Build Your Baby's Brain 4
The thesis that a child's brain can grow from listening to music is inarguable. The science is somewhat simple: for kids hearing music, the real meal of the sound is its connections and structures, both of which teach the brain how to organize phenomena. Johann Sebastian Bach's music is a stunning study in this regard, thanks at certain points to his keenly built, pristinely laid out musical architecture and at other times to the mix of intricate detail and delicate gloss. With this collection, drawn from Columbia Records' vast vaults, you get the best of the gentle scenarios, beginning with "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" and extending to E. Powers Biggs's breathy organ on "Be Thou Art Near." Firecrackers pop a little more cracklingly as Lutz Kirchhof performs a pair of lute suites and Anthony Newman takes on a pair of the famedGoldberg Variationson harpsichord. At its most upbeat, this collection is still reserved and cautious, exciting enough to grab attention but not so much that the music takes over as its own isolated activity. It's strong but still fits nicely into one's routine. And even if a segment on this 78-minute disc isn't to your child's liking, it's easy to move on, as most episodes last less than 3 minutes.--Andrew Bartlett