Last week we were driving to a luncheon in Aurora, part of greater Denver, and 47 miles away from our house. I put on some music, and an instrumental piece (not the piece above) was randomly selected by my phone. My wife and I were both moved by the beauty of this piece. It answers to the name Serse (English title Xerxes) from the opera of that name by George Frideric Handel. It usually runs two and a half hours.
Philistine that I am I have never sat through an opera. (Scratch that … I once sat through Jesus Christ Superstar). So I thought why not? Later that night I attempted to enjoy the whole of Serse. I found that other than the opening piece above) it is a downhill affair. About an hour in, I gave up the ghost.
I am still a Philistine.
Piece of Mindful 
I’ve heard this many times, it’s in our collection of CDs, however, I’ve only heard the instrumental. This is beautiful. I can see (hear?) why you were taken by it.
One time Dave and I were in the car listening to the local classical music station. It was playing a very strange song by a modern classical composer (Cage? Glass?) and it was strange because it sounded like an accumulation of every musical instrument playing at once. Yet not chaotic. We both thrust our hand to turn up the volume, hoping to hear the name and composer. Alas, I have forgotten…
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It’s a shot in the dark, Carla, but it sounds like you may be describing “In C” by Terry Riley, considered one of the earliest Minimalist (a label also generally applied to Glass) compositions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbTn79x-mrI
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Peter, I finally listened to your shot in the dark. It was a time commitment, for sure. I don’t think this is what we heard…I recall the ending to be very robust, louder (with horns and timpani) and coming to a complete stop. However, as this was more than a decade ago, the memory is fallible. Thank you for telling me about it! Carla
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