Albinoni's Adagio in G Minor, is one of the most popular and moving pieces of music.

But, as academic and composer Andrew Gant explains, it wasn't written by Albinoni and is now attributed to 20th century Italian composer, Giazotto.

Award-winning veteran BBC foreign correspondent, Malcolm Brabant recalls the ' cellist of Sarajevo', Vedran Smailovic, playing it everyday for weeks amidst the wreckage of the beautiful city, as Serbian gunfire raged around.

Actress Virginia McKenna explains its importance to her and her late husband, actor Bill Travers, who died in 1994. The piece was played at the beginning and end of his memorial service.

And TV producer, Gareth Gwenlan reveals why it was chosen as the theme for the character played by Wendy Craig, in the BBC’s 1970s TV sitcom, Butterflies.

Producer: Lucy Lunt

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2014.

The hauntingly beautiful Welsh song Myfanwy 'is in the air in Wales' according to singer Cerys Matthews.

She along with others discuss what the melodic tale of unrequited love means to them.

They include a Welsh woman living in Sicily for whom the song represents 'hiraeth', a longing or homesickness for Wales and another who believes it expresses the 'wounded soul of the Welsh'.

A man remembers how his late brother and he used to sing it in pubs in North Wales and how the song symbolises the unrequited love he felt for him.

Members of the Ynysowen choir, started after the mining disaster in Aberfan as a way of dealing with the emotion, talk about the song's power, and an ex soldier recalls digging for survivors with lines from it playing in his head "Give me your hand, my sweet Myfanwy".

Series about pieces of music with a powerful emotional impact.

Producer: Maggie Ayre

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2014.

Labi Siffre wrote Something Inside So Strong in 1984.

Widely believed to have been inspired by seeing film footage from South Africa, of young blacks being shot at by white policeman, the singer-songwriter now reveals that the lyrics were also informed by the oppression he had experienced as as a gay man.

The song has been taken up by individuals and groups around the world who have suffered from discrimination. The Choir With No Name in Birmingham, made up of homeless singers, always close their concerts with the song. Choir members explain why it's so important to them, giving them a sense of pride and dignity.

American singer Suede, talks about the power she finds in the song while South African singer, Lira talks about making a special recording of it for the birthday of Nelson Mandela, as it was one of his favourite pieces.

Also hear how Celtic football fans sing it as an act of solidarity with their beleaguered manager, Neil Lennon.

In his first interview for over a decade, Siffre explains how he still sings the songs as he tries to put his life back together after the death of his partner, Peter.

Contributors:

Labi Siffre

Series about pieces of music with a powerful emotional impact

Producer: Lucy Lunt

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2014.

"It's the kind of music that makes you feel like you're just hurting so good"

People of different ages reflect on why the pop country classic 'Crazy' made famous by Patsy Cline brings out such strong emotions in them.

Featuring a young woman mourning the loss of a father's love after divorce - and broadcaster Fiona Phillips reflects on losing her father to Alzheimer's disease.

87 year old Wayne Rethford met Patsy Cline in 1961 and two years later happened upon the crash site where she died after her plane came down in a heavy storm in Tennessee.

"That music becomes embedded in your soul" he says.

Series about pieces of music with a powerful emotional impact

Producer: Maggie Ayre

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2014.

"I'm convinced it's the best thing ever written and recorded in the history of things written and recorded" - Moby.

Rhapsody in Blue was premiered on February 12, 1924, in New York's Aeolian Hall.

Through its use at the opening of Woody Allen's 'Manhattan' it’s become synonymous with the city that inspired its creation.

But for people around the world, George Gershwin's "experiment in modern music" has become imbued with the most personal of memories.

LA based screenwriter Charles Peacock reflects on how this piece has become entwined with his life and how, on an evening at the Hollywood Bowl this music "healed him". When Adela Galasiu was growing up in communist Romania, Rhapsody in Blue represented "life itself, as seen through the eyes of an optimist".

For world speed champion Gina Campbell, the opening of that piece will forever remind her of the roar of the Bluebird's ignition as it flew through the "glass like stillness of the water" and brings back the memories of her father, the legendary Donald Campbell - it was played at his funeral when he was finally laid to rest decades after his fatal record attempt on Coniston Lake.

Featuring interviews with:

Professor of Music, Howard Pollock

Producer: Nicola Humphries

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2014.

The story behind the song, 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas'.

It was first performed by Judy Garland in the 1944 MGM musical Meet Me In St Louis', for the now famous scene in which she and her seven year old sister, played by Margaret O'Brien are downcast about the prospect of moving away from their beloved home.

Garland asked the composer, Hugh Martin to modify his original lyric, explaining it to be too depressing for her to sing, or the audience to hear.

Martin's collaborator and friend, John Fricke, explains the importance this song had for the composer and the joy he experienced in hearing it covered by every major artist since, from Frank Sinatra to Chrissie Hynde, Punk band Fear to Cold Play, Rod Stewart to James Taylor.

It's clear that the song's enduring power lies in a beautiful melody with a melancholic feel that sums up our emotional ambivalence to the Christmas season.

We hear from those who have a special connection to the song.

Soul Music is a series exploring famous pieces of music and their emotional appeal.

Producer Lucy Lunt

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2013.

How Brahms' German Requiem has touched and changed people’s lives.

It was written as a tribute to his mother and designed to comfort the grieving,

Stuart Perkins describes how the piece arrived at the right time in his life, after the death of his aunt.

Axel Körner, Professor of Modern History at University College London, explains the genesis of the work and how the deaths of Brahms' friends and family contributed to the emotional power of the piece.

Daniel Malis and Danica Buckley recall how the piece enabled them to cope with the trauma of the Boston marathon bombings.

Simon Halsey, Chief Conductor of the Berlin Radio Choir, explores how Brahms' experience as a church musician enabled him to distil hundreds of years of musical history into this dramatic choral work.

For Imani Mosley, the piece helped her through a traumatic time in hospital. Rosemary Sales sought solace in the physical power of Brahms' music after the death of her son. And June Noble recounts how the piece helped her find her voice and make her peace with her parents.

Series about pieces of music with a powerful emotional impact

Producer: Melvin Rickarby

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2013.

Few songs can claim to be - quite literally - as far reaching as the 1967 classic 'Can't Take My Eyes off You'.

Former astronaut Christopher Ferguson heard this song as an early morning wake-up call aboard the space shuttle Endeavour.

Mother of two, Michelle Noakes sang this classic piece to the baby she was told she may never be able to carry.

A honeymoon couple recall how their marriage proposal began with a hundred strong 'flash mob' performance of this track.

Singer Frankie Valli reflects on one of the most moving performances he ever gave when he sang 'Can't Take My Eyes off You' to a crowd of recently returned Vietnam Veterans.

DJ Mark Radcliffe recalls the many artists since Valli who have covered this song (not least his mum who sang along to the Andy Williams version).

Composer Bob Gaudio reveals how this piece of music began life in a room overlooking Central Park, with a melody originally penned for a children's nursery rhyme.

Series about pieces of music with a powerful emotional impact

Producer: Nicola Humphries

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2013.

Pascal Rogé is one of the world's greatest interpreters of French piano music.

From the seat of a concert hall piano, he leads us through a personal and musical journey of Erik Satie's Gymnopédies.

You may not immediately know the title but in hearing just the first few notes, you are most likely to know the music.

It's a collection of short, atmospheric pieces of which Gymnopédie No.1 is perhaps the most popular.

Music historian and author Mark Prendergast has studied Satie's work and reveals the complex character of the man who revolutionised the 19th century classical music of Europe.

Melbourne based artist Colin Duncan reflects on the music's 'physical form which takes you into space and time' and for him inspired a body of work created in braille.

Murder Mystery writer Cathy Ace remembers how this meditative music could shut out the noise of the city as she sped around London in her old brown mini.

Mathematician and author Ian Stewart explores the mathematics of this special piece and how music can touch our soul.

Series about pieces of music with a powerful emotional impact.

Producer: Nicola Humphries

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2013.

"Southern trees bear a strange fruit, blood on the leaves and blood at the root..."

Billie Holiday's famous song expresses the horror and anguish of those communities subjected to a campaign of lynching in the American South.

Despite its association with the deep south, the song was actually composed in 1930's New York by a Jewish schoolteacher, Abel Meeropol.

Meeropol adopted the children of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg after they were executed in 1953 as Soviet spies. One of those children, Robert, talks of his adopted father's humanity and his belief that the Rosenberg's were killed in a 'state sanctioned lynching by the American government'. For him, Strange Fruit is a comforting reminder of his adopted father's passionate belief in justice and compassion.

Series about pieces of music with a powerful emotional impact.

Producer: Maggie Ayre

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2013.