Going to the Heart of Perception.

In all my life I’ve never stopped being both enthralled and mystified by the way in which certain melodies – or even phrases within a melodic string – can go so deep inside you that they touch some primal core. They somehow link your conscious mind with one of those profound abstract foundations on which the emotional nature of the human experience is built. I suppose it's why they can sometimes move certain highly aware people to uncontrollable sobbing, and when that happens I further suppose it's a form of enlightenment.

Among modern popular composers, Hans Zimmer is particularly good at writing them. I wonder where he gets them from.