Today marks the release of Richard Goode's first-ever recording of the complete Beethoven piano concertos, with the Budapest Festival Orchestra and conductor Iván Fischer. In a perfect five-star review of the recording, the Financial Times declares it a "landmark recording of the Beethoven concertos." The review continues: "Goode makes the familiar sound unexpectedly fresh. He plays without mannerism, without stylistic quirks, without making anything sound predictable." Goode performs solo works by Bach and Chopin tonight at Carnegie Hall.

The Brad Mehldau Trio sets up shop tonight for a five-night residency at New York's Village Vanguard, the site of the group's most recent recordings, Live  and the Nonesuch Store exclusive MP3 collection Live: The Complete Friday Night Sets. The New York Times says that Live shows that the pianist's "peerless trio ... has the glide to elevate just about anything, including Mr. Mehldau’s savvy originals." The Village Voice declares: "Hard to beat a mix of killer chops and songbook savvy." The Guardian gives four stars to Brad's recent Wigmore Hall solo performance, calling him "the doyen of contemporary jazz pianists, an improviser whose instinctive, emotional command of the instrument is complemented by a formidable intellect."

Richard Goode's recording of all five Beethoven piano concertos with the Budapest Festival Orchestra and conductor Iván Fischer, is set for release on Nonesuch this week. The New York Times examines both the new set and Goode's earlier recordings in an in-depth look at the pianist's career and his extensive history with the label, describing it as "a long and productive affiliation ... that any musician would envy." Even in an earlier time when such relationships were perhaps less rare, "Mr. Goode would have stood out for his fastidious musicianship, infallible fingers, warming spirit and vital connection to the living traditions set down by his predecessors."

Nonesuch will release its second album by Grammy Award–winning singer/songwriter/guitarist Shawn Colvin, Live, on June 23, 2009. Recorded in 2008 during a special three night solo engagement at San Francisco’s famous jazz club Yoshi’s, Live includes 12 songs written or co-written by Colvin, as well as covers of songs by Robbie Robertson, Gnarls Barkley, and the Talking Heads. The record was co-produced by Colvin and longtime collaborator John Leventhal.

Allen Toussaint helped close the 40th anniversary New Orleans JazzFest "on an upbeat note" yesterday, says USA Today. NPR's Fresh Air says that "Toussaint sounds as eternal as New Orleans" on his recent Nonesuch release, The Bright Mississippi. "Whether he's reworking Ellington, Bechet or Reinhardt, Toussaint infuses the numbers with his own elegant funk, particularly evident in his piano work, never so varied and flowing." The Observer says the pianist and his band "dip into the New Orleans fountain of jazz youth" on the album, and "Toussaint's own piano rolls along as ornately and authentically as ever.

Dawn Upshaw was in Boston yesterday for a performance with pianist Gilbert Kalish at Jordan Hall of works by a wide variety of composers, from Ravel to Golijov. Upshaw, with her ability to transform whatever she chooses to perform "into a soul-rattling artistic experience," is the subject of an extensive feature profile in the Boston Globe that describes her as "one of the most significant and dramatically moving singers before the public today ... Upshaw's rare gift as a performer is an ability to inhabit a work on the most profound levels, to live the music on stage rather than sing it at you."

Allen Toussaint, "a one-man repository of New Orleans music" (Paste), plays big finish of Big Easy's JazzFest ... Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed perform at ICA Boston benefit, PEN Cabaret ... Toumani Diabaté plays Portland, ME, and Middletown, CT ... Bill Frisell headlines the Melbourne Jazz Festival ... Emmylou Harris, Kate & Anna McGarrigle celebrate Pete Seeger's 90th at MSG ... Fred Hersch heads three sets in Baltimore ... k.d. lang honors Women in the Arts at Kennedy Center gala ... Brad Mehldau is in the Midwest ... Joshua Redman Trio plays a set in Sydney ... Dawn Upshaw joins Gilbert Kalish at Jordan Hall ... Sara Watkins wows Woodstock ... and more ...

In a week that brought big news from Wilco about their forthcoming studio album's Nonesuch release, there's now more good news from the band: They're offering fans a new recording of Woody Guthrie's Depression Era song "Jolly Banker," on their site, with 100% of the suggested donation going to support the Woody Guthrie Foundation and Archives. Jeff Tweedy tells American Public Media's Marketplace how Guthrie's words, even seven decades later, still resonate, and how the band got to see an all-too-rare side of America while on the tour documented in their new concert film, Ashes of American Flags.

Nonesuch Records will release Malian singer Oumou Sangare’s first album in six years, Seya, in North America on June 9. Since its European release  earlier this year, Seya has received critical acclaim from outlets including MOJO, The Times, Uncut, The Independent, and Observer Music Monthly, which calls the record “a masterpiece.” This summer, Sangare tours major festivals in support of the new record. You can watch a video of Oumou performing the title track at nonesuch.com/media.

Rokia Traoré and Amadou & Mariam have been announced the winners of the inaugural Songlines Music Awards, created by Songlines magazine to recognize outstanding talent in world music. Rokia has won the Best Artist award, and Amadou & Mariam have been named Best Group. "This Songlines Award means a lot to me," says Rokia, "not just because it comes from a magazine I respect and one that has always been supportive of my music, but also because at this stage in my career it is an honor to still be recognized for my continued efforts to make my music better."

Of Richard Goode, the Denver Post has written, "he might well be without equal when it comes to the music of Beethoven." Next week, Nonesuch Records will release Goode's first-ever recording of the complete Beethoven concertos, performed with the Budapest Festival Orchestra and conductor Iván Fischer. All this week, Britain's Classic FM is playing tracks from the set, which its Executive Producer calls "one of the best new CDs of the year so far," even more pointedly exclaiming: "I can safely say that this is going to become one of the benchmark recordings of these Beethoven masterpieces." The Independent gives the recording a perfect five stars.

Voltaic, a very special CD/LP/DVD project from Björk, is set to be released in the US by Nonesuch Records on June 30, 2009. Available in five different physical configurations, it is a lovingly packaged celebration of the past two years of Björk’s Volta activities—her critically praised sixth studio album, which came out in 2007, and the subsequent two-year world tour. Voltaic serves as a coda to Volta, an album about which NME said “Volta is a thunderous return as enchanting as Debut,’’ while Q described it as “the best album that Björk has done in a decade—a reminder of what a vital force she is.”