The Sinking of the Titanic

I just spent the past hour (literally) listening to Gavin Bryars's The Sinking of the Titanic.  It's a minimalist piece based on accounts of the sounds involved in the ship's demise, specifically this:

"...from aft came the tunes of the band..... The ship was gradually turning on her nose - just like a duck that goes down for a dive. I had only one thing on my mind - to get away from the suction. The band was still playing. I guess all of the band went down. They were playing "Autumn" then. I swam with all my might. I suppose I was 150 feet away when the Titanic, on her nose, with her afterquarter sticking straight up in the air, began to settle slowly.... The way the band kept playing was a noble thing. I heard it first while we were still working wireless, when there was a ragtime tune for us, and the last I saw of the band, when I was floating out in the sea with my lifebelt on, it was still on deck playing "Autumn". How they ever did it I cannot imagine."

The piece is constructed around the idea that the band never stopped playing, even after sinking into the water.  The same hymn is repeated many times (I mean, the piece is an hour long), each time slightly more distorted as the band sinks to the bottom of the ocean (and sound effects representative of the ship itself are added and removed appropriately).  The band's death is symbolized by the complete elimination of strings from the music for several minutes; their return symbolizes (at least, this is how I interpret their return) their rebirth in the afterlife and the timelessness of this story.  (It's terrible, I know, but that part reminds me so much of the end of Titanic.)  The entire piece ends on a plagal cadence--better known as the "Amen" you hear at the end of any given hymn tune.  It's absolutely beautiful, and frankly I think it's one of the most moving pieces I've heard all semester in music history.

You can read the composer's explanation of the work (well, specifically a newer recording of it) here if you're interested (and if you're as much of a dork as I am.)