Music that makes you cry

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Which version do you prefer?  I've got both and want to start learning it soon.  Wild's version seems a lot more difficult.  I think it's in the Lisztian tradition in that he varied the texture when the theme appears the second time.  The climax is very effective.

I'm gonna learn the Richardson version.  Wanna learn it together?  But I like both versions about the same.  

[pianopenny]

Rachmaninoff Elegie No. 1, Op. 3. It's a weeper (if you cry your heart out when you play it)...

[philb]

A good performance of Op. 111 has brought a tear to my eye in the past...

[pytheamateur]

Rachmaninoff Elegie No. 1, Op. 3. It's a weeper (if you cry your heart out when you play it)...

I played this piece in the past.  I agree completely with you.

[49410enrique]

this piece got me a littly moisty eyed this morning.  (couldn've been my allergies but prolly some combo of both. i am not allergic to Brahms though. thanks goodness).

[evitaevita]

The first time that I cried when listening to music it was when I heared for the first time Beethoven's Pathetique, as well as Rachmaninov's 2nd and 3rd Piano Concertos!...

Also, another piece is Chopin's 1st Ballade!

Generally, a piece can make me cry when the performer is playing it with feeling, passion and soul, when the performer is PERFORMING!

 

[leandro1990]

Someone told me that she almost cried after I played the first movement of Schubert last Sonata in Bb major. However, myself would probably cry on the second movement.
The other piece of music that would  make me cry is Rachmaninov Prelude in D and Waldnstein Sonata the last movement by Beethoven.

[pytheamateur]

If it has not been mentioned yet, Gluck-Sgambati's Melodie from the opera Orpheus.

[michaeljames]

Many beautiful piano solos emote great feelings in my soul as I listen and as I play them.  Some are: Rachmaninoff's Elegie (Opus 3, 1); several preludes: Opus 23: 1, 4, 6 and 10 and Opus 32: 2, 5, 10 and 12; Vocalize; Moments Musicaux: Opus 16: 1, 3, 4; and the Second Piano Concerto.  Chopin:  Nocturnes:  F# Major (Opus 15, 2), C# minor (Opus 27, 1) and D flat Major (Opus 27, 2), B Major (Opus 32, 1), G minor (Opus 37, 1), C minor (Opus 48, 1) F# minor (Opus 48, 2) E minor (Opus 72, 1); Ballade 4; Brahms: Intermezzo (Opus 118, 2); Debussy:  First Arabesque, Claire de Lune, Reverie, Ballade and Nocturne; Grieg's Sonata; Ravel's Pavane; Beethoven: several Sonatas, or movements within; Liszt:  Etude in D flat Major...

I could go on and on, but I'd rather be playing!

[chrobo]

Very few of Mozart's music was written in minor key... (but whenever he composed sth in minor, those are usually ones of his greatest music )

However this violin sonata of his is imo quite under-played, despite it was so tragically beautiful that it almost (yes, almost) made me cry when I first listened to it alone at night... lol

[forgottenbooks]

I haven't achieved that with my own playing. But here are some compositions that make me feel like crying:
Chopin:
1. Ballade No. 4 (the part leading up to the arpeggios near the end)
2. The third movement of Sonata No. 2
3. Nocturnes 1 and 2, Op. 9
4. Etude No. 1, Op. 25

5. A couple of places in the first two movements of Brahms's 2nd concerto

Schubert:
6. Der Erlkonig
7. Serenade

8. Rachmaninoff's third concerto: a couple of places in each movement

[pianotrio]

... A good singer can even suggest the accompaniment with his/her voice, even when there is none. Are you familiar with the "Mondschein factor" in the rendering of Panis Angelicus by Luciano Pavarotti and Sting?

Hm I didn't get that one I must admit.

Anyway I forgot a couple of obvious ones!
Mild und leise from Tristan & Isolde - sublime. Jessye Norman singing it here:

Dido's lament from Dido & Aeneas - Emma Kirkby:

[pytheamateur]

I'm gonna learn the Richardson version.  Wanna learn it together?  But I like both versions about the same.  

I prefer the Wild version actually.  Looks like you have got many projects in the pipeline.  I'm a bit like that too, but unfortunately I can't do this full-time.  I'm still learning the 3rd movement of the Moonlight Sonata.  Have you played that?

[zezhyrule]

Hmm... The first time I heard teh Beethoven Sonata in D 10/3 performed... Just the way the second movement was so sad and stuff and then the awesome third movement started and it was like... I don't know it just hit me emotionally 

[christovr]

A lecturer of mine claimed to have been movet to tears by my playing of Chopin's Nocturne, Op 27 no.2.
Personally there are view pieces that can equal Liszt's third book of Annees de Pellerinage for its emotional impact.  Listening to the the whole set has a cumalative effect and when the Sursum Corda comes around it always leave me shaken AND stirred.
The second movement from the Sibelius Violin concerto also drives me to tears.

[thing2emma]

Lots of music makes me want to cry, even Chanson Triste and Milonga del Angel from the grade 8 list, and lots of Chopin pieces. Mainly because my teacher told me the backstories of the music, and every time I play it I remember.
Also, this year I'm working on Chopin Nocturne op 48 and it's brought me to tears from the sheer beauty/sadness.
I've been in a choir for years and we often make people cry... especially when we were little and adorable yet super serious and singing in four part harmony with such clear strong voices. The biggest cry-song I've performed is If Ye Love Me by Tallis. We surrounded the audience and in both concerts, half the audience was wiping tears from their face at the end. I imagine there will be even more crying when we next perform it, at an short notice, off season function. The funeral of our friend and fellow chorister, who drowned on Saturday.
Besides that, the Christian song "The Stand" makes me bawl if I sing it in a group. And various songs of have made me cry before simply because they expressed what I could not, and had been dying to say.

[emrysmerlin]

Music that ALMOST makes me cry
Schubert's Winterreise, anyone?  

Also:
the 1st fugue from WTC book 1
Bach's Italian concerto 3rd mvt
Alkan concerto for solo piano 1st mvt
Alkan - Etude op. 76 No. 3 Rondo Toccata in C for hands reunited
(consequentially Hamelin's 4th etude after Alkan)
Hexameron variation 1, 2
WTC fugue no.5 book 1
Chopin Concerto no.1 without orchestra
Brahms   6 Piano Pieces Op.118
Brandenberg 5 solo part
Chopin ballade no.4
Beethoven Piano Sonata No.30 1st mvt
Beethoven piano sonata no.31 1st mvt

A funny experience when I almost cried to Schumann's concerto and then instantly retracted, then almost made me cry again, then drew back...

[Edit: almost forgot]

WTC - Christiane Jaccottet
Alkan concerto - Hamelin 1st recording
Alkan - Etude op. 76 No. 3 Rondo Toccata in C for hands reunited - ??
Hexameron - Raymond Lewenthal
Chopin concerto no.1 - ??
Brahms late piano pieces - Hélène Grimaud
Chopin ballade no.4 - Cyprien Katsaris

[rachmaninoff_forever]

The second movement of Rach 1 and Rach 2

I didn't cry, but I just thought that sounded kinda awesome.

[asuhayda]

Chopin - Bercuese
Chopin - Nocturne in c minor (Op. 48 No. 1)
Rachmaninoff - Prelude Op. 23 No. 4 in D
Liszt - Un Suspiro

... and pretty much anything else by Rachmaninoff... 

[bacchus1224]

I don't know if anyone's mentioned this, but the 2nd movement of Mozart's Piano Concerto no. 23. It doesn't usually get me to tears, but last night I was listening to the Maria Yudina version and my eyes got watery. I don't even remember being sad, it was sort of involuntary. 

And then I remembered this story that Stalin wanted a recording of Yudina playing it, so they had a midnight session and he cried after the first few notes.

[korlock]

Rachmaninoff's 3rd piano concerto......but the tears I shed are actually ones of FEAR.

[emrysmerlin]

it can be tears of joy right?   

[starstruck5]

Anything sung by Justin Beiber -it is just too awful.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Anything sung by Justin Beiber -it is just too awful.

Except he's actually a good artist. 

[unholeee]

^ So i read on many youtube videos not associated with him.

Dance of the finely chopped onion fairy.

[starstruck5]

Except he's actually a good artist. 

Definitely an oxymoron in there somewhere -I guess good -and artist is highly subjective -teenage girls adore him anyhow -

[unholeee]

con/artist?

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Definitely an oxymoron in there somewhere -I guess good -and artist is highly subjective -teenage girls adore him anyhow -

I really don't like his music.

But I won't disregard the fact that he has a good voice and he is a good songwriter.

[49410enrique]

I really don't like his music.

But I won't disregard the fact that he has a good voice and he is a good songwriter.

exactly. i think people just want to hate the on the kid for no good reason. you don't have to like his music/performances or be fan but to just flat out say he isnot talented at all, anything along that lines is flat out silly.

he has talent. his career is being (so far) well managed and  he is being wildly successful at it for the time being.  whether you're happy about that or not is of little relevance. you can still not like his 'product' that's fine.

i don't poke fun at him so much as i do sorta take a bit of a stance on him having a girl's 'perfume' out...i mean i understand Britney Spears has some out, so did Elizabeth Taylor....but c'mon are you really hurting for the money that you couldn't just add to the flames already being burned against you by not going that route and just putting out a decent men's cologne? (not that i'd by the thing, i tend to like the smelly stuff that really doesnt appeal to the younger demographic...)

that said it's him who's laughing all the way to bank, the dude sells a bottle about once every freakin minute!
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2186632/Justin-Biebers-perfume-sells-MINUTE.html

[nickus32000]

It's not usually the music that makes me cry but a specific performance. An humdrum average performance of a Chopin nocturne won't do anything but a sensitive and not too sentimental (I absolutely hate sentimentality) performance of a nocturne may do it. Horowitz 1989 performance of op. 62/1 is an example along with Josef Hoffman's 1935 performance of the d-flat op27/2 have made me teary eyed.

[costicina]

I don't cry easily, but Beethoven 111 performed by Arrau is THE sublime...

[soxos]

Chopin Op 48 No 1

[tchristec]

Many people seem to mentioning Chopin's Opus 48 no. 1.  I couldn't agree more.  I was asked by my grandmother to play this piece at my grandfathers funeral.  It was the last thing I was able to do for him.  Needless to say I can't really play this in public anymore.

[ionian_tinnear]

Some of you may like it, but Rap hurts so much it brings tears to my eyes! 

[49410enrique]

Some of you may like it, but Rap hurts so much it brings tears to my eyes!  

i like rap, but more the earlier 'old school' hip hip rap, not a lot of the junk being put out lately.

like this stuff,  love this.
explicit lyrics. don't play if a few f bombs offend you.

[clavile]

It is hard to name particular pieces that move me greatly since there are so many --Liszt, Beethoven, Mozart, Rachmoninov and especially Chopin have a tendancy to move me.

I don't necessarily CRY, my whole body will just begin to feel the music, and my heart fills with a longing feeling.


I played a Chopin Prelude, Op.28 No.4, that almost made my mother cry when I played it during practice/lesson.

[chopianologue]

Gabriel Fauré - Pavane in F# minor

Rach2 mvt.2 - Even Eric Carmen used this theme in ''all by myself''
Heavenly, absolutely my favourite...

[gaidheal]

The second movement of Ravel's piano concerto usually threatens to make me cry. For me, it tends to be the harmony in music which induces tears. Another corker is Eric Whitacre's A Boy and a Girl.
When I first listened to Ravel's Pavane for a Dead Princess, I had to stop as the ache in my chest provoked by the haunting music was a little much to bear.
Sometimes tears come to my eyes as a result of getting shivers from music, which can come separately from the ache. This can happen with Arvo Pärt's music: his tinntinabuli style is wonderfully ethereal and fragile.

[ahinton]

The second movement of Ravel's piano concerto usually threatens to make me cry.

I take it that you mean Ravel's G major piano concerto (the one for both hands); sorry, it's abit of a sore point with me when people speak or write of that work as though it was his only one, rather as one even occasionally hears reference to "Tchaikovsky's piano concerto" when it's usually obvious that the B flat minor one that's being mentioned.

For me, it tends to be the harmony in music which induces tears. Another corker is Eric Whitacre's A Boy and a Girl.
When I first listened to Ravel's Pavane for a Dead Princess, I had to stop as the ache in my chest provoked by the haunting music was a little much to bear.

I would hope that it might be any aspect of the music rather than just its harmony that has such an effect, although physiological response to any music is a massive subject, can vary from time to time and almost always varies from person to person and is ultimately the specialist province of the neuroscientists / neuropsychologists.

Ravel certainly seems to have something of a penchant for bringing about such reactions in you! - have you tried the piano trio? (the first work of his that I ever heard and, indeed, one of the very first pieces of anyone's music that I heard)...

Best,

Alistair

[thesixthsensemusic]

A lot of Chopin's stuff, especially the Barcarole, the Oktaven (aka Heroic) Polonaise (op. 53), his 1st and 3rd Ballades, Nocturne op. 9 no. 1, the Rondo alla Krakowiak for piano and orchestra, and quite a few more that I don't know by heart but heard on the Rubinstein Chopin CD-set that I have.

Apart from that, Beethoven's piano concertos 3-5, many of his sonatas (especially the Tempest, Pathétique, and Hammerklavier) both Brahms concertos, the Clara Schumann concerto, and many many many other works. I am by no means an emotionally sensitive man, except when it comes down to melancholic 19th century piano music, that awakens a side of me that lies dormant at any other time.

[david456103]

chopin ballade 4

[shaggyy]

I usually don't cry, but pieces that made me cry or want to make me cry are the Nocturne Op. 48 no. 1, played by Valentina Igoshina. Every time again when I listen to it and it gets to that last part it tears me up again. And furthermore the second movement of Rachmaninoffs second piano concerto, Chopin's first ballade and his prelude Op. 28 no. 4 (with violin).

[starstruck5]

Barber's Adagio for Strings is pretty special and moving -does anyone know if a piano transcription exists?

[perprocrastinate]

chopin ballade 4

Heh, the coda always takes me by surprise every time I listen to it.

[sucom]

Elgar's cello concerto gets me every time 

[sucom]

Barber's Adagio for Strings is pretty special and moving -does anyone know if a piano transcription exists?

Yes, I have a version of this somewhere

[stoudemirestat]

Music never, ever makes me cry, but the piece that brings on emotions associated with crying to the greatest degree is probably:

[redrobin62]

Tristan und Isolde - Isolde's Liebestod
Fritz Kreisler - Preludium and Allegro

[thesuineg]

Mozart - sonatas and requiem
lol.
haven't listened to the elegie in a while....i kinda don't want to
the overrated funeral march

[49410enrique]

Yes, I have a version of this somewhere

i have this 'somewhere' too, on it's best day, only a so so 'echo' of the piece. i feel like the  work is most effective in its 'choral' form,
about the transcription
 
When Samuel Barber transcribed the second movement of his String Quartet No. 1 (1936) for string orchestra at the behest of conductor Arturo Toscanini, he created what became one of the most popular concert works ever written by an American. The Adagio for Strings (1938) became America's (and the world's) music of mourning. In addition to its tragic associations, the slowly unwinding cantilena evoked feelings in listeners that ranged from nostalgia to love to sexual passion.

In recasting the Adagio for mixed choir in 1967, Barber brought to the surface the work's sense of spirituality. In contrast to the sentimental Romanticism of the original, the use of voices here provides a reverent Renaissance quality reminiscent of the music of Palestrina or Gabrieli. The Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) from the Catholic mass, a humble request for forgiveness and peace, provides the text. Barber's setting is immaculate; the intense climax conveys the most urgent portion of the text, "miserere nobis" (have mercy on us), while the blissfully contented conclusion begs, "dona nobis pacem" (grant us peace). The notes themselves are essentially unchanged from the Adagio, aside from a few necessary voicing adjustments to accommodate the sopranos. From a performance standpoint, the Agnus Dei is one of the more difficult works in the choral repertoire, requiring immense lung capacity, ability to sustain long lines, and an extensive dynamic range
Year: 1967
 Genre: Other Choral
 Pr. Instrument: Chorus/Choir