Adagio for Strings

The iPodNano has a lot of cool features, but lately it's the looping-repeat feature that has caught my attention. I am stuck on Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings. I think this is one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written, period.

Although it sounds like an older work, Adagio for Strings was written in 1936; Samuel Barber was only 26 when he set the composition to paper and sent it off to Arturo Toscanini for performance consideration. The piece has taken on a life of its own since then. I find that it's one of those works that most people don't know by name, but many recognize from its use in movie soundtracks. The problem with a movie soundtrack and a seven-minute piece of music is that it is highly unlikely the entire piece will appear in an unadulterated form. This work deserves focused listening.

I heard somewhere that Adagio for Strings was voted as the saddest piece of modern music. It is in the key of B-flat minor--music doesn't get much sadder than that. Still, the music is sweet and soft and each expansive inversion of the melodic theme is like inhaling deeply and feeling your emotions become more obvious each time.

This song has been known to make me cry. The first time I sat in a concert hall and heard a symphony orchestra play this piece, tears streamed down my face for all but the first thirty seconds. It wasn't the sad tone of the music, but the incredible sweetness and beauty of it.

When I can't sleep, or when morning anxiety makes it hard for me to get out of my car and make the 12-minute walk to the office, I pull out my iPod and let Mr. Barber's masterwork settle the sharp and brittle pieces of my feelings. It doesn't make me sad; it makes me calm and it quiets the traffic in my brain.

It is a song best listened to in a place free of distractions. Lacking that, medium-to-loud volume brings home the full effect anywhere. Once through may not be enough. The looping repeat is often a necessity.

Adagio for Strings is nothing short of stunning. It is one of the few things that can stop the jangling, jarring noise in my head within seconds. There's a lot lot be said for that.