# Your go-to music that lifts your spirits & soothes your soul?



## laurie (Jan 12, 2017)

When you're in need of spirit-lifting & soul-soothing, which pieces and composers do you turn to?


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

Bach. In his music, I can feel the strength of his faith, his certainty that the world makes sense on some deep level. His harmonious structures, incorporating brief dissonances but never undermined by them, are profoundly comforting. In my moments of doubt--self-doubt and the doubt of everything else--his music restores my belief in the meaningfulness of life.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

laurie said:


> When you're in need of spirit-lifting & soul-soothing, which pieces and composers do you turn to?


Anything will do, as long as it's on my shelf's.


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

Wagner - Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.


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## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

I'm up late right now, a pinched nerve in my neck is making sleep difficult, but I'm finding my mood greatly improved by Rossini's string sonatas. I'm enjoying my first of what will be several
Listens to these lovely and relaxing works.

Haydn is my go-to composer if I need to feel uplifted or refreshed.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Bach, always. The most inspirational and uplifting composer ever:

Various soprano and mezzo arias from the cantatas-so beautiful and calming- and my favorite music of all time, the Well Tempered Clavier and Keyboard Partitas.


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## Brahmsian Colors (Sep 16, 2016)

Some of Dvorak's opus 46 Slavonic Dances and his Humoresque. Grieg's The Last Spring, Toselli's Serenade, Haydn's Piano Trios, Mozart's Clarinet Quintet...and Nat King Cole singing Hoagy Carmichael's Stardust with lyrics by Mitchell Parish.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

My spirits are high on a daily basis because I listen to Bach every day. It also helps that I'm a naturally high guy.

Of course, there are hundreds of other composers who lift my spirits. Earlier today I was listening to Weber's Grand Duo Concertante, a guaranteed mood enhancer.


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## znapschatz (Feb 28, 2016)

It depends. Debussy is always good for a soul-soother; also Ravel, at this moment _Ma Mèr L'oye_; Glazunov's _The Seasons_; Poulenc's _Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra_, especially the Larghetto; the Shostakovich _Symphony #1_ for its "youth;" Bach anything, a pipe cleaner for the clogged mind. There are many more. Classical music is my drug of choice. Also coffee.


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

Italian, French Baroque. :tiphat::tiphat:


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Bettina said:


> Bach. In his music, I can feel the strength of his faith, his certainty that the world makes sense on some deep level. His harmonious structures, incorporating brief dissonances but never undermined by them, are profoundly comforting. In my moments of doubt--self-doubt and the doubt of everything else--his music restores my belief in the meaningfulness of life.


And the strength of that faith can be found in his secular music-in the fugues of WTC, the Sarabandes of the Keyboard Partitas, the organ preludes and fugues, the Chaconne of the Solo Violin Partita No. 2 and the Fuga from the Solo Violin Sonata No. 3.

In my opinion, most of Bach's music is dedicated to God's glory; it is music genuinely inspired by faith and that explains why his music is Number One in my book.


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## tortkis (Jul 13, 2013)

J. S. Bach, Beethoven, and Nyman's film music. Cage for soul soothing.



Vaneyes said:


> Italian, French Baroque. :tiphat::tiphat:


And Spanish, Italian Renaissance.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

laurie said:


> When you're in need of spirit-lifting & soul-soothing, which pieces and composers do you turn to?


Any disc by Renée Fleming makes life good for me. :clap:


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

tortkis said:


> Cage for soul soothing.


However, the TC debates about Cage have the opposite effect! :lol:


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Bettina said:


> However, the TC debates about Cage have the opposite effect! :lol:


One needs calm down pills for that


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## MagneticGhost (Apr 7, 2013)

Most likely some Taverner, Tallis, Victoria, Palestrina or the suchlike.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Forever and always Glazunov. He's my old friend, who always cheers me up. Current runner-ups (these vary with my changing moods): Arensky would be second, Scriabin third, and the rest of the Russians in no particular order after that. And piano or orchestral music in particular.


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## Heliogabo (Dec 29, 2014)

It could be Bach, Brandenburg or harpsichord concertos, some Mozart's dances, or Haydn's Paris symphonies.

EDIT: and every day Vivaldi of course.


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> Forever and always *Glazunov*. He's my old friend, who always cheers me up. Current runner-ups (these vary with my changing moods): Arensky would be second, Scriabin third, and the rest of the Russians in no particular order after that. And piano or orchestral music in particular.


Oh yes, I dig *Glazunov* too. He has so much to offer that I can only be thankful of what he left behind and for his legacy. Any of his works would make my day (his piano music is really something else).

Then there's *Myaskovsky*, that Musical Conscience of Moscow, whose soul searching slow movements (of his 27th Symphony for instance) is always and constantly gratifying. *Bax* fits that bill also (and what an epilogue he wrote in the final pages of his Third Symphony).

I could go on and on, for there's so many to cherish (played *Ravel's* La Valse the other day and *Peteris Barisons'* Second Symphony, an amazing score, and shockingly little known). But I'll stop here.

I'm about to listen to *Offenbach's* "Genevieve de Brabant", which will make an otherwise good Friday morning fun, to be followed by piano works of *Faure*, *Debussy*, & *Ravel*).

Good, even great music never ends, and that's perfectly fine with me.


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## QuietGuy (Mar 1, 2014)

Ravel's Daphnis et Chloe & Ma Mere l'Oye are like old friends. Copland's Appalachian Spring (suite for full orchestra) is very comforting also.


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## JAS (Mar 6, 2013)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> Forever and always Glazunov. He's my old friend, who always cheers me up. Current runner-ups (these vary with my changing moods): Arensky would be second, Scriabin third, and the rest of the Russians in no particular order after that. And piano or orchestral music in particular.


Glazunov is usually a safe bet for me. His ballet Raymonda is a lot of fun, and his first symphony in particular is so full of youthful optimism. (I find that I often have a particular fondness for a composer's first symphony, although the number, as assigned, does not necessarily follow the date of composition, thus making it difficult to make easy determination.)


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## JAS (Mar 6, 2013)

MagneticGhost said:


> Most likely some Taverner, Tallis, Victoria, Palestrina or the suchlike.


I am finding much comfort in Tallis Scholars CDs these days. The gentle, calm perfection seems a promise that things can get better.


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## bharbeke (Mar 4, 2013)

Mozart and Haydn have a lot of uplifting pieces. One that I really like to put a smile on my face is Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue.


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## JAS (Mar 6, 2013)

And in addition to my endorsements, let me add a recommendation of my own. When I am facing a genuine crisis or moment of challenge, I find Ernest Chausson's Symphony in B-flat major, Op. 20 very uplifting. My preferred performance is the one conducted by Charles Dutoit.

It seems to embody a struggle between joy and melancholy, with the ending suggesting a triumphant resolution to rise above all adversity. There is hope as long as we dare to assert it.

(And it probably helps that, at least on the Dutoit recording, the symphony is followed by the sublime Poème de l'amour et de la mer.)


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

Mendelssohn lifts my spirits. Bach soothes my soul. Mozart does both.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

bharbeke said:


> Mozart and Haydn have a lot of uplifting pieces. One that I really like to put a smile on my face is Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue.


I like Gershwin's An American in Paris even better!


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## isorhythm (Jan 2, 2015)

MagneticGhost said:


> Most likely some Taverner, Tallis, Victoria, Palestrina or the suchlike.


Same.

And outside the classical realm - Sam Cooke, Ella Fitzgerald.


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

If I want my spirits lifted or soul soothed then out comes the Haydn or Mozart


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## znapschatz (Feb 28, 2016)

hpowders said:


> And the strength of that faith can be found in his secular music-in the fugues of WTC, the Sarabandes of the Keyboard Partitas, the organ preludes and fugues, the *Chaconne of the Solo Violin Partita No. 2* and the Fuga from the Solo Violin Sonata No. 3.
> 
> In my opinion, most of Bach's music is dedicated to God's glory; it is music genuinely inspired by faith and that explains why his music is Number One in my book.


Just day before yesterday that very piece, performed by Itzak Perlman, came up on our local classical music FM station just in time to boost my flagging morale. Good on Bach!


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## znapschatz (Feb 28, 2016)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> *Forever and always Glazunov. He's my old friend, who always cheers me up.* Current runner-ups (these vary with my changing moods): Arensky would be second, Scriabin third, and the rest of the Russians in no particular order after that. And piano or orchestral music in particular.


This. Once, when under considerable stress while driving to Cleveland where my mother lay dying, _The Seasons_, which I love, came up on my car radio. It was a huge comfort and solace to me. I am forever grateful to Glazunov for that.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

znapschatz said:


> This. Once, when under considerable stress while driving to Cleveland where my mother lay dying, _The Seasons_, which I love, came up on my car radio. It was a huge comfort and solace to me. I am forever grateful to Glazunov for that.


Yes Glazunov and radios... What could it be? He's a great radio composer because he's just so pleasant so lots of stations resort to him, but it's curious how he does seem to come on just the right time... It's possible for me hear him every day now scanning through 6 stations I follow with a phone app. Yes, my dear old friend...


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## arnerich (Aug 19, 2016)

I'd say the 2nd movement of Grieg's piano concerto.


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## chromatic owl (Jan 4, 2017)

Vocal music, particularly Bach. The finale of Scriabin's first symphony also never fails to lift my spirits


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

Malcolm Arnold's two English Dances suites.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Any of the following four:

Brahms String Quintets.

Brahms String Sextets.


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## JAS (Mar 6, 2013)

hpowders said:


> Any of the following four:
> 
> Brahms String Quintets.
> 
> Brahms String Sextets.


My discerning eye detects a pattern here . . . you like pieces that end in "s."


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## Templeton (Dec 20, 2014)

Beethoven's 7th (Kleiber or Monteux), Strauss's 'An Alpine Symphony' (Luisi or Haitink) and another one for Ravel's 'Ma mère l'Oye' (Monteux), as well as 'Le Tombeau de Couperin'. Pure bliss.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

hpowders said:


> Any of the following four:
> 
> Brahms String Quintets.
> 
> Brahms String Sextets.


Yes, JAS. "S" as in soul.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

Mozart's Piano Concerto 22, Ravel's Piano Concerto in G. Beethoven's 4th and 5th piano concertos. Saties' Gymnopedies. Saint Saens' the Swan. I guess the piano lifts my spirits and soothes my soul.


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## David OByrne (Dec 1, 2016)

Pierre Boulez's music, since discovering it here; has been some of the most angelic, exotic and uplifting music I've ever heard. Hearing Ravel's Daphnis et Chloé live was also beautiful too


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## jdec (Mar 23, 2013)

Lots of music do it for me. Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Brahms, Wagner, Schubert, Mahler, R. Strauss, Debussy, Liszt, Schumann, Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn, Handel, Verdi, Sibelius, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Ravel, Rachmaninov, and more.


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## 20centrfuge (Apr 13, 2007)

The piece that comes to mind first and foremost is Faure's Requiem


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