John Adams's 2005 opera Doctor Atomic received its Met premiere last week. The opera tells the story of the creation of the atomic bomb and the man behind it, J. Robert Oppenheimer. New York magazine says that "Adams has written his finest work" with this "darkly riveting" opera and its "score of microscopic clarity and panoramic sweep." The Star-Ledger praises conductor Alan Gilbert, who "led a performance of precision and expressiveness, bringing the score's harmonic piquancy, metrical complexity, and textural detail together as a visceral rush." The Washington Post says one of the opera's "moments of rich beauty" is the duet between Oppenheimer and his wife, in which "the score is so purely gorgeous it could make you cry."

Soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian concluded her North American tour featuring works from her Nonesuch debut, Gomidas Songs, last night in Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall. The New York Times previewed the show with a feature on Gomidas, Armenia's national composer, and calls the new CD "what may be the best shot Gomidas has had to shine for the Western classical music world" in 100 years. On Sunday, Bayrakdarian performed in Boston's Jordan Hall, leading the Boston Globe to note that "even those unfamiliar with Gomidas's work found plenty to savor in Bayrakdarian's ravishing performance." The evening's "most emotional moments ... achieved a riveting purity."

With this week's Met premiere of John Adams's 2005 opera Doctor Atomic, the Boston Globe calls the work "a hauntingly powerful, deeply humane and eloquent work" and praises Adams's score as "some of his most compelling and imaginative music to date," one that "weds a cool Stravinskian precision and rhythmic vitality with a kind of seething Wagnerian dread." The Philadelphia Inquirer calls it "a profound musical and moral journey" in which the composer "surpasses his considerable self ..." The opera and its premiere are the focus of today's episode of WNYC's Soundcheck.

John Adams made his Met debut Monday night with the opening of the new production of his 2005 opera Doctor Atomic. "This score continues to impress me as Mr. Adams’s most complex and masterly music," exclaims the New York Times's Anthony Tomassini. "Whole stretches of the orchestral writing tremble with grainy colors, misty sonorities and textural density." The Associated Press calls it an "intense and fascinating" work, in which "Adams has created a score filled with color, syncopation and lush interludes." Newsweek calls the production "stunning," the score "lyrical, romantic, Wagnerian by turns." Also, Bloomberg calls the composer's newest opera, A Flowering Tree, "Adams's most ravishing creation to date," and Slate finds his new memoir "gripping."

Randy Newman brings his tour to his home state of California this weekend. After last night's concert in Tennessee, the Knoxville News calls Randy "one of the great songwriters of the rock era—and a guy who never takes the easy way with a lyric." Leading to this weekend's concerts, the Monterey Herald says Randy's "musical arrangements are brilliant and each song's personality is matched by the tone of the composition; he's the master at placing notes and rhythm in line with the character and its predicament"; and the Santa Barbara Independent says Harps and Angels "finds the native Californian at his satirical best."

The Magnetic Fields began their fall tour this past Friday at the State Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Beforehand, Stephin Merritt stopped by The Current studio to talk and perform a few solo acoustic songs. The next night brought a show in Madison, Wisconsin, where, reports The Isthmus, Merritt's "astonishing and sweeping body of work" was "yielded up wit, emotional nuance, memorable hooks and crisp, careful rhymes." Then came a Dallas show the Star-Telegram termed a "victory lap for one of the most idiosyncratic and interesting bands in indie pop" and the Dallas Morning News lauded as "meticulous chamber-pop."

Today marks the release of the two-CD set Buena Vista Social Club at Carnegie Hall, capturing the unforgettable concert event from the legendary Cuban musicians at the esteemed venue a decade ago. To celebrate the release, Ry Cooder stops by WNYC's Soundcheck this afternoon. The Sunday Times (UK) says there's "a poignant air to this recording" of "what was clearly a night of overwhelming emotion ... [T]his was one of those once-in-a-lifetime evenings when the collective spirit of old Havana carried all before it." Nonesuch offers those in the New York City area a rare opportunity to catch the 1999 Wim Wenders documentary about the group, projected onto the big screen at Lincoln Center.

The Black Keys' US tour made its way back home to Akron, Ohio, last Saturday night to play E. J. Thomas Hall. The Cleveland Plain Dealer says the band turned the venue into "one big juke joint" for the nearly 3,000 fans. Pat and Dan, whose "music brilliantly reinvents the wheel," were treated "like conquering heroes" in this "unforgettable evening." They created "primal rock 'n' roll" that "all but demanded a visceral reaction." The band plays Akron again this Friday, at the Civic Theatre, with another group of hometown favorites, Devo, to raise funds for the Obama Presidential campaign's efforts in the all-important swing state.

Isabel Bayrakdarian's Remembrance Tour, celebrating the music of Gomidas Vartabed, whose work is featured on her Nonesuch debut, Gomidas Songs, continues this Friday at Toronto's Roy Thomson Hall. Her most recent performance, last week at the Orpheum Theatre in Vancouver, was "a rarity singing a rarity," writes the Vancouver Sun—Bayrakdarian for "her lustrous voice and emotional commitment to the material she finds meaningful." The Nonesuch recording is "wonderful," says the Sun, and the live performance of it "captivated us with the beauty of the songs."

Randy Newman took his tour of songs from his latest album, Harps and Angels, and throughout his career, across the Midwest this past weekend. The Waukegan, Illinois, paper The Lake Forester says Randy "was in top form Friday" at the show there, with the performance showing "how well constructed Newman's songs are." The Kansas City Star concludes after Randy's Saturday show in that city: "No one does what he does the way he does it: sing and comment with humor, sadness, anger and regret about everything from world history, politics, religion and socio-economics to love, death, sex and parenthood."

"John Adams is the voice of America," asserts Los Angeles Times music critic Mark Swed in his review of Adams's new memoir, Hallelujah Junction. "His instrumental music," Swed explains, "and particularly that for the orchestra, conveys the American experience broadly." The review goes on to examine the biography and works Adams addresses in the memoir, including his operas Nixon in China, The Death of Klinghoffer, and Doctor Atomic, which Swed calls "an essential part of the American discussion." The book, he concludes, "offers the voice of America straight from the horse's mouth, and to read something so intelligent, reasoned and caring sure feels good these days."

Randy Newman continues his world tour in the Midwest this week. The Chicago Tribune's Greg Kot previews tomorrow night's show in nearby Waukegan by assuring his readers that, with the new album, Randy's "standards remain high, his work stellar ... Instead of growing content and nostalgic, Newman remains at his acerbic best on Harps and Angels, his deceptively jaunty, blues-based, luminously orchestrated pop songs brimming with dark humor and pointed commentary that continues in the tradition of '70s classics such as 'Sail Away,' 'Louisiana,' and 'Political Science.'"