There are many sucky things about life. Music ain't necessarily one of them. In fact music can be one of life's higher medicines. It's a shame so many people never veer beyond the official "top 40" and discover the exotic medicinals that lie beyond.
An example of what I mean can be heard in the work of Gorecki, who is cool even if only because his name contains Gore, who was, as everyone knows, the first hero of the 21st century.
But check out Gorecki's 3rd symphony...the "sorrowful symphony". You may want to skip right to the 2nd and 3rd movements, which, I think, are the most sublime. I have found, over repeated listenings, that around 6 minutes into the 3rd movement, my psyche experiences a transformation, and yes, a joyful transformation -- A release almost, from the sorrow that preceded it. I suspect others have also felt this.
I have also felt this transformative power in the works of Arvo Part, Lisa Gerrard, Andrea Bocelli, Mark Isham, Ennio Morrocone, Phillip Glass, Roberta Flack, Sibelius, and others.
When coupled with images, this transformative music can really cause a spirit to soar, offer repose, or induce all manner of magics. The love theme in "Life is Beautiful", the final climax of climaxes scene in "Cinema Paradiso", the epiphany in "Truman Show" where Truman cracks his own cosmic egg, as it were, and begins beating against that final prison wall, crying out for freedom.
Without the music these scenes could never be so transformative.
I'd be interested in hearing of the favorite scenes of other Taverners.
