quiet classical music

all 5 Beethoven Piano Concertos, Beethoven and Mozart Piano Sonatas, anything Debussy.....particularly "Images". Haydn string quartets, Segovia guitar recordings. John Tavner (The Protecting Veil and others).

that’s just a small sampling of non vocal recs. if you stream Tidal or Quboz i’d recommend just spending time deep diving into composers and artists and just trying things, building play lists. and as you expand your knowledge and comfort zone you will be more comfortable reading to a wider variety and intensity of classical music. for instance i have a few complete Beethoven and Mahler symphony recordings on my hard drive and will sometimes just allow it it play through and it's a great reading companion. lot's of big music but it's familiar and comfortable for me at this point for reading. 

i read a lot to classical music and can relate to your question. of course, even mellow classical can be compelling and draw you in.

@hilde45 

I like Mike's suggestions for listening above, but for me 5 Beethoven Piano Concertos and Beethoven and Mahler symphony recordings would never remain "in the background."

i think the point where that music can be complimentary to reading is variable, and relative to individual sensitivities and even a system's ability to play them realistically at moderate volume levels. i own and play those so much that their bombast just hits me subconsciously and does not distract my reading. my room is large and so large scale music breathes and does not get hard or intrusive. it stays natural. obviously i don't play them at Warp 9 when i'm reading.

i've been deep into a book where i get from Beethoven's 1st to 5th before i know it.

@jayctoy

Mike what are your 10 Ten classical vynil you like to listen on a daily basis?

my classical vinyl choices are in a wide rotation; rarely played more than once a month. i am likely to sample different performances of the same composition, and pressings of the same performance, occasionally in the same session, when i’m on a particular theme. but that is not a frequent occurrence.

tonight when i’m home i will try to list 10 current classical vinyl fav’s i have played recently.