Listening to Mozart Boosts IQ but Not Classical Sales : Music: Last week’s announcement by UC Irvine researchers that a sonata can temporarily increase intelligence has had little effect at music stores.

Maybe Angelenos just don’t want to be smarter.

The announcement last week by researchers at the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory at University of California, Irvine that listening to Mozart can help increase one’s IQ--if only temporarily--has apparently been met with a shrug. Music lovers aren’t exactly rushing into area music stores to stock up on the gray-matter massaging Mozart.

Likewise, stores have not given Mozart any special displays to capitalize on the report. In fact, salespeople at several stores contacted weren’t even familiar with the study, and met it with skepticism.

“That’s a pretty interesting theory--it hasn’t increased mine,” said a salesperson at the Tower Records Classical Store on Sunset Boulevard.

In the study, 36 college students were given IQ tests after listening to Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major, as well as after listening to a relaxation tape and sitting in silence for 10 minutes. Every student scored higher after listening to Mozart, some by as many as nine points.

Of course, there is a downside--the boost in brainpower only seemed to last about 15 minutes.

Craig Duncan, of the Virgin Megastore on Sunset, said that his staff has been made aware of which composition was used in the study, but added, “As far as I can tell, it wasn’t just that one sonata, it was Mozart in general, and classical music in general. I think it’s quite appropriate--we have a separate section of the store in which only classical music is played, and we appeal to a more upscale market, a more intellectual market. So it makes sense.”

But, Duncan added, the study hadn’t inspired a bump in sales at the store.

Only in Sherman Oaks, at the Tower Records on Ventura Boulevard, was an increase in sales noted. “There have been more requests than usual,” said Evelyn Wong, a store clerk. “It’s not a disc we normally sell a lot of.” Nonetheless, she said she knew of no plans to feature the composition in a display of its own.

On the other hand, representatives for classical music labels greeted the news with delight.

“We’ve known this for a long time,” Steve Murphy, president of Angel and EMI Classics Records, said, adding drolly, “most of our marketing department belongs to Mensa, and our accountants can count the cards in a five-deck shoe in Las Vegas. We’ve been having fun with this.”

On a more serious note, he added, “We do have a new series coming out in January, called ‘Key to the Classics,’ steered to new listeners. This’ll be an interesting way to help market it.”

Marilyn Egol, a spokeswoman for RCA’s Red Label classical division, agreed that the findings could help classical music find a new market. “We’ve been working so hard in general to introduce classical music to new audiences--to young people and to families. It’s possible, now that we have some statistics, to go off in that direction.

“Mozart, of course, is a genius. His music is relaxing and yet it is stimulating.” But, she added wistfully, “It would be nice if it made you smarter for a longer period of time.”