AIBU to ask for what you think is the most beautiful piece of classical music you have ever heard

[Myworstnightmare123]

I want to put together a playlist for my DD as she has a horrendously difficult time ahead of her (you can search my username to see why) I am hoping it will help her in some way...calm her. Take her mind off things.

Can't beat a bit of Verdi for me, especially massed choirs as in the Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves, and the Anvil Chorus from Il Trovatore.
I too love the aria Un Bel Di from Madam Butterfly, it's undeniably beautiful but so sad.

Rachmaninoff Theme on Paganini: Rhapsody 18 - short but it will make your heart soar

Elgar Cello Concerto - Jacquline du Pre/Barrenboim recording Rachmaninoff Vocalise Ma Vlast - Smetana Rachmaninoff 2nd La Wally - Catalani O soave fanciulla - La Boheme: Puccini Adagio from Spartacus - Khachaturian - epic! Zadok the Priest - Handel if something a bit shouty would be useful.

So much depends on the mood you want - Barbers Addagio, Nimrod, Benedictus from the Armed Man are all utterly beautiful but always leave me in tears. Ode To Joy, the Intermezzo from the Karelia Suite, Grieg's Hall of the Mountain King are more uplifting. Chopin Nocturnes, Moonlight Sonata, Pastoral Symphony, Lark Ascending are relaxing..

Haven't read all the thread but can I recommend the book "Year of Wonder"? I got given it as a present and it suggests one piece of music per day and explains a bit about it. It's fantastic for discovering/rediscovering some masterpieces.

I Giorni. Had it as my wedding aisle song as a surprise for DH. I don't remember many classical songs but this one I remembered and it's still a favourite.

This
Concierto de aranjuez. (Concerto d'orange juice, for those who've seen Brassed Off). Bit sad and haunting at the beginning but then it really makes my heart soar and I find it so uplifting, iyswm.

The Classical Chillout album is lovely.

The Seal Lullaby by Eric Whitacre is absolutely lovely and very calming.

Wishing you and your daughter well.

@Driftingthoughlife Definitely agree with that, the wrong version can ruin it though.

It's not technically classical but there's a piece of music called Tendu in 6/8. It's written for ballet, but I love it just to listen to. Jupiter from Holst's planets, Danse Macabre, the entire Nutcracker and Swan Lake, canon in C (literally just Canon in D transposed into C but it's so much more calming I find).

A theme on Thomas Tallis (VWilliams)

Intermezzo from La Cavalleria Rusticana.

agnurse that was really interesting learning about how the music gets categorised, thank you for sharing. Always good to learn some new snippets of information!

Jupiter from the Planet Suite
Procession of the Spirits from the film Spirited Away
Waltz of the Flowers from The Nutcracker
Rhapsody in Blue

Glad to find so many other fans of Soave Il Vento from Cosi Fan Tutte! That's my funeral music.

When I am Laid in Earth, from Dido and Aeneas by Purcell. (This is very, very sad but one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written.)

Anything by Bach. I also love Shostakovich and I find his 24 Preludes and Fugues, which is based on Bach, very calming.

Satie's piano music (Gymnopedies) is also lovely.

Rhapsody in Blue, George Gershwin. (Also Summertime from Porgy and Bess.)

The Trout Quintet by Schubert.

Finlandia, Sibelius.

Ma Vlast, Smetana.

Khachaturian: Adagio from Spartacus - much better known to British people of a certain age as the Onedin Line theme.

Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, Lieutenant Kije suite and Classical Symphony.

Carmen by Bizet.

Collection of the really good bits from Verdi and Puccini operas, e.g. Nessun Dorma, Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves.

The Nutcracker Suite, by Tchaikovsky.

Rachmaninov 2nd Piano Concerto.

Peter Grimes, Benjamin Britten. I find this desperately sad as well as beautiful.

We have a collection of English folk songs by Percy Grainger. Varied moods, but all tremendously hummable.

Recuerdos de l’Alhambra by Tarrega. Pepe Romero’s recording is just beautiful.

Barber - Adagio for Strings
Rodriguez - Concerto de Aranjuez.

But my all time favourite piece of music has to be Apocalyptica - Farewell. Simply stunning. Like a story without words.

Spiegel im Spiegel

Debussy Clair de Lune...have always loved it! Xx

The Swan - Saint-Saens
Elgar Cello Concerto
Mozart Piano Sonata 16 C Major
My Lord Has Come - Will Todd
Lullaby - Cyril Scott
Bach Cello Suite No1 in G major
Flower duet - Lakme

'Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis' by Vaughan Williams - I find crying to it a great cure for tension headaches. It was on the radio this morning and I was sobbing my eyes out in the car! It was also what I had played as my DD was delivered by c-section

Fauré's Cantique de Jean Racine, if choral is suitable?

A 20th C. orchestral piece: Elizabethan Serenade by Ronald Binge. It is so uplifting. I hope your daughter triumphs

There are so many beautiful pieces but Ralph Vaughan William's Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis sticks in my mind.

Oh snap EchoBelly

The Super 8 soundtrack has a gorgeous melody running through its pieces... I was listening to it out walking at the weekend on my own and my mind was taken far far away

I hope your daughter is as OK as she can be, you too, this is a lovely idea. A nice Mumsnet collaboration too! There are some beautiful pieces of music here. Isn’t it lovely that music can be left behind for generations to come to enjoy? What a lovely legacy these composers have left us all.