Most achingly-beautiful music

1. Beethoven's Archduke Trio defines achingly beautiful or maybe just hauntingly beautiful.
2. Kiri singing Dovo Sono from Marriage of Figaro
3. Elgar's Cello Concierto - Jacqueline du Pre - also defines more the ache than the beautiful

"Gershwin Fantasy" Joshua Bell w/John Williams and the London Symphony on Sony Classical.

I just picked this up after hearing on PBS and the whole album is spellbinding. A must have for Gershwin fans. On "Embraceable You" Bell and the Orchestra change keys 3 times on one passage, talk about achingly beautiful, a definite qualifier.

"Cat Scratch Fever"Ted Nugent
It such sounded fitting!

I will stand on the adagios on Schubert's late string quartets, see above. Lately though,I have really gone back to very early American music like Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family. Call it country music or even hillbilly music, I really do not care. But I have been quite smitten by the Hank Williams, Sr mystique. His acoustic music with just him and his flat body Martin/ Gibson has to be the most achingly beautiful music around. Hauntingly beautiful.
Even goose bump beautiful. Pitiful beautiful, what ever. He LIVED his songs. The original recordings are scratchy, lots of wow and flutter, but his voice does shine through. About the only two people I know on Audiogon who actually listen to Hank are myself and Albert. Most people probably are not familar with his body of work or do not care to know. But I will say this: 100 years from now, in America, at least, if not England, too( yes the Brits love Hank, for some strange reason the Swiss do too, maybe its the yodeling) Hank's music will be around.

surf by roddy frame,
O by damien rice
anything sad off american 4 by johhny cash.