From Gregorian chant to John Tavener, Hildegard von Bingen to Howard Skempton, countless classical composers have written music to give us moments of silence over the centuries. We’ve compiled playlists of music to help you calm, clear and focus your mind. This list of the best classical music for meditation will soothe your soul and nurture your mental health.
Best classical music for meditation
John Cage dream
great John Cage The dreamy melody is enveloped in a cloud of soft resonance, which is created by sustained pedal or held notes, depending on the performer’s preference.The piece was composed in 1948 for a piece choreographed by Merce Cunningham.
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Pauline Oliveros “Water Lilies” Deep Listening
The concept of “deep listening”, according to the American improviser and composer who coined the term, is “listening to every possible sound in every possible way, regardless of what you are doing”. Deep Listening The album was recorded in a disused water tank 15 feet underground.
Arvo Pärt Spiegel im Spiegel
This 10-minute piece for violin and piano was included in the works of the Estonian composer in 1978. Arvo PärtThis is one of his best-known pieces. Composed in his characteristic tintinnabuli style, the melody unfolds over repeated triads. It’s a slow, gentle piece, perfect for meditation. The title means “Mirror in a mirror.” If this doesn’t spark some introspection, I don’t know what will…
Best Classical Music for Meditation and Mental Health
Hildegard of Bingen Eternal
“Mighty in Eternity” is one of several responsa written by the 12th-century German composer, poet, and mystic Hildegard von Bingen, whose hymn works have survived in greater numbers than those of any other medieval composer.
Erik Satie “Angels” Three Melodies
The first of three early song collections published in 1887. Les Anges The poem was written by Erik SatieIt is a poem written about a friend of his known as J.P. Contamine de Latour. Written in a free-floating style, the poem reads, “Angels float in the air, floating lilies among the stars.”
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John Luther Adams Songbird Song
“These little songs are echoes of those rare moments and places where the birds sounded clear and I could listen in silence,” she says. John Luther AdamsThe environmental activist turned composer brings the living world into the concert hall and vice versa. If meditation is about paying attention to the world, then these miniatures do just that.
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John Tavener Song of Athens
Also known as “Alleluia. May the Flight of Angels Sing to Thy Rest,” the song is John Tavener The lyrics were written by Orthodox nun Mother Thekla. One A cappellaProbably Tavener’s best known work, it is mainly Princess Diana’s Funeral.
However, the piece was originally dedicated not to Princess Diana, but to Athene Halyades, a half-Greek actress and family friend who tragically died in a cycling accident. Tavener wrote this gentle, contemplative work after her funeral, saying of Halyades, “Her outer and inner beauty was reflected in her love of acting, poetry, music and the Orthodox Church.” Greek Orthodox At his funeral, he even included a line from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, which he heard recited by the Haliardes. Shakespeare At Westminster Abbey.
Claude Debussy image
Claude Debussy He said he loved painting as much as music, and much of his limpid impressionistic music echoes the play of light and water of his paintbrush-wielding compatriots Claude Monet and Édouard Manet, perhaps best heard in the six-movement suite. imageits title eloquently suggests the atmosphere the music conveys, from reflections on the water (“Reflets dans l’eau”) to the chiming of bells through the trees (“Cloches à travers les feuilles”). In terms of music for meditation and mindfulness, the abstract “Mouvement” may be the most effective, but in fact, this is an exercise in serenity and meditation from start to finish.
Debussy’s music combines harmonic adventure with transcendental serenity. The greatest French composers,and The greatest composer of all time.
Beethoven String Quartet No. 15 / Op. 132, III: ‘Holy Dhangesan‘
It may be unexpected BeethovenOften featured on lists of classical music for meditation and mindfulness as music of struggle, energy, strength and heroism, the music of this great composer is filled with Titanic struggles and Prometheus transformations, but also with moments of great silence. Romantic composers.
One of these is the slow movement of his String Quartet No. 15, Op. 132. Beethoven wrote this (mostly) quiet movement after recovering from a serious intestinal illness that at one point seemed fatal, and after his recovery he wrote a hymn of thanksgiving to God, which he called (Deep Breath). Holy joy, with the Ridiculous TonaartThis is (take another deep breath) in the Lydian mode and translates as “A sacred song in which a convalescent gives thanks to God.”
