Hello,
I love this thread. However, all I ever listen to is achingly-beautiful music. So, I'm going to list 12 but from a vast array of music types.
1. Bartok--Piano Concerto in F (#2). Gena Anda/DG or the Janodo/Naxos verions. Listen to the 2nd movement (Adagio-Presto-Adagio). That introductory string phrase just kills me inside. I have 3 versions of that work and looking for more. Man should never be able to transverse emotion that effortlessly.
2.Wagner--Tristan und Isolde. On vinyl, find the Decca/London with the VPO under Solti; on CD, find the DG Originals with Karl Bohm and the Berlin. In particular, I like Act 3 from the prelude to the last part of the eternal aria 'Isoldeās Liebestod'. Very heart-moving music.
3. Bill Evans-With Symphony Orchestra. Here is the master of impressionistic jazz with a full orchestra playing Bach, Granados, Scraibin, and more. I have a affinity to his piece "Time Remembered" and this version is a tear-trampler.
4. Miles Davis--Kind of Blue. Here, I'm refering to the Bill Evans composition Some Other Time (Flamenco Sketches). The music sublime with an atmosphere of peace and tranquility.
5.Beethoven--Missa Solemnis (Santus, Benediction, Agnus Dei). At a time when Beethoven was deeply in the trenches of defeat, this piece came about. You really feel the sorrow and the 'giving up' he felt at that time. It's 40 minutes of a 90+ minute question to God: Why me?
6. Milt Jackon--Reverence and Compassion (Here's to A Rainy Day). Such emotion! Such a coherence of harmony. Remarkable temperance of the vibraphone.
7.Bill Evans-Symbiosis (MPS). Just beautiful.
8.Keith Jarrett--The Koln Concert (Part 2a)...the last 6 mintues of this piece build to this heartbreaking climax, as of the end is never fully resolved.
9.Bach-Christ lag in totesbonden (christ lies in death's arms). This piece will grab you with sorrow Johann intended to put into it.
10.Miles Davis--Iris and Mood (from E.S.P.). Just listen...trust me!
11.Hindemith--Piano Sonata #1. Listen to the third movement, Lebhaft. It's so emotion....typical Hindemtih.
12. Diana Krall--The Girl in the Other Room. Listen to Almost Blue's prelude. Sounds very simlar to #11.
Marty