There are some pieces of music that just make my heart and soul soar. They're the ones you just can't stop listening to, that you hum along with, move your hands to, move your body to -- you just can't help moving, and there is no question of multi-tasking. They run non-stop in your head, sometimes for days. You gotta stop and listen.
One of my favorites is "Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity" from Holst's The Planets Suite. Most especially I love the middle section that begins about 3 minutes into it, also known as the hymn "I Vow to Thee My Country." The cellos (I think)-- or in a symphonic band arrangement, the French horns -- glide through this soul-singing, soaring melody and then it's repeated by the rest of the orchestra. Alas, this part goes all too quickly. On my CD player I usually go back and replay that section at least once more.
It's worth noting on this one that Princess Diana loved the center hymn too. I Vow to Thee My Country was played at both her wedding and her funeral. There are several versions on YouTube as well that feature it with the words.
Another is what's known as the Organ Symphony written by Camille Saint-Saens. It's Symphony #3 and the last part of it, the Maestoso and the Allegro, is one of those goose-bumpy ones that you want to play at top volume. The organ floats all the way through it, but really blows it out in this last. Amazon has a sample -- it's No. 8 on Disc 2.
Actually this is one of my favorite dentist-chair CDs. I can let it blast through my ears and don't even hear the drill. (Okay, almost...)
Not a classical piece, but another one that grabs me by the throat lately is You Raise Me Up -- okay, it's sort of schmaltzy, but it does for me now what Wind Beneath My Wings used to do back when it was first introduced. I like how both reflect our inter-dependence with each other. It speaks to the best parts in us when we love and help and support each other. Oh, I'm quite capable of standing on my own two feet and making my own destiny -- which has been a criticism of the lyrics -- but I believe that when we love and share our dreams and our lives that we all become "more than *I* can be."
Classical music probably makes me swoon the most, but in my past lives there are several songs to which I've listened over and over and over...and over...
Nights in White Satin by the Moody Blues. This one came out when I was in college and it just fit with that semi-depressed state college students so often live in. Those, of course, alternate with the semi-manic states where you stay up all night writing intense research papers on intense writers like Dylan Thomas or T.S. Eliot -- which then lead back to the semi-depressed state. Y'know what I mean? I know I drove my roommate crazy listening to this on our stereo. (There. It's been a REALLY long time since I was in college. Nobody listens to stereos anymore and haven't for years.)
Catch the Wind by Donovan. I'll never hear this without remembering my high school boyfriend. We both loved this song by the gravelly-voiced singer -- the Brits' version of Bob Dylan -- and while it wasn't "our song," it might as well have been since it's the one that always evokes his memory for me. Our relationship lasted into college despite the hundreds of miles and two states that separated us. We reconnected in more recent years, and he and his life partner and Tony and I have shared several meals and good visits. They even came to our wedding!
There are a bunch of choral music pieces that I love, although few that make me swoon. I like most of John Rutter, especially his Te Deum and Requiem pieces, but he has some lovely arrangements of traditional Christmas carols and familiar hymns that are a little different and beautifully melodic.
I like the Brahm's How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place very much, especially the big swell at the end. It's fun to sing.
I'll probably think of a dozen more as soon as I hit publish -- but I'll keep a list and do this again.
My head is full of lovely music tonight. Who needs an iPod?
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