Suggestions for Music to Strengthen Faith.

[hornteacher]

I'm a Unitarian in my beliefs (a form of Christianity) and I was wanting to hear some suggestions from those of you with religious beliefs (any religion) on music that you listen to that strengthens your faith or gives you spiritual fulfillment.

[Ephemerid]

While I am a non-theist/atheist (whatever, those labels really don't interest me), there are still certain pieces of music I find particularly  inspirational, that speak to me in the sense of arousing a sense of awe and wonder.   

Just a few pieces that particularly speak to me in that introspective capacity:

Ives: The Unanswered Question
Cage: Four (for string quartet)
Feldman: Rothko Chapel
Eno: Three Variations on Pachelbel's Canon in D

These pieces are very contemplative and often remind me of my own finitude & mortality, which oddly enough, I find "spiritual" in my own strange way. 

(there are many "sacred works" by composers that I love, and while I appreciate them for that religious dimension, I tend not to listen to them as "religious" works, I tend to appreciate them on a more aesthetic level, albeit a very deep level with certain pieces)

[eyeresist]

I'm another non-believer, but I imagine Mahler's 2nd would fulfill your requirements.

[Bonehelm]

I'm another non-believer, but I imagine Mahler's 2nd would fulfill your requirements.

Seconded, thirded, and hundredthed.

[Wanderer]

I'm a Unitarian in my beliefs

...as became Grieg late in life.

I'd suggest you listened to sacred music from all periods, including Byzantine and Russian Orthodox music.

A suggestion off the beaten path: Langgaard's Fra dybet (de profundis); a short but highly effective work. It begins with a full blown orchestra and ends with a prolonged a capella choir.

[Mark]

I'd be lying if I said that I'm not moved spiritually by ... you guessed it: Rachmaninov's choral triumph, the 'All-night Vigil'.

[david johnson]

sacred harp music.  go experience it and participate.

dj

[Florestan]

Mozart's Church Sonatas.

The Latin (Tridentine) Mass.

The Orthodox Lithurgy.

[Harry]

I'd suggest you listened to sacred music from all periods, including Byzantine and Russian Orthodox music.

I would like to suggest that too!

[FideLeo]

Mendelssohn's Reformation Symphony
JSBach "Ein fester Burg ist unser Gott" BWV 80

[Keemun]

Here are some that I like:

Bach - Mass in B Minor
Bach - St. Matthew Passion
Bruckner - Symphony No. 8
Mahler - Symphony No. 2

[dirkronk]

I'll spare you the long story of how someone intending to become a Baptist preacher wound up following a yogic path instead. But I will say that the most dramatic spiritual breakthroughs came when making a shift from silent-only meditation to chanting in preparation for meditation. In this case, listening only doesn't really cut it, since there is a subtle physical component in chanting that serves a similar purpose as hatha yoga postures (asanas) do in preparing the person to meditate deeply. If I thought you'd be interested in actual participation, I'd recommend traditional mantra chanting (usually one moderate tempo) or the ecstatic namasankirtana (devotional phrases, sung in a slow start building to very fast, then returning to slow prior to meditation), both done in call-and-response fashion. But I'm guessing you simply want to listen...and in that case, simpler and shorter swadhyaya (chanting of sacred texts) might serve better. This serves to create a spiritual atmosphere even if you don't participate, just as Gregorian and Ambrosian chant can. A number of different yogic groups offer tapes and CDs--Kriya Yoga, Siddha Yoga, Art of Living and others--but the ones I find with the best recording production values are from Siddha Yoga:
http://siddhayogabookstore.org/audio.aspx

Try the Pasayadan & Lakshmi Stotram CD--this offers two different pieces but is actually quite short, so you might feel you're getting poor value for your CD-buying dollar, but the music is quite beautiful and supremely soothing. Another good "soothing" choice might be their CD of Shri Ram Jay Ram, which is played in dining facilities at their ashrams. If you want to delve into serious text, the Guru Gita will provide it in spades.

Back in the classical realm, I personally still love the Miserere by Allegri, which I take care not to play too often, so that it will continue to inspire rather than pall. And I still love the version by the Tallis Scholars, which offers those high soaring notes at just the right pacing and purity of tone. (Other versions I've heard seem to rush or truncate those lovely phrases in comparison.)

And for instrumental work, can anything be more inspiring than Beethoven's "Dankgesang" from op.132?

Enjoy and be inspired by it all!

Dirk

[pjme]

Festive : Bach's Magnificat,Bach's Motette, Heinrich Schütz Psalmen Davids ( and many,many more Renaissance & Baroque masterworks - check Harry' lists...)
Reflective: Frank Martin's 1922 Mass, religious choral music by Zoltan Kodaly , Francis Poulenc , young(er) French composers as Thierry Escaich, Olivier Greif, Phillippe Hersant, Vincent Paulet ( excellent disc Hortus 036 - oeuvres sacrées - choeur Les Eléments/Joel Suhubiette)) ....( contemporary serious music ,not serial) , Britten's Missa brevis ( very uplifting)
Exuberant : Walter Braunfels' grandiose Te Deum ( late Romantic - almost Mahlerian in scope), Benjamin Britten's War Requiem, Cantata Misericordium ( a gem!), FRank Martin's Requiem ( a masterpiece, in my opinion)

Funny but wonderfull : Missa Tango by Luis Enrique Bacalov ( God loves dance!), Missa Luba ( go for the old recording - a strange Flemish/Congolese concoction from the 1950-ies - but it can be very refreshing)
But : ....the (English version of) Pasolini's Gospel of Saint Matthew. Somehow the Misa Luba turns up as incidental and ending music instead of that orchestrated by the director! In any case it is an essential DVD [...]

French, elegant & subtle: Jehan Alain's Messe modale en septuor for women's voices, flute & organ ( a transcription of the version with string quartet by Marie Claire Alain) ...could be oop....
But a lute sonata by Sylvius Leopold Weiss, a pianotrio by Haydn, Schubert's Notturno, Debussy's Danse sacrée et profane...can all be spiritually uplifting.

Belgian and festive : Flor Peeters' Missa Festiva and Joseph Jongen's Mass ( chorus, organ & brass) on a recent Hyperion disc

[drogulus]

     The Bruckner Motets. _0:)

[lukeottevanger]

Well, this is hardly what the OP asks for, perhaps, but inspired by this line from josh:

...These pieces are very contemplative and often remind me of my own finitude & mortality, which oddly enough, I find "spiritual" in my own strange way... 

this one (amongst others) sprang to mind:So Many Little Dyings by Kyle Gann (check his website, from where this comes - one of the finest and most generous of its kind on the internet)

[Mark]

     The Bruckner Motets. _0:)

Good call.  0:)

[pjme]

Bruckner's Mass

This version is really breathtaking!

[Haffner]

Beethoven op.132 (of course)

Wagner Das Rheingold Prelude and Following Mermaid's Song

Wagner Tristan und Isolde Prelude

Mozart k387

Mozart Marriage of Figaro Ouverture

Shostakovich Symphony no. 5

Mahler Symphony no. 4

Vivaldi "Spring"

[c#minor]

maybe, Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom (Tchaikovsky)
And Schubert Ave Maria is possibly the most beautiful thing ever.

but then again i am not religious as well

[lukeottevanger]

Brahms: Geistliche Lied. Oh yeah.....