Let The Music Carry You Away

“Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” -Berthold Auerbach

If I had to choose which of the five senses I’d lose, sight and hearing would be the last to go.

I listen to music mostly for background ambience when I write or do something on the computer. Classic music and movie soundtracks are perfect for that purpose.  Soundtrack music can be especially powerful since it was composed to bring the listened to a certain mood and to enchance the scene it ties to. And many classic music pieces were supposed to create a whole ‘movie’ in the listener’s mind. No wonder that Disney based it’s film Fantasia (1940) on classical pieces like Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony and Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker ballet.

One of my favourite movie composers is Thomas Newman who has done the scores of Meet Joe Black, The American Beauty and Road To Perdition among others. The American Beauty soundtrack is perfect chill out music but I picked Whisper of a Thrill from Joe Black because I loved the movie.

Wojciech Kilar did wonderful job with the soundtrack for the Dracula movie. Love Remembered reflects the melancholy of the scene where Mina refuses to meet Count Dracula at the restaurant.

I meant to choose something more upbeat for the last piece but in the end I had to go with Tango Roxanne from Baz Luhrman’s musical Moulin Rouge. It’s melodramatic but so are jealousy and lost love.

How about you? Which songs touch you? When do you listen to music? Do you find the lyrics or the tune more powerful?