If you want tranquility, try Anton Dvorak,
Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, Opus 95, the Second Movement. It's quite possibly the prettiest piece of music ever written. Popularly known as the
New World Symphony, was composed by
Antonín Dvořák in 1893 during his visit to the United States from 1892 to 1895.
Antonin Dvorak - New World Symphony (Full) for the complete 4-movement symphony. It's awesome.
The symphony was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, and premiered on December 16, 1893, at Carnegie Hall conducted by Anton Seidl, in front of a sophisticated New York symphony-going crowd who nevertheless broke with tradition and decorum by meeting the end of every movement with thunderous applause and cheering. Dvořák felt obliged to stand up and bow. In a letter to his publisher he stated how there was "no getting out of it, and I had to show myself willy-nilly".
A day earlier, in an article published in the
New York Herald on December 15, 1893, Dvořák further explained how Native American music had been an influence on this symphony:
"I have not actually used any of the [Native American] melodies. I have simply written original themes embodying the peculiarities of the Indian music, and, using these themes as subjects, have developed them with all the resources of modern rhythms, counterpoint, and orchestral colour."
Incidentally, the beginning of the 4th movement should sound very familiar to "Jaws" fans.
