I can’t believe I never told you about Henryk Gorecki. His Symphony Number 3 is devastatingly haunting and beautiful. Once you hear it, you’ll probably remember hearing it before. It’s one of those pieces of music they use in movies (like Fearless and Wit) in the epiphany scene, when it all becomes clear.
My friend Sean introduced me to it in High School, and now I listen to it when I need to mellow out, or am feeling like there’s nowhere else to turn. Dawn Upshaw’s pained soprano, the strings in the background – it just makes life worth living again. Go get the version with Dawn Upshaw as the soloist. There are others out there, but none of them match the beauty of that one.
