John Adams's Doctor Atomic Symphony, an all-instrumental work based on his 2005 opera, Doctor Atomic, is out now. Conductor David Robertson leads the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra in first recordings of both Doctor Atomic Symphony and 2001's Guide to Strange Places. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch calls it "a pair of brilliant performances." The Guardian says the title piece has "captured in furious brass explosions and Adams's vivid orchestration," and the album "rewards repeated listening."

Gidon Kremer and the Kremerata Baltica's latest Nonesuch release, a two-disc recording of the complete Mozart violin concertos, is out now. The Times (UK) gives it a perfect five stars, writing of Kremer: "His musical intelligence is so probing, his touch so light, his tone so bird-like, that I feel I’m hearing these five concertos for the first time ... His mind is as quicksilver as Mozart’s pen, excitedly darting from phrase to phrase in an intoxicating journey of discovery." The San Jose Mercury News says, "While listening, the world is right."

Bill Frisell's new album, Disfarmer, which sets to music the haunting, mid-century photo portraits of the late Arkansas photographer Michael Disfarmer, is "extraordinary" and "an absolutely beguiling listen," says the Lexington Herald-Leader. "The effect is like sifting through old photographs with black-and-white imagery that convey all manner of figurative color upon each viewing." 100 Greatest Jazz Albums calls the album "evocative in terms that are all its own ... an outstanding further chapter in Bill Frisell's growth as a major American artist in his own right."

Michael Steinberg, the music critic, author, frequent contributor of essays to Nonesuch recordings, and greatly respected colleague, died on Sunday, July 26, at hospice in Edina, Minnesota, at the age of 80. The Boston Globe, where Steinberg was classical music critic from 1964 to 1976, quotes composer John Adams's recent memoir: "Michael’s ability to render, in beautiful and uncluttered English prose, complex and subtle musical issues set the gold standard for how one communicates about music in words."

Oumou Sangare was among the performers at this past weekend's WOMAD in the UK. BBC Radio 3 has coverage from the festival, and the Daily Telegraph says Oumou's set found her "wreathing her airy voice around her band’s funky harp-based rhythms," building "to a rapturous finale." Pitchfork gives her new album, Seya, an 8.1, praising "its seamless mix of old and new sounds." Dusted says the album's title, which means "Joy," is an apt one, as that's "a sentiment that rings true every time the songbird of Wassoulou opens her mouth."

Rokia Traoré was "one of the biggest draws" at this past weekend's WOMAD festival in Wiltshire, England, says the BBC. From backstage, BBC spoke with the Malian-born singer-songwriter, described as "one of Africa's most innovative and acclaimed musicians." The Independent gives four star's to the festival's first night, at which "the day's star-making performance comes from Mali's Rokia Traoré ... It is when she dances, hips swinging half-way to Somerset, and straps on an electric guitar to lead her band in hard, dramatic rock, that she becomes potent with pride."

Rokia Traoré, Oumou Sangare, Youssou N'Dour take the WOMAD UK stage ... Youssou plays the Nice Jazz Fest too, as the film about his album Egypt opens in Montreal ... Amadou & Mariam close Coldplay tour, feature on CNN ... David Byrne's Italian tour continues at Locus Fest ... Bill Frisell concludes European tour with McCoy Tyner Quintet ... The Low Anthem plays Philly's XPoNential Music Fest ... Punch Brothers play up in Maine ... Joshua Redman Trio makes music at Mendocino Fest ... Steve Reich participates in Bang on a Can Music Fest at MASS MoCA... Dawn Upshaw performs Golijov and more at Aspen Music Fest ... and much more ...

Wilco brought its US tour to a close last night, headlining the 10,000 Lakes Festival's Thursday run, and begins its European tour at Oslo's Oya Festival on August 13. NPR's Fresh Air reviews the band's recent Nonesuch release, Wilco (the album), describing it as an album about an acceptance that allows one to feel "at once humbled and emboldened ... Acceptance, but not complacency. Jeff Tweedy is suggesting how you can make stability sound like a tough artistic challenge and a grand adventure."
 

Amadou & Mariam bring their US tour with Coldplay to a close tonight in St. Louis. Welcome to Mali, the couple's latest release, comes in at number six on SPIN's list of The 20 Best Albums of 2009 ... So Far. After tonight's final tour performance, the music keeps playing, as CNN's African Voices, airing Saturday, takes a closer look at the husband-and-wife musical team. With their "positive and mesmeric vocals and [Amadou] Bagayoko's guitar playing," says CNN, "the duo have been feted by musicians across the world." Learn why by watching this weekend.

Youssou N'Dour: I Bring What I Love, the film documenting the making of Youssou's Grammy-winning album Egypt, opens in Canada today. It had its North American premiere at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival and is now returning to the country for a theatrical run, with the first stop in Montreal. Fader spoke with Youssou and calls the film "an intimate portrait of the international superstar, one of the most compelling and important figures in the huge slice of culture we call world music."

Christina Courtin plays the second of two shows in California this week in a set at San Francisco's Café du Nord tonight. She performed at Largo at the Coronet in LA on Tuesday, a set the Los Angeles Times dubbed "refreshingly un-ethereal." The paper's music blog explains, saying Christina "offered one of the best correctives to the ever more ubiquitous images of wispy, inscrutable hipstresses with a set of completely endearing yet really sturdy and inventive folk-pop."

Allen Toussaint recently rounded out some concert dates in Europe with a set at the Jazz Cafe in London this past Sunday. He and his recent Nonesuch debut album, The Bright Mississippi, are the focus of an encore broadcast of Words & Music from Studio-A, from New York NPR member station WFUV. "There is no separating Allen Toussaint from New Orleans or the Crescent City from his music," says WFUV's Claudia Marshall her introduction to the episode, "and on his latest album, Allen looks even further into his hometown history, paying tribute to the forefathers of jazz."