"I always knew that music was therapeutic for me but last week I honestly did not listen to any. I was too tuned into the television through which I connected with all my fellow New Yorkers from where I live now -- El Paso, Texas.

"Never has the New York accent sounded so musical and grand! But on Saturday I felt I had had enough and so at about 2 p.m. I looked at my vast collection of classical music (the only music I listen to) and pulled out Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2.

"The second movement has always touched some deep part of my soul and so on Saturday it did so once again. But instead of bringing me to tears, the music gave me a new found peace. I had been so tense all week that for the first time I literally calmed down and began to feel some hope for the future.

"And so, since Saturday I have listened to Faure's Requiem, Mahler's Resurrection Symphony, Beethoven's 4th Piano Concerto and Third Symphony, Puccini's La Boheme and Brahms' Requiem.

"Beethoven is probably the composer whose music is the most healing, and I tend to put him on whenever I'm happy or sad or tired or feeling energetic. His music fits all my moods and I have no doubt that he is a saint in heaven for all that he gave humanity with his tenderness.

"Thank you for having this forum. I truly appreciate your program everyday and now even more so after last Tuesday's tragedy."
-- Christine Santoyo

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"As a matter of healing I play Aaron Copeland's "Simple Gifts" from Appalachian Spring. While listening, I picture the 'simple gifts' of family and friends we are drawn more closely to during times of crisis."
-- Kent L. Reichert

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"I find myself turning to requiem masses for solace. Requiems often manage to capture that mix of emotion that I've sensed in the country this past week: a blend of deep sorrow and hope & faith.

"Brahms' German Requiem" and Rutter's Requiem are two that move me deeply. The broad, sweeping nature of the Brahms is powerfully calming while the hopeful text and mournful music of the Rutter soothes."
-- Jay Parkes

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"The last movements of Beethoven's Sixth have a much-rejuvenating power, but nothing surpasses Bach's Fantasia in G. The first part is light and airy, the second part is nothing short of abject despair and sadness, yet with an undercurrent of hope and faith."
-- Steve Riley

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"Last night I listened to the Memorial to Lidice by Bohuslav Martinu, and I recommend it as appropriate listening in these times. I found it comforting -- not because it was exactly soothing -- but because it gave voice to so many of the conflicting emotions I have been feeling lately. Thanks."
-- James McKain

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"On the day of the Oklahoma City bombing, I came home in the afternoon to find my 18-year-old son listening to the Beethoven symphonies. He said that the events of the day made him want to hear Beethoven.

"I was drawn back to these magnificent works again this weekend. Specifically the proclamation of the hero in all of humanity in the Third, to our common struggle with fate in the Fifth, to the serenity of the Sixth, to the ultimate triumph of joy in the Ninth, these selections guide me through the emotions and reactions that I feel."
-- Virgil Henson

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"I find great solace in the music of 'Quiet City' by Aaron Copland. It seems to me to paint a picture of the silent remembrances of last week's tradgedies by millions in New York, Washington, and across our nation, as these great cities were brought to a standstill to contemplate what happened on September 11th.

"Let this music turn your thoughts inward, not just on the tragedies of life. Examine your own heart. Find comfort in these heavenly notes by the greatest of American composers. This is the voice of America -- strong, yet reverently quiet.

"May God bless our grieving nation."
-- Scott Moore

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"I'm listening to the 'Somewhere' ballet music from West Side Story -- the version on the Jerome Robbins' Broadway soundtrack. In the original show, the dream that Tony and Maria have of a place where all coexist in peace, is bludgeoned away, as the nightmare of the violence around them shatters their reverie.

"However, [in this version], the chorus joins the soloist, proclaiming its faith that peace can be achieved: '...Somehow...Someday...Somewhere.'"
-- Ralph Raymond Hays

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"My favorite piece of music when seeking solace or inspiration is Aaron Copland's 'Fanfare for the Common Man.' These brave men searching through the ruins of the WTC or the ones on the airplane that crashed in PA are just common men showing uncommon valor."
-- Gerald Myers

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"You have asked for listeners' choices of music to help them with grief. My choice is the choral work 'When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom'd: a requiem for those we love' by Paul Hindemith recorded by Robert Shaw and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus on Telarc. William Stone is the baritone and Jan DeGaetani the mezzo on this recording.

"Mr. Shaw commissioned this work and premiered it in 1946. The piece is dedicated to the memory of FDR and the American dead of WW II, and uses as its text a landmark in American poetry written by Walt Whitman in memory of Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War dead.

"I had the honor of singing in the chorus during Mr. Shaw's 1995 Carnegie Hall performance of 'Lilacs' and it was nothing less than a transforming experience. I warn listeners that this is a very strong piece, which looks death and grief right in the face, and it might not be for everyone. If you want to escape from the brutality of September 11, go to some other composer and some other poet. But some of us will want to first approach the tragedy and struggle with its reality before moving on; this piece will help us work through such a struggle.

"Hindemith and Whitman will take you to ground zero -- "I saw the debris, and debris of all the dead soldiers of the war, and they will also shed light on a kinder aspect - But I saw they were not as was thought, They themselves were fully at rest, they suffer'd not.

"I find reflection on prior American tragedies of Civil War and WW II is comforting...knowing we've been here before, and we've gotten past it before. There is hope."
-- Annette Pashayan

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"I am a loyal VPR (Vermont Public Radio) listener/supporter and a pianist. I have done considerable grief work through our local Hospice. I know how important crying is in the grief process. So for myself, I have chosen music which causes me to cry, weep, sob.

"Examples include the Requiems we all know and love: Mozart, Brahms and Faure. 'How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place.' I know that these are very classic and basic examples, but they do indeed reach the heart. I also turn to Bach, and of course his B Minor Mass as an example.

"I really count on your program and appreciate your focus this week."
-- Kit Van Winkle

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"A week after the World Trade Tower attacks, I find myself playing my ancient London album of Joan Sutherland and Gliere's 'Concerto for Coloratura and Orchestra.' Sutherland sings like the mother I never had. Even when she tries to be playful, there is a deeper, almost tragic quality to her voice that facilitates grieving.

"Gliere's concerto is followed by Stravinsky's 'Pastorale (Song withoutwords for voice and four wind instruments),' in which Sutherland sings point-counterpoint to flutes and I believe piccolos until you very nearly can't discriminate between human and instrument. I don't really hear a pastoral theme in this piece but instead a female Job trying to catch Jehovah himself to ask 'Why?'

"And when there is no other comfort, I play Sutherland's rendition of 'O Divine Redeemer' by Gounod. She becomes the Madonna, and, while a Protestant, I wonder, if the Islamic world had developed a religious expression similar to this Catholic tradition of the Mother figure, if its patriarchal culture might have been quieted and gentlified. Perhaps not. I say this having spent part of my life in Libya, knowing there are many gentle Muslims. "Thank you for this opportunity for us viewers to share our thoughts and feelings on this terrible occasion for America."
-- Becky Bartholomew

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"Responding to the question asked by Performance Today, 'What music do you turn to?,' I can pick no piece of music that moves me more and seems more timely than 'K'Vakrat' by The Kronos Quartet from their album Night Prayers.

"The voice of cantor Mikhail Alexandrovich brings me to tears every time I hear it. As the music plays I can see in mind a montage of the clouds of dust pouring out, following, and overcoming the survivors of the World Trade Center as they rush into the sunlight for safety only to be consumed by the darkness. I think of the children that died on the hijacked planes who were near my daughter's age.

"Thanks to Performance Today for its touching and much needed desire to heal through music."
-- Chris Mansel

"I always find myself going to Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D whenever I need solace. Beethoven's music is earthy and emotional and speaks to me. The first 2 movements seem to represent what is wrong in the world to me. Then there is the marvelous cadenza in the 3rd movement that always seems like "hope" to me. In times like these you need to feel hopeful."
-- Robin Nuse