Most Beautiful Music

Music that lingers in the mind—haunting, immersive, timeless compositions

  1. Arvo Pärt – Spiegel im Spiegel (1978) A minimalist masterpiece—simple, slow piano and violin lines create an ethereal, meditative space.

  2. Jóhann Jóhannsson – Orphée (2016) An album blending orchestral grandeur with haunting electronic textures—music that feels like memory itself.

  3. Brian Eno – An Ending (Ascent) (1983) Ambient music at its finest—weightless, melancholic, and infinite.

  4. Max Richter – On the Nature of Daylight (2004) A deeply emotional string piece, famously used in Arrival—captures longing, loss, and time’s passage.

  5. Ólafur Arnalds – Near Light (2014) Icelandic composer blending classical strings with subtle electronics—intimate and expansive.

  6. Nils Frahm – Says (2013) A hypnotic piece built from layered synthesizers—both mechanical and deeply human.

  7. Stars of the Lid – The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid (2001) Drone-ambient music at its most beautiful—vast, slow-moving soundscapes that suspend time.

  8. Aphex Twin – Avril 14th (2001) A surprisingly tender piano piece from an electronic pioneer—simple, melancholic, unforgettable.

  9. Tim Hecker – Ravedeath, 1972 (2011) Dense, textural ambient music—beautiful in its decay and transformation.

  10. Grouper – Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill (2008) Liz Harris’s ethereal, haunting folk—vocals and guitar wrapped in layers of reverb and dream.

  11. William Basinski – The Disintegration Loops (2002-2003) Tape loops slowly decaying as they play—a meditation on memory, loss, and the passage of time.

  12. Godspeed You! Black Emperor – East Hastings (1997) Post-rock at its most cinematic—building from whispers to overwhelming emotional crescendo.

Honorable Mentions

  • Philip Glass – Metamorphosis (1988) – Repetitive yet evolving, a piece that feels like time itself.
  • Frédéric Chopin – Nocturne in E-flat Major, Op. 9, No. 2 (1832) – Romantic and wistful.
  • Ólafur Arnalds – Saman (2018) – Sparse, fragile, yet deeply moving.
  • Hildur Guðnadóttir – Fólk fær andlit (2014) – Cello that feels like an ancient voice speaking through time.
  • Bon Iver – Holocene (2011) – Indie folk at its most atmospheric and transportive.