Most achingly-beautiful music

for achingly-beautiful you might try rachmaninoffs vocalise featuring sylvia mcnair & the baltimore symphony orchestra- almost 7 minutes of total bliss. i actually tried to sit down and answer this question, but picking three is impossible...but here goes (in no particular order)..dvorak symphony 9, bach violin concertos, beethoven symphonies..arrrrrgh what about brahms, mozart, mahler, sibelius,, this is futile.. hayden, tchaikovsky, rimsky-korsakov..aaaarrrrghhh

Samba Pa Ti from Abraxas, Santana

Stevie Ray Vaughan's rendition of Hendrix's "Little Wing" (Jimi's wasn't too bad either), Bruce Springsteen "My City of Ruin" from "America: Tribute to Heroes" (could include several cuts from that set). On the other end of the emotional spectrum, "Key to the Highway" from Derek and the Dominoes "Layla and other assorted love songs". Something magical was going on between Clapton and Duane Allman in the studio during those sessions, and it may have been captured best on this track.

FWIW,
Mike

Panufnik Sinfonia Sacra
U2 - Elvis Presley and America (Unforgettable Fire)
Nascimento - Sao Vicente

OK, herewith my contributions from the Baroque catalog:

From the 2-CD album of the complete Albinoni Concertos, Opus 9, with Christopher Hogwood (Decca 289 458 129-2), the following movements:

a) Concerto No. 2 in D minor - Adagio - Track 5 CD 1
b) Concerto No. 11 in B flat minor - Allegro - Track 13 CD 2

And from Frederic Chopin, as interpreted by Arthur Rubenstein in a 2 CD set on EMI Classics (1992), the Nocturne in C sharp minor, possibly the most symmetrically beautiful of Chopin's creations.