Jeff's Music Corner. Barber - Canzonetta for Oboe & Strings, Op. 48

I think this best illustrates why Samuel Barber touches a part of me that, what, I don't want to know very well. The strings at the top are so sad but the oboe, alone, sweet and silly, forges on above them. Barber composes simple acts of bravery. And it is sublime and frightening. 

The first three minutes are as perfect as any three minutes I've ever encountered.