The Most Haunting Piece of Music I have Ever Heard...

....has to be "Any other name" from the American Beauty soundtrack. I have heard this track at least a few hundred times over the last few years. Each time I listen to it and I close my eyes, I am enveloped by this feeling that there is nothing left in this world worth living for. I feel like curling up and being left alone to die. It's as if everyone I ever cared for has left me and disappeared. I feel lost, alone, desperate, cold and forgotten. I cannot recall any music that has moved me so much. I am also amazed by the sheer consistency of the effect after all the years of listening to it.

The composer of this music, Thomas Newman, is one of the musical geniuses of our times. Many people will recall listening to his scores in the soundtrack of "The Shawshank Redemption", "The Road to Perdition" and "Pay it forward". I've been a fan of his ever since I saw American Beauty.