Most achingly-beautiful music

Not quite achingly beautiful, more like lilting ear candy, but Morten Lauridsen's 4 minute piece called Dirait-on sure has captured my fancy. It's the last of several pieces from his cycle called Les Chansons des Roses, which are poems by Rilke that Lauridsen set to music. I have 3-4 recordings of it now. As I said, it's ear candy. Might be the next Pachelbel's Canon (I regret to say).

Elgar - Sospiri
Sigur Ros - ( ) esp. track 6
Grainger - Variations On A Theme From County Derry (Danny Boy)
Dvorak - Symphony 9, 2nd movement.

The best thread in a long time

As I get older I find that I appreciate music that is stripped of all pretensions and is simple and direct. While my first love is Jazz, of late I've been listening to alot of blues. Its music that speaks straight to the heart. My current favorite is the music of Mississippi John Hurt. If you don't feel chills up and down your spine when you hear him sing "Since I've Laid My Burden Down" you've got a hole in your soul. Something more recent is Kelly Joe Phelps's CD "Lead Me On". His superb slide guitar work and haunting vocals have the same effect.

Hmm

Bach - Chaconne fr Violin Partida # 2 as Played on Guitar by Andres Segovia. Taste, restraint, perfect technique. Segovia stretches the notes in a way that no one else dares.

Mozart - "Martin aller Arten" from Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail as played on Trumpet by Maurice Andre - Every soprano who ever attempts this should be required to hear what Andre wrests from this , absolutely simple, perfect. Perfect phrasing, perfect intonation, perfect control, perfect balance. Perfect

Diana Krall singing "Garden in the Rain" from "Love Scenes"

Holst's The Planets: Charles Dutoit conducting Montreal Symphony Orchestra!!