Giuseppe Verdi - V'ho ingannato, from Rigoletto Listen to the heart-wrenching fourth movement below the pic of Tchaikovsky and his nephew.ġ0.

Dedicated to his nephew, with whom he was controversially in a secret relationship, it is shot through with regret, sadness, resignation and deep loneliness. 6, fourth movementĪlmost everything Tchaikovsky wrote has an element of sadness to it, but this one really takes the biscuit.

Taken from his opera Dido and Aeneas, it comes as Dido (not that one) is preparing to face her imminent death.Īnd here's Trevor Pinnock talking about exactly why this piece breaks your heart .ĩ.

No, it's not an account of the popular late-90s singer's descent into obscurity, it's actually one of Henry Purcell's most poignant compositions. Gorecki used the words etched into the walls of a Gestapo prison by an 18 year old girl during the Second World War as his inspiration, and the results are as chilling as they are moving. If any piece deserves the label 'modern classic', it's this. Henryk Gorecki: Symphony of Sorrowful Songs No, for this Bach we recommend some dark clothing, a stiff drink and possibly some more gentle sobbing. With a title like that, it's unlikely that you'll be skipping down the street with this pumping from your bluetooth. It's a staple here at Classic FM, but to do justice to Albinoni's Adagio you really do have to put your headphones in, imagine life in sepia and feel a full Baroque embrace. You might also know it from how it makes you want to curl up on the kitchen floor and sob into a dishcloth. You might know this one from some of the key scenes in Oliver Stone's less-than-cheery Vietnam epic Platoon.

Sad soft background music