The music of the Fête Galante-era composers like Jean-Marie Leclair counteracted the grand style of their predecessors, just as Watteau's paintings of regular people enjoying simple pleasures in the outdoors contrasted with the heavy subject matter of the art he'd grown up with.

"With the rise of worldwide anti-Semitism, it has been difficult for me to program Jewish works. I remember a certain recital when I was asked to remove a suite of pieces by Ernest Bloch for fear of audience distaste."

The musicians make technique seem invisible on this wonderful new recording, with Amit Peled playing Pablo Casals's cello in two of the greatest works of the Romantic era.

The contemporary folk music scene and the Early Music scene intersect more than you might think. The Early Music ensemble Tenet proved it decisively with this program, demonstrating such sublime musicianship that I hope they preserve it for future concerts and in a recording studio.

A deeply personal story of love, weakness, and venality, 'The Sea Concerto' addresses wider issues too, often with penetrating clarity.

By choosing not to do an impression of Trump's mien or mode of speaking, Gil Kofman's well-intentioned new show focuses on the inner Trump, or at least a plausible conception thereof.

Nearly six decades into his career, Ayckbourn maintains his sure touch on both the page and the stage, while his depictions of the long view of life continue to deepen. Brilliantly written and beautiful acted, his new time-shifting masterpiece engages both heart and mind.

New jazz albums with tie-ins to poetry, Puerto Rico, and Gustav Holst's 'The Planets'

With an excellent cast and sharp direction and choreography, this sci-fi homage is a happy marriage of clever nostalgia, shiny new music, and sheer fun for just about any age.

Rather than rehashing what's wrong with 'Chess,' I'll describe why it's still possible to enjoy the Gallery Players' production. The music is perhaps the most advanced artistic evolution of glossy '80s pop. And while I'm sure there are some curmudgeons out there who weren't fans of ABBA's sunny sound, Andersson and Ulvaeus were brilliant songwriters, master craftsmen not only of shiny dance tunes but also of lovely songs of love and loss.