When I am in the mood for music that creates a state of reverie, when I need to feel peaceful and let my mind wander free, this is the CD I select.

2) Fauré: Nocturnes.

Night-time is all about waiting; each night the moon waits to keep its rendezvous with us; we wait to keep our rendezvous... with the night.

3) Miles Davis: Kind of Blue

This music is like having mist swirl all around you. The little village where I grew up was wrapped in mist. The chords move through the air like a hand. An incomparable symphony of jazz.

4) Billie Holliday: Todos

Billie’s voice is like a train moving through open country, towns, villages, hugging streets and shorelines; its power fills every room of the house, gripping me as powerfully as my child’s embrace.

5) Brahms: Trios. Beaux Art Trio

One of the movements in one of the string trios is a tango. How did this German composer contrive to express these feelings, this red-hot passion, in a string trio?