I don't know what it is about his music, but I don't think it's possible (for me, anyway) to hear his music without smiling. There is a brilliance to his music that is so rich, complex, and tasteful that it transcends simple emotions and leaves you with a higher appreciation for the capabilities of an art form.
If you haven't heard of him, Morten Lauridsen is a modern classical composer who mostly writes choral music, with a sometimes added accompaniment of piano or, my favorite, an entire orchestra (- speaking of which, why don't more composers utilize full orchestras in choral music? The combination of a beautiful chorus and strings is hard to top in my opinion! -). We got to sing his Mid-Winter Songs in our university choir this past semester, and it's one of my favorite pieces I have ever performed, of any genre.
You could make the argument that a lot of music sounds the same, and I wouldn't necessarily disagree. Call it a fault of his. He really likes ethereal layering of voices, compounded with 4-3 and 9-8 suspensions over resolutions to give his music a rich sound, which is maybe why you might think that. Oh well. It's still amazing stuff.
There isn't much stuff of his on YouTube, otherwise I would share a link. I would highly suggest his Mid-Winter Songs, Les Chansons De Roses, or Nocturnes, all of which are multi-movement pieces that will take around 20 minutes to listen to.
Well worth the listen if you have the time. And listen to it without doing anything else. It's more than background music. It is art to be taken in on it's own.
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