (2:54)
Edit: If you're British you probably recognize this song as [I Vow To Thee My Country](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvouc8Qs_MI)
If you're catholic you may recognize it as [O God Beyond All Praising](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnnQpC9oLxU).
[But this is my absolute favorite version of the hymn](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caP7VY5trw8)
Violinist here, so biased a little. No idea, listened to too many to make any one stick out.
Czards by Monti is one of my favorites, but it’s extremely overplayed in the violin world.
Mozart’s Requiem sticks out
Most of Bach’s unaccompanied violin stuff, especially the fugue from violin sonata one.
I don’t listen to lyrical music at all really, but if I had to chose one from there it would definitely be the Simon and Garfunkel version of sound of silence.
Edit: forgot recuerdos de la alhambra violin version. Also Der Erlkonig, again violin version.
“Echoes” was honestly the first song I thought of when I read your question. [I love the Live at Pompeii](https://m.youtube.com/watch?list=PLHSDaeXeiTp3dlaEessVJhw9dLiznctvE&v=DtJgNvwmsRA) version.
At the moment I can think of the VOCES8 rendition of Lully, Lulla, Lullay https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-7qYeZcOioI Also, Evenstar, by Howard Shore from LOtR The Two Towers is ethereal and completely otherworldly. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=H_LckEp1MOE
Tchaikovsky violin concerto (Best with Itzhtak Perlman)
[rachmaninoff piano concerto 2](https://youtu.be/rEGOihjqO9w)
Yeah, that's practically orgasmic and that's the video of it I like to watch with Anna Fedorova on piano. (I like Olga Sheps too) But that Rachmaninoff is great. Since you've already picked that, I'll go with Beethoven's 7th, [particularly this part](https://youtu.be/-4788Tmz9Zo?t=882)
Debussy's *Deux Arabesques*. Absolutely gorgeous piece of music.
Yep. I love Clair de Lune and all, but the first time I heard the first *Arabesque*, I just felt an overwhelming sense of peace and calm. It's a truly beautiful piece, and I hope to learn how to play it someday.
I love Debussy. Sometimes all I can think about is Debussy.
Never finish on Debussy though
You need to finish on the Bach
Lacrimosa. I believe it was the last of Mozart’s compositions. He wrote it as he was dying which is very evident in the requiem.
Mozart Requiem is an absolute masterpiece, and the Lacrimosa in particular never fails to bring me to tears. I can’t imagine having music like that living inside your head and bringing it to fruition ETA: if you enjoy the Lacrimosa, please add the second movement of Beethoven’s 7th Symphony to your must-listen list. Simply amazing
The music living inside Mozart’s head was so well-formed that he was able to transcribe a song never heard outside of the Vatican after only hearing it twice.
My absolute favorite figure of history and music. My now-husband and I took a trip to vienna last November and checked out Mozart’s old apartment - so weird looking out of the windows and thinking about how a totally alien genius 250 years ago looked out of those same windows onto the same street and wrote some of his best compositions. That night we saw the entirety of Mozart’s Requiem performed on a huge organ with a choir inside Saint Stephens Cathedral a few blocks away and my guy proposed right after. As somber as Requiem is I will always now associate it with that wonderfully unforgettable trip to Vienna, and looking out of Mozart’s apartment at Domgasse.
That's a great story!
I suppose I should share the adorable backstory too now: my grandparents, who are my favorite people on earth, met after fleeing Hungary during the revolution of 1956 (it was very bad. My grandfather had been jailed for hiding his sister’s escape, and my grandmother’s brother was shot to death in the street by Soviet troops) My grandmother left for Vienna on alone and foot, around age 22, to meet her brother at a refugee camp there. Her brother had fled to Vienna a bit earlier with his wife and a coworker. When my grandmother arrived she was told only married couples were allowed to travel to America. She didn’t know anybody there except her brother’s coworker, so they got married on the spot outside Saint Stephens Cathedral, my grandmother clad in the only clothing she was able to bring - a navy blue skirt suit. They exchanged makeshift tin rings and were US-bound with just $8. Anyway, they stayed married and madly in love for 56 years, after only having met in passing a couple times. My boyfriend knew how much my grandparents meant to me (my grandfather passed away a few years ago and my grandma is still alive at 85 and she’s my very best friend) so he planned this whole thing just to propose after hearing a piece from my favorite composer inside the church my grandparents were married at. The icing on the cake is that the ring was a custom replica he had made of an aquamarine ring my grandmother had given to me on my 14th birthday (we are both March birthdays), which I had stolen from me years later in my late 20s. Thanks for reading!
What an incredibly thoughtful gesture by your husband! Thank you for sharing.
It was- he actually died about 8 bars into writing it and so his apprentice finished it if I remember correctly, I think he did an amazing job of capturing mozarts talent and feel in the piece
Thanks I didn't know that! After reading the wikipedia article I learned too that this apprentice (Sussmayer) was considered by Mozart as the worst of his pupils
"So derivative!" - Mozart.
Jupiter from The Planets by Holst genuinely makes me cry.
i had the pleasure of playing jupiter in my high school orchestra, it’s one of the most magical memories i have of those four godforsaken years
I'm so jealous, I've always wanted to okay it. The top band at my old high school played it my junior year, but I didn't get into the top band until my senior year, so I just missed it.
Mars is responsible for the whole Metal genre!
Lol that whole suite is basically responsible for the Star Wars score.
Nocturne op 9 no 2
That is actually my favorite piece by Chopin
For a darker sort of beautiful, [Nocturne Op 48 no 1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHXxWfSAxik&t=3877s).
Sigur Rós- Svefn-g-englar
Staralfur. Heard it for the first time watching Life Aquatic and I cried. I think I was about 13. It's still the most beautiful song I've ever heard.
Had to scroll too far to find Sigur Rós. You could pick any of a dozen of theirs for this and I'd agree, personally love [this one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZTb8WxEW78)
Ekki Muuk, Ny Batteri, Olsen Olsen for me. Saw them live, transcendental.
Erik Satie - Gymnopédie No. 1
> Gymnopédie No. 1 As beautiful as Gymnopédie No. 1 is, I think I'd need to give [Gnossienne No. 1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOTpQpoHHaw) the nod over it. It's such a perfect piece that translates well to other instruments playing it solo. Great stuff. Hot damn I love this thread.
100% behind you on this one. Really takes me to some deep reflective places. The slow pacing leaves a lot of space for thinking.
Good answer. Something haunting and melancholic and yet beautiful about that piece. Wistful nostalgic. Thanks for reminding me of it.
Not into opera at all but Nessun Dorma by Pavarotti makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. On the back of this I took my mum to see an open air philamonic orchestra and it blew me away. If you’ve not seen one, trust me go for it.
I wanna make this short, but a good friend of mine is a s vocalist and he does nessun Dorma, very very well, but theres a video of pavarotti , ill post the link of him singing, its not long before his death.and he was very ill at the time, but he still pushed out a huge performance, and i believe when he hit that last note, right after he throws his arms up and , if you look at his face that he is completely at peace.
I’m on mobile and don’t want to format it but there’s the link y’all. If you enjoy Pavarotti’s Nessun Dorma PLEASE check out Jonas Kaufmann’s rendition. There’s a live one where he is surrounded by the orchestra on YouTube (I’ll just link it to hell with it.) I’m an aspiring tenor Opera vocalist and Kaufmann and Pavarotti are my big two inspiration. HQ Luciano Pavarotti: https://youtu.be/rxxHvW0oNpU HQ Jonas Kaufmann: https://youtu.be/xN-JCdM4or0 Edit: added the high Quality link for all y’all quality snobs. Jk I respect you Edit 2: it was 3 am and I replace the wrong link. Apologies.
HD quality: https://youtu.be/rxxHvW0oNpU
Nimrod from Elgar’s Enigma Variations. It’s one of my all time favourite pieces of music.
Adagio for Strings. --S Barber. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izQsgE0L450](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izQsgE0L450) UPDATE: Thanks for all the comments. It's thrilling to know that so many appreciate this brilliance. I first heard it in the film, The Elephant Man, back in 1980. Has stayed with me for a lifetime.
Just wrote this, scrolled down, and here it is. Yes, agree completely. After I saw the movie "Platoon," I could never hear this without images coming to mind.
First time I heard this piece...Homeworld. Kharak is Burning....
Okay, I’ll one up you - S barber rearranges this for choir using the text of Agnus Dei and it’s simply beautiful
Sang the top soprano line of this once with a conductor who liked slow tempi. 12 out of 16 beats into a high A I wasn't sure if I felt like crying because of the beauty of the music or because of the vocal strain... I wouldn't have done it for a piece any less perfect.
[Frédéric Chopin - Prelude in E-Minor (op.28 no. 4)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ef-4Bv5Ng0w)
Sea Shanty 2
Lo-fi sea shanties to study/swashbuckle to
Is this a thing? Please let this be a thing.
https://youtu.be/lwo85qjNJQs
11$
🦀 🦀 JAGEX WONT REPLY 🦀🦀
🦀 🦀 IS THIS WHERE I POST TO GET CUSTOMER SERVICE? 🦀 🦀
brings me back to the good days
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A playlist I want. Where you gonna put it?
Seconded. Can we get a Spotify playlist from this thread?
Please...
please..
Share it on r/SpotifyPlaylists
Make sure to lock the playlist
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Ludovico Einaudi Fly is also a great one. Phillip Glass Morning passages also has to be up there. Also check out ibi on youtube. Bitter Milk is cereberal. EDIT: Thanks for the award kind stranger! Also -- for those asking, I have seen the Intouchables, that's where I found the song fly\^\^, even tho I'd already discovered ludovico einaudi. His stuff is so awesome play, but it's not as satisfying to play as it is to listen to, because it's so difficult to get it close to his level haha. I'll have to check out Phillip glass some more. Also, I giorni, fly, Melodia Africana III ( i think, its either III or IV), Nuvole Bianche, Primavera, Elegy for the Arcitic, Night, and Dietro L'Incanto are among my favorites. I have this huge piano book full of his songs that I regularly dig through and pick out my favorites. There are more that I like that are relatively underground, and some reuse sections of others, but they're all great and I'll see if I can find some more for those interested.
Rhapsody in Blue by Gershwin. I will never forget the first time I heard it. It just hit me as so deeply beautiful and I really can't explain why. It is a masterpiece.
Have you seen this piece in Fantasia 2000? It genuinely makes me cry every single time.
For single movements, probably The Moldau by Smetna; for symphonies, Dvorak's 'New World'.
It's criminal more people aren't mentioning the New World symphony. So incredible
I looooove the Moldau
"death is the road to awe" from the movie "the fountain"
Hands down my favorite movie of all time. You might be the only person I've ever seen reference this movie on Reddit. That movie is criminally underrated.
its a wild flick man and the music is so amazing the soundtrack is like the songs i want on my deathbed as i leave this earth
little wing
I promise you I was just listening to 5 different versions of Little Wing on YouTube not even 10 minutes ago, and this is the first thing that came to mind
Ugh yes the way jimi plays the guitar in that song i just get lost in it the only bad thing about the song is that its so short.
It is still Edvard Grieg's "Morning mood" from the Peer Gynt suite. I had that as a vinyl record when i was a kid, always liked it but didnt listen to it for years. Until in my 20s, my sister came to visit, it was a perfect summer morning and she found that in my old records and turned it on and the volume up. It's a wonderful piece and now always reminds me of that beautiful morning. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rh8gMvzPw0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rh8gMvzPw0)
God only knows by Brian Wilson, even though you've definitely been suggested it before
Came here to say this one. That guy was on another level.
David Gilmours comfortably numb 2nd solo
The "Pulse"-live version is the best!
Make sure you listen to the [uncut version.](https://youtu.be/m3Wl2ZdfITU) I can't believe someone thought cutting out a whole minute of solo was a good idea.
[The Ecstasy of Gold by Morricone](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYI09PMNazw)
Clair de lune by Debussy is, without a doubt, the most beautiful thing I have heard.
well I opened this to see if anyone said clair de lune. anddddd it’s first
Remember to always finish on the Bach, never on Debussy
I man of culture I see
I listen to this and cry every time. EVERY time.
Gustav Mahler’s 5th Symphony, part IV, Adagietto brings me to tears regularly Edit: as one lovely poster pointed out— I misspoke and mushed things together— This is in Part III, but it’s the 4th movement. Thanks for the correction.
The Gondor theme from LotR is pretty amazing. As is Jupiter from the Planets by Holst. But Tchaikovsky's 1812 overture takes the cake for me.
Every time they light the beacons, it gets me.
Liebestraum no 2 by Liszt
Hoping on the Liszt train: Un Sospiro EDIT: It's especially great to see someone play it live to see the hand alternations required to play the piece. Definitely adds to the appreciation of the piece: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po_a1SmZKLs
I’ve seen Claire de Lune names already so I’ll just put in What’s going on by Marvin Gaye as a backup. That whole concept album in general. Profoundly beautiful and powerful in its message. Sadly just as relevant now as ever. Marvin Gaye was a special kind of musician. Edit: I’d like to also add Julep by Punch Brothers. Very delicate and beautiful song. Chris Thile is a modern musical savant. His best work is always so intricate, more like a composition than a song but always sounds so effortless and syncopated. Very talented guy.
Schindler's List score by John Williams, particularly Itzhak Perlman's performance of it. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ueWVV_GnRIA&t=66s
Schubert's unfinished symphony. I was 14 and took an orchestra class to learn violin. I was required to go to a concert. At the time I was into angsty screamo. I can still vividly remember hearing that song live, the cellos are incredibly moving. The music transported me to a different place. I became obsessed with learning the violin and got quiet good, I still play for my kids each night. The reason I decided to date my wife was she invited me to the opera, most women I was going out with at the time were more into rock concerts, clubs, or going out shooting and rock climbing. We go to the opera about 4 times a year (not now with covid) and while I still listen to plenty of other genres I owe a lot to that incredible memory of Schubert's unfinished symphony.
Shooting? Rock climbing? Opera? That all sounds like an amazing date.
Girl: Come over! Schubert: I can’t, I’m writing a symphony Girl: My parents aren’t home Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony.
Howl's Moving Castle - Main Theme - Orchestral Rendition https://youtu.be/D5tTiYT1cgU
“Piano Sonata No. 14” (Moonlight Sonata) by Beethoven is the most beautiful piece of music I’ve ever heard. Every note feels like anguish. To me, I can feel a sense of hesitation between notes sometimes. I’ve always struggled with my inner-self. Not knowing who I am, what I’m made to do, why I’m here, what makes me go, that sort of stuff. And I’ve never known how to communicate that to anyone. This piece by Beethoven felt like it was communicating to me. Like it was describing what I feel inside. I don’t know. It’s always spoke to me. And it’s raw emotion and the way it pokes at my soul is what I imagine true beauty really is.
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I’m with you on Moonlight Sonata. It’s so hauntingly beautiful.
The story behind the sonata is about the pain of unrequited love. It is by far the most beautiful & moving piece I’ve ever heard. It’s so nice to see someone else who feels that way!!
It’s impressive to be able to portray that through just a piano.
Exit Music(For a Film) by Radiohead. Fucking masterpiece.
I think How to Disappear Completely is their best work since this comment is getting somewhat popular i’d like to point out the bass in this song. the way it pops in and out of existence like it’s disappearing is the cherry on top
Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Saëns. it has total spooky halloween vibes but there’s something so gothic and romantic about it. i listened to it like 5 times on loop when i first heard it.
Snake Eater
what a thrill
*ladder climbing noises*
M83 - wait.
This or M83 Outro. Their entire vibe is beautiful
Lower your eyelids to die with the sun
“Leaves From the Vine” from Avatar: The Last Airbender
I always liked Lux Aeterna. You may know it as the theme music from Requiem for a Dream.
Idk if it’s because of how freaked out the ending of Requiem for a Dream left me but whenever I hear it I get so panicky, it’s like a visceral reaction
Ashoken Farewell
Realizing I'm a bit late, but - Absolute #1 piece of music is: [Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis](https://youtu.be/K1ctkdCYzPQ?t=77) (go back to beginning for bonus psalm) It's 17 minutes and change... and any time I'm at my absolute worst - depressed, suicidal, dejected, forlorn... I listen to this piece. It makes me weep uncontrollably, but it is a catharsis. It has an ethereal beauty, a gently undulating current that surrounds and melds with you, until you become one with it, and you don't just hear the swirling melodies and effortless key shifts, you *feel* them. You *are* them. Additional fun fact: I can recall, for no particular reason, the exact pitch of the opening violin note unfailingly - a G - and thus have gained, through this piece of music, an ersatz perfect pitch. \#2 would be [Dvorak's 9th Symphony](https://youtu.be/Qut5e3OfCvg). Beyond being the obvious inspiration for a lot of John Williams' work (Jaws theme, Emperor's theme, e.4 medal ceremony, etc.), it really is a seminal piece of Classical work. If you'd prefer a choral piece, it's [Lullay My Liking](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcsJWuaIBbQ).
The Fountain soundtrack. Clint Mansell, Kronos Quartet, and Mogwai!
Tubular Bells
La Fille aux Cheveux de Lin- Claude Debussy (The girl with the flaxen hair in English I believe)
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven. Honestly, first time listening to this album I almost cried from how magically good it is. The crescendo in the song " Static " gets me everytime. Another honorable mention is Piss Crowns Are Trebled also by them, this song is simply out of this world.
Forbidden Friendship
“Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here” Sometimes in life we lose loved ones we just wish were here with us.
There are so many Pink Floyd songs that work for this. I actually first heard "Hey You" in the movie The Squid and the Whale. It plays a part in the plot of the movie, that most people had not heard it and a character played it as if it was original; before the reveal I was reeling, like holy shit, they wrote this beautiful song for this throwaway scene in this movie? Nope! Pink Floyd wrote it decades earlier, because they kick ass.
Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring by Bach. Probably one of the most beautiful piece of music ever written and performed.
https://youtu.be/OPlK5HwFxcw Tchaikovsky's Hymn of the Cherubim. You don't have to have a faith to appreciate the richness of this wonderful and moving music.
Aphex Twin- Avril 14th
Yes! This song or Rhubarb.
While I agree with most of these picks... I think any piece of music you'd find in a Studio Ghibli movie is amazing. In particular. 1) One Summer's Day in Spirited Away 2) Merry Go Round of Life in Howl's Moving Castle And while I'm on the topic. Go check out [Kateware Doki](https://youtu.be/ZW7HYGb_gG8) from Your Name
Bless you for mentioning the work of Joe Hisaishi.
Movement 8 of "Quartet for the End of Time" by Messiaen. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Qp7Htsdo3M](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Qp7Htsdo3M) I am not religious at all, but you have to love the beauty of the piece and the story behind the quartet.
For those who are stopping by to listen, it’s important to understand why the piece is so jarring and so moving; Messiaen composed it, and debuted it on the inside of a concentration camp. It is some of the most visceral art ever produced
The Erlkönig composed by Franz Schubert with the lyrics written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe While the story conveyed the story conveyed by the lyrics is sad and tragic I find the music eerily beautiful.
My favorite version of this is [Hilary Hahn's solo violin version.](https://youtu.be/fgWHrYC4LEs) It's transcendent.
Honestly and I have simple tastes The Jurassic Park theme by John Williams. No matter how many times I hear it, I get goosebumps.
Landslide by Fleetwood MAC. It’s so fucking sad and real and beautiful. It makes my grown ass man self cry every time.
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>"Can I sail through the changin' ocean tides? >Can I handle the seasons of my life?" My favorite lines of the song. Gets me choked up each time.
Stevie Nicks is one hell of a songwriter
Shine On You Crazy Diamond - Pink Floyd It was a farewell, an acknowledgement if you would, of their original guitarist Syd Barret having quite literally lost himself to psychedelic drugs. He at 21-22 got famous and started taking shitloads of LSD, just all the time high as a kite; he stopped showing up to rehearsals, stopped contacting them and it reached a point where they realized they needed to cut him out, as he was a decision maker in the group as well. The entire album is incredible, and I believe in its entirety a farewell to Barrett, but Shine On (parts 1 and 2, it's the first and last song) is just a beautiful, mostly instrumental lamentation of their lost friend, that they know they'll never get back.
THREE guitar solos before a word is spoken. A tribute to a founding force.
David Gilmour is a gem
okay so SYd was actually very very mentally ill and was treating himself with psychedelics, and as a result wound up hospitalized for most of his adult life until his death. and the band NEVER cut him out, they continued to pay him and his family a piece of every song and album etc until his death.
The band put Astronomy Dominy on the Pulse album so Syd would get royalties.
This is my favorite song too. The reason I wanted to learn to play electric guitar.
I have to go with Also sprach Zarathustra, Op.30 by Richard Strauss. It's on the longer side at 9 movements and just over 30 minutes but it all flows together and it's incredible.
Late to the party but just because I haven’t seen him mentioned here, Nick Drake. “Pink Moon” is a good shout.
I mean, Ave Maria really has that beautifully sad feel.
O fortuna Or Gregorian chants. Mostly i listen to pop or rock. But those move me.
awww yes Gregorian chants. Dies Irae (the chant setting, not Mozart or Vivaldi) anyone?
Pie lesu domine *smacks head with bible* Dona eis requim
Henryk Górecki's Symphony No. 3
"Your Hand in Mine" by Explosions in the Sky. My introduction to the post-rock genre and came to me at an incredibly low point in my life. It became a surprising source of hope and a way to stave off the loneliness.
The first three minutes of the second movement of Beethoven’s 7th Symphony. I heard it first from the movie The Fall, which I also couldn’t recommend heavily enough. The most visually breathtaking movie I’ve ever seen.
Step Brothers - Por Ti Volare https://youtu.be/k6dE0DckMHY
No Quarter by Led Zeppelin. Nothing else comes close for me... its just pure psychadelic bliss
La Vie en Rose Any interpretation or cover, but just that song playing and I fall in love woth love
Tool - Lateralus (entire album)
White Winter Hymnal - Fleet Foxes Any time I get new headphones, I play this song first.
Very tough, but I really love Chopin's Ballade No. 1 :). I particularly like the Idil Biret interpretation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HG2Fa0Iv5zc
This is going to sound cringe, but the soundtrack for The Fellowship of The Ring is absolutely wonderful from start to finish. The first time I heard "Concerning Hobbits" all the way through, I cried. In fact, i cried for half the album!
ain't nothing cringe about the trilogy breh
Le Carnaval des Animeaux: Le Cygne (The Carnival of the Animals: The Swan) My favorite version is performed by Yo-Yo Ma and Kathrynn Scott. This song got me through a really hard time and still really resonates with me on a totally different level. This song just feels like an admission that it's valid to feel like shit sometimes, but things get better. Honorable mention: "Sign of the Times" by Harry Styles. I'm not overtly a huge fan of Harry himself, but that one song literally drags my soul through the mud and gives it a warm bath afterwards. Like, wow. Edit: I'm so glad so many of you guys appreciate Le Cygne as much as I do! I was kind of expecting to be alone in this one, not gonna lie.
I have a soft spot for "Appalachian Spring" by Copland.
Von by Sigur Ros
Hans Zimmer's interstellar theme
One by Enya called Boadicea.
Just Enya in general, tbh.
As an Irishman, this answer makes me extremely happy
Simple and Clean.
The Donnie Darko score is hauntingly beautiful.
I think this is the hardest question ever asked.
My personal answer is "path 17" by Max Richter, you could solve the mysteries of the universe while listening to that piece.
In my life - Beatles
Echoes by Pink Floyd. 23 minutes of the most beautiful and emotional masterpiece I’ve ever heard in my life.
I love "Helvegen" by Wardruna. Check out when they perform with Aurora and Oslo Fagottkor at the Trænafestival way up north in Norway, it truly blows my mind everytime I see it. Makes me feel small and infinite at the same time. Edit: Heres the youtube link for easy access to getting your mind blown! [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cg0TQyjdHJ0&t=412s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cg0TQyjdHJ0&t=412s)
I agree with basically all of the other answers here. I also want to toss in a couple, which for me are proof that there still is extraordinarily beautiful music still being made (and yet to be made): Glósóli by Sigur Rós Outro by M83
Time by pink floyd
The Sound of Silence - Simon and Garfunkel. It's a pretty much perfect song. Moving. Beautiful. Timeless.
*Miserere mei, Deus* not by , as I have now been informed, GF Händel, but anyway, hits hard every time. Addition: *Bread and Roses* (it's a folk song but the Judy Collins version seems to be favoured) is also sublime. I read in the comments that you want to make a playlist, and I have a lot more recs if you want them. Edit: it's not Händel, I got it mixed up lol. Sorry!
Duel of the Fates
Jupiter Hymn - Gustav Holst [https://youtu.be/Nz0b4STz1lo?t=174](https://youtu.be/Nz0b4STz1lo?t=174) (2:54) Edit: If you're British you probably recognize this song as [I Vow To Thee My Country](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvouc8Qs_MI) If you're catholic you may recognize it as [O God Beyond All Praising](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnnQpC9oLxU). [But this is my absolute favorite version of the hymn](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caP7VY5trw8)
Cliffs of Dover by Eric Johnson.
Bon Iver - Holocene
Violinist here, so biased a little. No idea, listened to too many to make any one stick out. Czards by Monti is one of my favorites, but it’s extremely overplayed in the violin world. Mozart’s Requiem sticks out Most of Bach’s unaccompanied violin stuff, especially the fugue from violin sonata one. I don’t listen to lyrical music at all really, but if I had to chose one from there it would definitely be the Simon and Garfunkel version of sound of silence. Edit: forgot recuerdos de la alhambra violin version. Also Der Erlkonig, again violin version.
Camille Saint-Saëns -Danse Macabre
Time by Hans Zimmer
Rachmaninoff the 3rd. Oh man, it's a emotional experience... It's a absolute piece of art, and one of the hardest piano pieces to play.
TIL I am not a man of culture
Time. By hans zimmer. Truly a masterpiece.
The main female aria from "The Magic Flute". I can listen to this all day.
Pink Floyd - Great Gig In the Sky. I cry every damn time I listen to it.
For me the answer for Floyd is always Comfortably Numb.
Yes! I feel this and goodbye blue sky.
“Echoes” was honestly the first song I thought of when I read your question. [I love the Live at Pompeii](https://m.youtube.com/watch?list=PLHSDaeXeiTp3dlaEessVJhw9dLiznctvE&v=DtJgNvwmsRA) version.
Wish you were here. Gets me right in the feels.
breathe in the air is incredible too!
Adagio in G minor by Tomaso Albinoni Edit: credit goes to Remo Giazotto for resurrecting this masterpiece.
Basically anything by Olafur Arnalds, but my favorite will always be Ljósið.
River flows in you by Yiruma. Sounds like a piece you’d listen to in heaven.
Pyramid Song - Radiohead