Douglas Hofstadter is world-famous for his work as one of the world's leading cognitive scientists. He is the author of many books including the classic Godel, Escher, Bach. And he is a many-sided man of many accomplishments, including works as a visual artist, and as a composer of music. 'I fell in love with classical music when I was about eight' he begins in his extensive liner notes. He goes on to say, 'since music had touched my soul so deeply, I could not stand the fact that I myself was unable to use this most expressive of all possible media. Somehow I had to prove to myself that I could do it, and after several years, I guess I hadeffected the needed catharsis. These small pieces constitutethe fruit thereof, and clearly show what kinds of music meant the most to me.' The CD contains 31 short compositions, the greater part of them for piano alone, but some with vocals. Themes, inventions, preludes, canons, and experimental forms abound, showing many facets of music, and of Professor Hofstadter's fertile imagination. Jane Jackson performs most of the pieces, but Hofstadter himself plays a mini-cantata along with Brian Jones on bass. Two pieces feature Dafna Barenboim on piano, and Gitanjali Mathur, soprano.