Best Classical Music For All Moods

Whether working away and wanting some background music, or sitting down after a hard day, classical music can be a wonderful accompaniment. Through studies on the brain, it has been shown to lift your mood, acting as a natural mood enhancer (better than Prozac surely).

Any article giving ‘the best’ of anything is, by its very nature, going to be highly subjective, but here are some of the greatest pieces of classical music, that, no matter what mood you are in, will inspire the soul and make you feel much better.

Composed by Beethoven, the first offering is his Symphony Number 5 in C minor. Probably the most well-known on the list, it starts with the instantly recognizable dun-dun-dun-duuuuuun, which has been used constantly in popular culture ever since it was written.

Carmina Burana by Carl Orff is probably the most epic piece on the list. Written shortly before World War II and based on medieval poems of the same name, Orff was never to repeat the success of Carmina Burana and his later works never received the same acclaim.

Gustav Holst’s orchestral suite, The Planets, is a seven piece-movement, each piece named after a planet in our solar system, and the music representing the imagined character of that planet. While all seven pieces have their merits, it is Jupiter, The Bringer of Jollity that has probably had the greatest impact and deservedly received the widest acclaim.

No classical list would be complete without something from the child genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In his short 35 years, he was to compose more than 600 pieces, famously having his own operas being performed before he was 10 years old. With such a catalogue to choose from it is a difficult task, but his Piano Concerto no.21 is probably the greatest — a sure fire way to lift the heart and inspire the soul.

Whether happy and relaxed, or just keen to feel that way, these pieces will surely help your mod and those around you. Enjoy.