Brings tears to my eyes every single damn time

I love all sorts of music, but my *true* love has always been classical music.

I would like to share my favorite composition, being the entire 9th symphony by Beethoven. Most have heard elements of the 4th movement (ode to joy, etc) but the symphony should be appreciated in its lengthy entirety. It really is the most majestic, magnificent, and beautifully uplifting work of unparalleled musical genius I've ever heard, and every single time I am swept away by its otherworldly beauty and can't help shedding tears of passionate joy. If I could only listen to one work for the rest of my life this would be it, though if I had to choose only 1 movement it would be #2. Or #4, lol.

Beethoven, Symphony 9, 1st movement

Beethoven, Symphony 9, 2nd movement

Beethoven, Symphony 9, 3rd movement

Beethoven, Symphony 9, 4th movement

I could be having the worst day ever and after listening to this, my wounds will have been healed and my spirits uplifted, my anxieties quieted and crippling self-doubt cleansed, and my harmonious relation between self, soul, and the world restored. A million worth of therapy on 1 CD. The overwhelming deluge of physical, mental, and emotional ecstasy is what I would imagine a religious experience feels like. I really feel blessed to have Beethoven in my life, lame as it may sound.

Anyway, you certainly don't need to feel the same way about this piece, but I am quite curious if any of you have specific songs/compositions that make you feel the same way; that uplift you in ways that little else can; that communicate to you a celestial beauty of such sublime complexity that the inherent 2-dimensionality of mere words render any attempts at expression impossible?

I understand completely, Plummy! I usually listen to good classical music while I'm painting, somehow it adds pride and grace to my work, at least in my mind.. when I got my Ipod, the first thing I loaded it with was all 9 Beethoven symphonies, along with some Holst and Vivaldi.. that was plenty of ear candy for about 2 years.. []

I've listened to the 9th in a hall at Bell Labs while doing as built drawings of the sprinkler sysytem, it has some of the best acoustics on the planet and it was a joy to spend the day there. My favorite being Beethoven's 5th...

I spent 4 days alone in the hall with Bach, Wagner, Tchaikovsky, Mozart & Ravel along with Johann... It was 4 of my most enjoyable days at that job.

Excellent to hear Chuck!

Regarding the belief that your favorite music benefits the quality of your work, I personally agree. Beethoven's 9th instills an internal glow that makes me *want* to be a better person; even feel like a better and more patient and understanding person. Something about getting showered in auditory perfection makes ya instinctively want to embody it. It helps motivate me to do what needs to get done, do it efficiently, and as you said, do it with grace.

I've never gotten into Holst too much, but am a huge fan of Vivaldi and Baroque music in general. The harpsichord is such an awesome instrument.

As they say; "If it ain't Baroque, then go fix it!" []

Jim - You're one lucky dog; getting paid to listen to all that! It's been years since I've been to any live classical performances but as soon as a good one comes along I'm dragging my girlfriend along to experience it. Beethoven's 5th is very awesome as well, I rocked out hard to that as a kid. []

Thank God for NPR! Love the classical music too.

PD

I love all sorts of music but really enjoy classical. My son had me listen to some Byzantine church songs/chants. Half the songs are all male choirs and half all female choirs. I will admit that I can only take a song or two of the male singers...it has kind of a dirge sound. The songs sung by the female choir is beautiful and ethereal ..very calming. Of course, you can't understand a word but that doesn't really matter.
My son's tastes are wide ranging: Byzantine chants, Celtic fiddle, bagpipes, Christian Hard Rock, and classical, especially Luigi Boccherini.

Lots of great music mentioned here! You folks have fine taste! For Beethoven, my favorite symphony is the Seventh. I'm a huge fan of Bach, Handel, Telemann, and Mozart as well. And Renaissance sacred music from Josquin de Prez, Thomas Tallis, Orlando di Lasso. And a zillion others I could name!

and i hate music[][][][][]

so much...

PD - Yes indeed, NPR is great; I listen to it every day and the local station has some awesome music programs like "The Harp and Thistle" where they play celtic/gaelic music. Really beautiful stuff.

Melinda - You and your son have good taste. I haven't been exposed to much in the way of Byzantine chants but will be looking into it. I've never been able to take Christian rock seriously but am a fan of all else mentioned. Boccherini is splendid.

Bill - The 7th is fantastic, but personally it feels emotionally incomplete or unbalanced. The 9th sweeps me across the whole spectrum of human emotional experience, both the highest of highs and lowest of lows, whereas the 7th feels like it is lamenting a loss or destruction and generally focused on more melancholy themes. Maybe I am just biased by the 2nd movement. Not to say that it isn't of exquisite beauty, certainly, and music like this is inherently more personal and open to individual interpretation relative to music focused on lyrics versus instrumentation, so it can mean many things for many people. The other mentioned artists are lovely, Mozart was a big favorite as a kid, and Bach and Telemann are superb (Did I mention that Baroque music is awesome? []) Corelli is also way up there as far as Baroque goes. Never heard any renaissance sacred music but will certainly check it out now, thanks.

Dan - Great stuff, that Buddy Guy signed shirt is SWEET! As far as "modern" music goes Blues (or blues influenced music) is where it's at. Have any personal favorite songs or artists you'd like to share?

My favorite modern artist/band is Warren Haynes/Gov't Mule, hands down. "Cortez the Killer" written by Neil Young but played by Warren (and friends), and Gov't Mule's cover of "Beautifully Broken" blow me away every single time and are equal to the finest classical in terms of their potency and beauty. I went to the Bonnaroo music festival in 2005 and saw Gov't mule for the first time, and The Allman Brothers with Warren. I instantly fell in love, and upon coming back bought Gov't mule CDs and had all my friends listen to them. That entire clique of friends is hooked on Warren now and to this day they all religiously buy the new CDs and go to the shows.

Cortez the Killer This song, to me, represents a deep spiritual longing for the *idea* of a better and more harmonious world. The lyrics may not be historically accurate but placing that aside, the imagery and message is overwhelmingly beautiful; the idea expressed so enormous and lovely that it plucks at my heartstrings more deftly than warren plucks his guitar, which is saying something. [] "I just can't remember when... or how I lost my wayyy" F'ing awesome. There are many different versions, some better than the linked version but I can't seem to find them.


Beautifully Broken The first time I heard this song I couldn't believe my ears. So powerful and beautiful and deep. I had never heard Prince's far inferior original before and when I did, I was stuck in a state of severe incredulity; How on earth could Warren convert Prince's garbage song into a sublime work of art? A mystery to this day. []