# Calming music (in the midst of a war)



## Waehnen (Oct 31, 2021)

Please suggest calming and comforting music!

I suppose many people need it to balance out the anxiety caused by the war.

My suggestion:

*Sibelius
Symphony no. 6*


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

*Beethoven
Triple Concerto*


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## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

Two short works by Copland that are about as serenely beautiful as music can get.


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## SearsPoncho (Sep 23, 2020)

I've been listening to Beecham's Delius, and this is timely...






(On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring)


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## SearsPoncho (Sep 23, 2020)

Also, Hovhaness' Prayer of St. Gregory, from a great disc I purchased a long time ago...






*When all else fails, there's Bach. His eternal genius transcends all.


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## Waehnen (Oct 31, 2021)

*Tallis: Spem in alium*


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## Malx (Jun 18, 2017)

Olias said:


> Two short works by Copland that are about as serenely beautiful as music can get.


Is it just me but is it not slightly odd to see the image of a four guys of various ages with rifles associated with such a peaceful piece of music.


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## SuperTonic (Jun 3, 2010)

I found great comfort in the music of Morton Feldman when everything went to **** when covid started. Particularly the long-form late works.


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

My go-to work to calm the nerves:


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## Alfacharger (Dec 6, 2013)

The end of Britten's War Requiem. Let us Sleep Now.






Herrmann's ending to his score to Fahrenheit 451, The Road.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Rota, Respighi, Barber & Elgar: Works for string orchestra

I Musici


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## Philidor (11 mo ago)

To my mind, music that would calm you during a war would be a politicial weapon. (Who could want that you stay comfortable?)

You think, the war is evil? Don't think so - just listen to the right music and the world is fine.

You could take some tranquilizer as well.


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## Waehnen (Oct 31, 2021)

Philidor said:


> To my mind, music that would calm you during a war would be a politicial weapon. (Who could want that you stay comfortable?)
> 
> You think, the war is evil? Don't think so - just listen to the right music and the world is fine.
> 
> You could take some tranquilizer as well.


The wise people in Britain knew it: "Keep calm and carry on!"

Soothing and relaxing music helps to do just that. It is harmful to be in full stress 24/7.

But enough of this kind of meta. Let's just list music.


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## MatthewWeflen (Jan 24, 2019)

Beethoven's 6th is my go-to when I need a tonic for the world.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Arvo Pärt- Spiegel im Spiegel






Valentin Silvestrov - Bagatelles for piano Op. 1-5


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## mikeh375 (Sep 7, 2017)

This sprang to mind. Deep, other worldy and transcending meditation from Messiaen, written during another time of war with similarly terrible circumstances.


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

Waehnen said:


> Please suggest calming and comforting music!
> 
> I suppose many people need it to balance out the anxiety caused by the war.
> 
> ...


I concur. Elegant escapism.

I'm currently listening to Debussy's 'Estampes', which is also music to make the world go away.


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

SuperTonic said:


> I found great comfort in the music of Morton Feldman when everything went to **** when covid started. Particularly the long-form late works.


I don't meditate as such, but several of Feldman's late pieces can lead me to a state of mindfulness more effectively than anything else I know. Unfortunately I cannot retain it for the length of the entire works.

Also, the Vaughan Williams thread reminded me of _The Lark Ascending_ and the _Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis_.


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## Great Uncle Frederick (Mar 17, 2021)

Mahler: The Andante Moderato from the 6th Symphony
Honnegger: 'Pastorale d'Eté
Vaughan Williams: the 4th movement of the 3rd Symphony, or his Norfolk Rhapsody


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## Jan Arell (7 mo ago)

Good suggestions so far. But why not try an Ukrainian composer? Valentin Silvestrov. Start with The Messenger (for piano and strings), ten beautiful minutes. Then go on to his 5th symphony. Silvestrov is, as far as I know, still alive.

EDIT: I see now, Waehnen, that you are from Finland. You have Sibelius (Andante festivo, a short piece, and many other masterpieces) and Rautavaara.
Jan i Göteborg


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

Waehnen said:


> Please suggest calming and comforting music!
> 
> I suppose many people need it to balance out the anxiety caused by the war.
> 
> ...



I would suggest Ralph Vaughan Williams's Fifth Symphony, especially the third movement, _Romanza_. The Fifth was composed between 1938 and 1943, war years in Britain, and it follows the violent, modernistic Fourth Symphony, which suggests or anticipates the impending violence of war, and it is followed by the remarkably stark and mysterious Sixth Symphony, which seems to reflect the devastation of war. The _Romanza_ of the Fifth, a movement in the center of all of this war-music, has always seemed to me to be Vaughan Williams's informing of the British people of all that they have to lose (the beauty of their great land and its wondrous history and accomplishment) if they do not successfully repel the German war machine. I often wonder if Vaughan Williams wrote any of that startlingly calm and sobering music while the bombs exploded around him. In any case, I consider the composer's Symphonies 4, 5, and 6 as one of the great "war trilogies" in symphonic music. But it is the Fifth which provides the "calming and comforting", especially that third movement.


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## RMinNJ (Apr 3, 2021)

Whenever I'm feeling down, out of sorts, stressed, anxious, you name it, I simply press play on Bach's Goldberg Variations. It works like a charm. Every time. I happen to love Glenn Gould's version (both the 1955 and 1981 recordings). I am sure this work has a calming effect for me for a multitude of reasons, familiarity and comfort partly, but I think it has a transcendent quality beyond my ability to articulate or understand. I'd also try Bach's Partitas for solo violin.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Satie: Six Gnossiennes, Trois Gymnopédies & Trois Sarabandes

Reinbert de Leeuw (piano) 

Perfect to clear your mind


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## RobertKC (Dec 9, 2013)

"We Hymn Thee" Rachmaninov - Sretensky Monastery Choir


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## RobertKC (Dec 9, 2013)

Liszt: Années de pèlerinage: 1e année: Suisse, S.160 - 2. Au lac de Wallenstadt


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## RobertKC (Dec 9, 2013)

Richard Wagner: Prelude to “Lohengrin”, Simon Rattle


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## RobertKC (Dec 9, 2013)

Shostakovich - Piano Concerto No. 2: II. Andante


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## RobertKC (Dec 9, 2013)

Bless The Lord, O My Soul (S. Rachmaninoff "All-Night Vigil" / Vespers, op. 37, 2.)


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## RobertKC (Dec 9, 2013)

Horowitz plays Schumann Traumerei in Moscow


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## RobertKC (Dec 9, 2013)

Sheep May Safely Graze, Bach/Petri


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## RobertKC (Dec 9, 2013)

Nicola Benedetti - Marietta's song (Glück, das mir verblieb)


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## RobertKC (Dec 9, 2013)

Yuja Wang - Rachmaninov: Prelude in B-Minor, Op.32 No.10 (Live at Philharmonie, Berlin / 2018)


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## RobertKC (Dec 9, 2013)

Chesnokov - Tebe Poem - The Willow Consort


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## RobertKC (Dec 9, 2013)

F. Liszt - "Ständchen" Piano Transcriptions After Schubert - Khatia Buniatishvili


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## RobertKC (Dec 9, 2013)

Bryn Terfel " Wie Todesahnung... O, du mein holder Abendstern" Wolfram's Arie Tannhäuser


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## RobertKC (Dec 9, 2013)

Kathia Buniatishvili - Claude Debussy: Clair de lune


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## RobertKC (Dec 9, 2013)

Mischa Maisky. Rachmaninoff – Vocalise


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## RobertKC (Dec 9, 2013)

Songs of the Auvergne:ll Baïlèro; sung by Dame Kiri Te Kanawa


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## RobertKC (Dec 9, 2013)

Liszt: 12 Etudes d'exécution transcendante, S.139 - No.9 Ricordanza (Andantino)


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## RobertKC (Dec 9, 2013)

Our Father - Russian Chamber Choir (oktavist, M. Zlatopolsky)


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## RobertKC (Dec 9, 2013)

PARSIFAL: Vorspiel | Conductor: Kirill Petrenko


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## RobertKC (Dec 9, 2013)

Musical Aramaic rendition of the Our Father


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## RobertKC (Dec 9, 2013)

Virgil Fox † Come sweet death


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## RobertKC (Dec 9, 2013)

'La Bayadère' – Entrance of the shades (1994)


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## RobertKC (Dec 9, 2013)

Vladimir Albatayev : 'Monotonously Rings the Little Bell


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