From Bach and Dvorak to new confident new composers like Anna Thorvaldsdottir and Andrew Norman, our list feels as wide-ranging, and open to possibilities, as classical music itself.
Barron, an official NEA Jazz Master, shines on his recently reissued 1981 solo album. Critic Kevin Whithead says the album is beguiling "no matter how fast or slow or loud or quiet [Barron] gets."
Every year, critic John Powers finds himself compiling a list of praiseworthy work he's read, watched or heard that he neglected to mention on the radio. This year, he's sharing his "Ghost List."
Billy Gibbons, the front man for legendary group ZZ Top, has released his first solo record, and it goes back to some of his earliest influences. Meredith Ochs reviews Perfectamundo.
Shipp, a mainstay of New York's downtown free jazz scene, likes big blocky chords and loud piano sounds. Critic Kevin Whitehead says the new album by the Matthew Shipp trio is "heavy in a good way."
Writer-director Paolo Sorrentino creates a world of incidents and asides in a Swiss spa hotel, where pals played by Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel like to get away from it all.
Rock critic Ken Tucker discusses the British singer's popularity and her new album, 25. "In a pop world overflowing with singers who want to blow you away, Adele wants to talk with you," he says.
Long LostSuitcase is not just Jones' story, but also the story of America's musical roots spreading to reach the whole planet, generation by generation.