Most achingly-beautiful music


Ultimately, we listen to music to be moved, for example, to be elated, exulted, calmed or pained. Which are the 3 most affecting pieces of music do you find the most affecting?
hungryear
"By Your Grace"
Beaver & Krause / GANDHARVA / Warner Bros. CCM-461
Recorded in Grace Cathedral, San Francisco

This is pretty obscure. Anyone else know this recording?

BTW, I love this thread. It's a gold mine of pleasure.
Gorecki, Symphony #3

Vaughan-Williams, The Lark Ascending

any number of movements from Mahler: last movement 3rd; Adagietto 5th; slow movement 6th; large parts of 9th...

also check out R. Strauss's Death and Transfiguration
Forgot to mention:

John Dowland, Lacrimae, for consort of viols. The Fretwork version is pretty good.
Here`s a site where you can pre-listen music; Like this "Visual" I mentioned w. Sevåg/Patey. Look out For others from Sevåg too!

http://www.musikkonline.no/shop/displayAlbum.asp?id=27078
Just reviewed many of the posts and all have so much merit.

Notationally the length of the piece plays a good bit of what is so beautiful about classical music or baroque for that matter -- but in reality the feeling and sensations of vocals delivered with pure emotion compress that feeling and drive it into you in such a short span that I fully understand the votes for these as well. The lyrics have to reach and touch in order for this to work, thus the subjectivity of the vocal votes presented is likely greater than those for classical, instrumental offerings.

All of that said -- I think for me the candidates come from a variety of sections but there is one -- particularly when reproduced on my system that for me does it all -- Woman of Heart and Mind by Joni Mitchell. Should I ever find the woman who exists in those lyrics -- well -- that would be my ideal. But that speaks only for me.