Now, I want to hear about music so beautiful, so exquisite, so unbearably lovely that it makes you cry tears of joy mingled with sadness or even spiritual pain.
And, having thrown my hat in the ring, I pony up my contribution right here: My favorite piece of music that I find so exquisitely beautiful that it makes me cry is Spiegel Im Spiegel, by the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt.
This is all wrapped up in childhood memories*. But yeah anyway, the Peer Gynt Suites are a perfect way to introduce a child to classical/whatever the technical term is music. For me, it’s lasted.
*Being introduced to Tolkien and Grieg at the same age is not a bad combination as it turns out
**Arvo Part, **the Estonian composer - his work Tabula Rasa. When I was reading about it, I heard that during the height of the AIDS epidemic, many men listened to it in their final days as a form of release. I could never understand what they were going through, but I get how this piece of music works. Serene, sparse, powerful in gentle elegiac ways.
The soundtrack to “American Beauty” stuns me. Not a week goes by that I don’t listen to parts of it.
My cousin, a professional opera singer, sang “Danny Boy” at my little brother’s funeral. It was the most incredible version I’d ever heard. I kick myself for not recording his performance. (Though I probably couldn’t ever watch it - now I can’t hear any version of the song without falling apart).
Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6, usually incorrectly referred to as the Pathétique due to a mistranslation from the Russian. First encountered it in my childhood and have been entranced with it ever since.
In terms of a short piece of music, it would be O Mio Babbino Caro, from the opera Gianni Schicchi, one of the most beautiful arias ever written. And check out this performance. It has to be enough to restore one’s faith in the human race.
The movie is a pseudo-documentary of the formation of the Duresori, a choir from Korea’s National High School of the Traditional Arts. The song is about the trials the once reluctant students go through before bonding over their love of music.
The three soloists are amazing, especially Im Ha Nui (the third soloist). I’ve heard several versions of this song, but the solo part by Ha Nui (pronounced Ha Nee) is always done by the full choir.
Sometimes the coda is left out, leaving the listener with different impression of the song. I prefer it without the coda.
Lyrics:
Like a light shines in darkness.
Singing lightens our hearts
We laugh, cry and dream together,
when we feel worn out singing the same song
…
Moving Day from Duresori Story - The Voice of East
This mixes elements of traditional musical stylings with modern choir and is a variation of the numerous versions of** Arirang**, the national song of Korea. Like all versions of Arirang, this is a melancholy song dealing with heartache and yearning.
Lyrics:
Note: The lines that contain araiyo, ariang or surirang have no literal translation or meaning in Korean or English
There are so many houses on the hill
But no room for our family to rest in
I put the memories [away] inside the drawer
The roar of the truck hides the laughter of old friends
I wake up from dozing and the truck is trundling along
The poor trip with my poor Mom and Dad
Lying on the beach with my Mom and Dad,
we looked at the stars in the summer night
That night we cried to the sound of crickets chirping
‘O Holy Night’ belted out by any awesome voice, male or female. But the version that makes me the most weepy is by Mr. Michael Crawford and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. O night divine!
