Earphones are wonderful things, muffling the here-and-now of the acoustical world, and replacing it with some new distraction of one’s free choice. I don’t always work with earphones clamped to my head, but when I do, I need the new noise to be wordless, or in some language I can’t understand. Chamber music is best.
Some recent winners of the repeat-button endorsement (this list is alphabetical to avoid the appearance of a ranking):
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Charles-Valentin Alkan, 48 Esquisses
J. S. Bach, The Well-Tempered Clavier
Charles Ives, Piano Sonata No. 2 “Concord, Massachusetts”
Charles Ives, Sonatas for Violin and Piano
Charles Ives, String Quartets
Stefan Wolpe, Enactments for Three Pianos
Stefan Wolpe, Piece in Two Parts for Six Players