even it's more sad and troubling than mellow. If I listen to music that's too laid-back, or which is specifically designed to soothe I find it slightly annoying.

If I'm gently challenged by something just enough for it stop the to-ing and fro-ing in my mind for a few minutes, then I find it much more calming in the long run.

This is also the best recording:

Britten: Sea Interludes 1 - The Dawn (Leonard Bernstein)

Not a musician, don't know much about serious music but Nessun Dorma knocked my socks off the very first time I heard it and every time since. It is absolutely one of my favorite pieces of music.

Arvo Part - "Cantus In Memoriam Benjamin Britten" as performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the 2010 proms.

The audience are so entranced at the end you could hear a pin drop.

Fauré - Pavane Opus 50 (Choral Version) performed by the Hallé Choir & Orchestra.

The purely orchestral version is a lovely piece too.

As a teen, often when I went to bed, I'd put on Side 2 of my father's Planets Suite album and drift off to sleep to a chorus of angelic aliens.

[video:youtube][/video]

something of the feel of some of the pieces above, from the film "Enduring love".

Funnily enough, (if you'll allow me to shamelessly namedrop?), I used to know the composer, Jeremy Sams. Top bloke and the man to go for to direct West End hit musicals.

That film has one of the best opening twenty minutes to a film ever but the rest doesn't live up to it sadly.

Part the second...

The Lark Ascending, Ralph Vaughan Williams

...You've a hard, hard heart!

Samuel Barber - Adagio for Strings

but Bulgarian folk. The harmonies are beautiful and haunting ...