Most achingly-beautiful music


Ultimately, we listen to music to be moved, for example, to be elated, exulted, calmed or pained. Which are the 3 most affecting pieces of music do you find the most affecting?
hungryear
One item only available on vinyl LP: Orff's "Die Kluge" on Angel directed by the composer. The cast and directing is FANTASTIC. A later rerelease on Arabesque is not as good a pressing. And ANY later rerecording is trash compared to the composer's own version. The moment where the king is 'testing' the woman with riddles is one of the greatest moments in music, and at the end when she starts in singing after the king awakens... great! Go find it!
Joe Jackson's Nocturne, Jimi hendrix Castle's made of sand, Savatage's St. Patricks cathedral and Queensryche's Someone else.
Kenny G plays Enya's greatest hits. One can only dream of that much aching. How about the 2nd movement(adagio) from Ravel's piano concerto in G as an alternative?
A question too difficult to answer. But I'll list a few: Middle and Late Beethoven quartets; Mahler and Bruckner adagios (adagietos); Wagner Tristan and Isolde; Schubert and Brahms Lieder; Sibelius 6 and 7, certainly the Barber adagio; Sibelius and Bruch vln. concerto; Brahms vln and clarinet sonatas; Dvorak cello con.; Brahms Requiem; Ravel and Debussy quartets; Bach cello suites; Bach violin sonatas & Partitas; Mozart Sinfonia concertante; and much much more. Also; many film scores and a number of popular songs. Picking only three would be too great a sin of omission.