Longing in Music (WARNING, MUSIC NERD ALERT)

There are some songs that do that thing to you, I don't know how else to describe it but to call it longing. It's the kind of ache that's good. The kind of feeling you feel on a beautiful Fall day. Now, I imagine this experience is found in different music for different people. There are certainly voices that can accomplish this at least in part. Voices such as Alison Krauss, Norah Jones, and Karen Kasey (an Irish singer) have voices that, at least for me, can cause that longing in a good song.
However, I would argue that specific songs themselves are capable of this longing. Among the songs that do that for me are Winter by Bayside (for those of you who have listened to anything else from this band, it is something completely different from their norm, which is, not the most feel good music), Autumn, by Andrew Peterson, Comes a Time by Mutual Admiration Society, and a majority of the choral works (at least that I've heard of) of Morten Lauridsen.

Who is Morten Lauridsen, you ask (admittedly, you probably asked that about some of the other people I mentioned)? Well my friend, let me tell you. Morten lauridsen is one of the most performed contemporary choral composers today. Why? Because his music moves, nay, stirs you. I first came across him while I was in college. My choir performed his arrangement of Sure on This Shining Night.
Singing in a choir is a wonderful experience, and can be much richer than just listening. But singing this piece was something altogether different for me. I'd never had a piece so vividly evoke images and emotions in me, it's truly amazing. I found a recording of the piece on youtube. It's not the best quality, but I hope it gets the idea across. As a side note, that is Mr. Lauridsen playing the piano.



I still get chills every time I listen to it.

So anyway, I set out to find what this longing was in a musical sense. I looked for a connection between the songs, and I found that a key element was the interval of a perfect fourth. Either in chordal progression or melodic movement. I thought, that was neat. That's really what all that was about. And, listen to Morten Lauridsen. Peace.