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I’m always looking for music I can work to during long days in the studio, music that won’t break my focus, won’t pull me this way and that, won’t grab me by the shirtfront and tell me what to think or feel. This quest has, during work hours, landed me squarely in the camp of the Minimalists, but I am also not immune to having my emotions ripped up by selected works of another nature altogether. Here, I’ve mixed them together. As for explanations, I'm no good at rendering accounts of why I love something or someone, so I won't even try. Suffice it to say, if a composer appears on this list, chances are I own everything recorded by that person that I can find, and paring down their works to a single track was a daunting task. 
 

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"Extended Circular Music No.1" by Jürg Frey

"Shhh/Peaceful" (from In a Silent Way) by Miles Davis

"Music for 18 Musicians" by Steve Reich 

"Simple Song No. 3 (from Youth)" by David Lang

"Prelude" (from the soundtrack of Psycho) by Bernard Herrmann

"The Hours" (from the soundtrack of The Hours) by Philip Glass

"Idewild" (from Delay) by Julia Kent

"Knoxville, Summer of 1915" (as sung by Eleanor Steber) by Samuel Barber

"Piano and String Quartet" (as performed by the Kronos Quartet) by Morton Feldman



David Small is a writer and illustrator who grew up in Detroit, Michigan, studied art and English at Wayne State University, and completed his graduate studies in art at Yale University. In addition to children's books, David makes editorial drawings for such publications as The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal and is a frequent contributor to many national magazines as well. David also writes book reviews for The New York Times Book Review. Recognition for David's books include the Caldecott Medal (So You Want To Be President?), The Caldecott Honor (The Gardener and One Cool Friend), National Book Award Finalist (Stitches and The Underneath), Christopher Award (That Book Woman and The Gardener), ABBY Award Honor Book (The Gardener and The Library), The 1995 New York Times Outstanding Book of the Year (The Library), and a Featured Selection for more than 10 years on Reading Rainbow (Imogene's Antlers). Home After Dark is his most recent book.