Concert Music

NRBQ are every bit as adventurous as they were as a young bunch of guys playing around at the Adams home some 51 years ago, even though Terry Adams stands alone as the only band member spanning the timeline from then to now. How he’s been able to hang on to the energy and charming irreverence that permeates this box of collected performances (both studio and live in concert) is a testament to his continued enthusiasm and love of music.

The pianist captures the essences of small works by Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland as sensitively as she does songs and pieces by Irving Berlin, Duke Ellington and Howard Arlen.

Soprano Lisa Delan's direct, humanistic approach and pianist Kevin Korth's sensitive musicality strike just the right balance between liquid emotion and straightforward braininess.

Knowing that Eyck conceived and recorded the album for 12" vinyl made even my digital listening experience feel somehow richer – as if I were in the presence not just of new avant-garde music but of the whole weird history of the theremin.

It was nice to see a warmer side to the cellist's chill, hyper-modern aesthetic as she introduced songs and asked the audience for vocal and smartphone participation. At the end she sent us out to wander the crowded desert of Greenwich Village, inspired by her musicianship but even more so by her distinctive dark aesthetic.

Blogcritics' Carole di Tosti sits down with Michael John Warren after screening his film, 'Hillsong: Let Hope Rise.'

Two amazingly talented artists performed music of Vladimir Drozdoff as well as of better-known Slavic composers in the Romantic tradition, including Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky.

Seth MacFarlane whisks you back to the era of great classic songs. Listen closely and you might hear Stewie or Peter Griffin sing a Sinatra hit, too.

Though they're all by different composers, the pieces in combination provide a sweet balance of moody atmospherics and richly expressive statements, abstract and concrete, sometimes simultaneously. They add up to one 37-minute sweep of curious musicality that's just enough to leave the receptive ear wanting more.

The influence of Turkish music on Turkish-American composer Karman Ince's work brightens his intriguing, rewarding, and often fun pieces with vivid color.