Ask Dr. Shulgin Online

ARCHIVE:  August 14, 2001

Favorite Music

Dear Dr. Shulgin:

First, I just want to give you my thanks and appreciation for all that you have given and sacrificed for our community. Second, I was wondering what your favorite piece of music to listen to is while being enlightened by the materials? 

--Joseph

Dear Joseph:

The music that Ann and I choose as a companion to any experience is usually chosen from one of three groups of composers, and from the category of either familiar or unknown.  

In the composer groups, there are the classical, the Russian and Eastern European, and the far-out modern. The classical contains mainly Bach (the Brandenburg Concerti, the French and English Suites, the Musical Offering, and anything played by Glenn Gould). The Russian group is largely Prokofiev, Shostakovich, and Stravinsky. Here we love getting into the lesser known corners. How often are gems such as The Prodigal Son, or the Symphonic Song, or the Soldier's Tale played on the local good music stations? And there is the wealth of Poulenc, of Bartok, and of Dohnanyi that are individual treasures.

As to the far-out modern, there are things from African Drums to Birds of Nature, to Hearts of Space. If it catches you, you have a friend and will learn from it. If it doesn't, flip the disk and try again. We receive a lot of CDs that are interesting and discardable, but an occasional one is magical and becomes a permanent item in our collection.

-- Dr. Shulgin

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