mack/misophist, although I'm not fond of other lists I do like lists of books, movies and music which other people enjoy, because it opens up a whole new set of experiences for me to explore.

I tried to name the thread "Classical music - what stops you in your tracks?" (meaning which music do you hear where you find yourself stopping everything else you are doing so that you can devote your full attention to it) but the thread title was too long. The Paganini "La Campanella" does it for me every time, and also the Bruch Adagio Appassionata. They are total experiences for me, so I was wondering what stops other people in their tracks, in the classical music field. I would like to know why it is such an integrated experience as well, for other people.

For me I just have to sit down and close my eyes and devote my entire concentration to some pieces of music and feel the emotions, marvel at the technical aspects, the complexity of it all and the way that it integrates into a total experience.

I think part of what I am referring to is that we tend to be bombarded with music everywhere we go, some better than others. We start to just experience it as "musical wallpaper", something in the background of our experience which does not take much of our attention. So when I hear a piece of music which makes me suddenly focus on it intently, then I start to realise how special well-crafted music is - and I am definitely not just referring to classical music here. My taste in music is very wide ranging. But totally crafted musical experiences aren't really done in popular music, except in music for movies, perhaps. It's especially obvious in the current popular music *market* (that's what it is all about, making a quick buck and the quality of the music and the true creative process is suffering, in my opinion - but that is another rant for a different thread perhaps.)

So, a list of classical favourites is good, but also any discussions about what classical music does for you is fine, too. I'm interested in all of it.

And I don't think that this is unrelated to a folk/blues site because I know that what we say about why we listen to one sort of music will be relevant to why we listen to other sorts of music.

As for music for certain moods, I always know if I am feeling very down because I find my self playing all 5 CD's of my Vivaldi Complete Sacred Choral Works, over and over. Usually my black mood lifts very quickly after listening to the interweavings of those lovely voices.

Helen