One song that I find to be heart breakingly beautiful is “The Upper Peninsula” by Sufjan Stevens. It can get me very teary if I’m in the right mood.
Georgia on My Mind by Ray Charles is one I want to second as well.
“Lullaby of London”, The Pogues.
While I wouldn’t say it’s the most beautiful ever, this song certainly tugs at the heartstrings:
Ballad of the Windfish - perfomed on Double Ocarina by Docjazz4.
Er, making sure that I point out that there is both a track 2 and a sample 2 at the above link, and it is Track 2 to which I refer. :o
The Nimrod movement from Elgar’s Enigma Variations blows me away every time I hear it.
It really does depend on my mood, though.
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, “Into Your Arms” (our wedding dance song)
The commercial of the battered animals ruined for me. It’s just too sad, then turns to cloying after the commercial has been on about a kajillion times. Pretty song, thought. You’re absolutely right.
I can’t decide:
Jewel and Bjorks duet of Leaving on a Jet Plane
Liz Phair’s cover of Gnarls Barkley’s Crazy
Evanescence’s My Immortal
Sarah McLachlan’s In The Arms Of An Angel
What she said. If not for that GD commercial, it would be up there on my list as well.
Nicolai Gedda singing “Je crois entendre encore” from Bizet’s Les pêcheurs de perles.
A nice enough aria on its own merits, but Gedda makes it something else entirely.
Michael Hedges…Aerial Boundaries.
A friend of ours sent us a couple of songs by Bill Douglas, that I find inexpressibly beautiful.
But then, I’m an absolute pushover for choral music. Y’all might not be.
Wind of the Western Sea, from a poem by Tennyson.
The Clouds, a poem by Percy “Mr. Frankenstein” Shelley.
Just listening to it, Kool and the Gang’s “Summer Madness” has a certain beauty to it.
Erykah Badu’s “Bump It” is very beautiful.
I don’t know about most beautiful ever, but when I want something nice, I load up Farewell, by Apocalyptica: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=zdnD8660_W0
Those high notes at the end give me chills every time. Oooh, just happened again…hey! They cut off the end in that video! Oh, well. Try another one.
Thanks for that link Smeghead. I love those guys, and that was a tune I hadn’t heard before.
I don’t know why I think of beautiful voices when I think of beautiful music
Down To The River To Pray by Alison Krause
All I Know by Art Garfunkel
Lean on Me by Bill Withers
Everybody Plays the Fool by Aaron Neville
From my daughter the musician…
For her it is not the piece in abstract, but usually a specific performance or recording that evokes a particularly intense musical experience. There are, however, certain pieces that seem to channel this experience more than others.
A hearty agreement with Arac’s selection of Barber’s *Adagio for Strings *and Spoike’s choice of Gabriel’s Oboe, and may we please add
Dvorak’s Symphony #9, Movement 2 (the largo), specifically the English Horn solo at the beginning.
For Emily, Wherever I May Find Her still gives me chills when I hear it.
And Lo, How A Rose E’er Blooming still makes me cry when I hear it.
That’s the first piece I thought of when I saw the thread title.