Richard Strauss, Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Beethoven, Holst, Mussorgsky and many, many others.
Soundtracks from John Williams, and many, many others,
ElO, Styx, Alan Parsons, Pink Floyd, Elton John etc.
To get that "in the zone" mental feeling, I find I prefer trance music with rolling bass lines and female vocalists with soaring voices. For my money, Delerium is the very best at this, and there are others: Enigma is the most famous, but other artists and groups like Amethystium, Royksopp, Ivy, The Xx, Sneaker Pimps, Olive, and Mono do the trick nicely.
For me, Prog Rock is generally for long-distance driving, because the artists often work in lyrical or musical themes over the course of a whole album, and I like to be able to appreciate how the themes weave and change all at once.
You talking over 40 years ago... my brain now has other fish to fry in that pan. I saw Emerson, Lake and Palmer in their prime. From the Beginning...
ELP was on of the reasons that I also started playing piano and playing / rebuilding synthesizers.
@RedskyRiver And you are a better human because of it. You were challenged to be inspired and you followed the road. Cool.
It does irritate me when people say it is your "god" given talent. I like to say it was my genetic & enviromental talent.