Even though I said it kills me, just like you - - it never depresses me. Some of my most-liked fine arts are very depressing, mournful -- and that enlivens me! :)
Have you heard the "Choral " version? I like it a lot, too. And if not, at least the picture here is stunningly beautiful to me. :)
I'm thinking the choral version is used in one scene in the movie "Ordinary People," though I'm unsure - I've only seen that movie once. And I remember having to leave right when the ending credits started. (I always stay and read/watch ending credits but I count not with that movie.) I went and stood outside the theater numbed and sad at the same time. It drained the life out of me, even though I found the movie excellent in all ways. My friends found me standing outside. :)
I admit I saw that beautiful-to-me picture - - and posted that performance without listening. I've heard better performances but I prefer the strings version, too.
I don't, when it's not done by a Baroque sextet. Three Baroque violins (note the lack of metal fixtures and chinrests), Baroque cello, single manual pumped bellows organ and a theorbo (bass lute). A cellist friend of mine also likes to hear it but hates playing it - it's a slow eight-note ostenato, mindbogglingly boring to play.
This post was edited by Slartibartfast at August 8, 2022 7:15 AM MDT
I'm certainly not a music critic, but I find three violins have a strident sound and would probably sound better with Slartibartfast's suggestion. It isn't so much that it's slow, Adagio for Strings is slow, too, but less repetitive.
The violins aren't playing in unison, the blended sound tends to be less strident - they're each playing a completely different line, but harmonising perfectly. It's the cello part that tends to bore the player to sleep.
So, it seems all the Boomers and Gen Xers (including myself) have sunk into the despicable Millennial habit of calling every piece of music a "song" even if it doesn't actually contain any singing (wasn't it Itunes who started that?) . . . oh well
Spunky 