While 2008 may go down as one of the more turbulent years in recent (or distant) memory, or, more optimistically, a time of change, there is much to celebrate in the year in music. Nonesuch artists across all genres have contributed to that and, accordingly, have made their way onto many critics' lists of the year's best. For the final Nonesuch Journal article of the year, we offer an overview of just some of that year-end critical praise.

The Recording Academy, the organization behind the Grammy Awards, will honor Elliott Carter and Allen Toussaint with the special Trustees Award during Grammy week in February. The award recognizes outstanding contributions to the industry in a non-performing capacity, as determined by a vote of The Recording Academy's National Board of Trustees. Says Neil Portnow, the Academy's President/CEO, says of this year's recipients: "Their outstanding accomplishments, legendary passion and artistry have positively affected our culture and will continue to influence and inspire generations to come."

The Mandé Variations, Toumani Diabaté's first solo album in more than two decades, is one of five albums CBS Sunday Morning contributor Bill Flanagan recommends as musical gift ideas "that haven't gotten the attention they deserve." Says Flanagan: "Toumani Diabaté is the master of the kora ... and he has a beautiful new album called The Mandé Variations. After a tough day looking for a parking space at the mall, this album will bring you back to a spirit of peace on Earth."

'Tis the season for Top 10 lists, and there's no shortage of Nonesuch artists among the critics' choices for Best of 2008; the Nonesuch Journal will bring you the complete round-up next week in our year-end report. In the mean time, at the risk of being unseasonably un-humble, we would like to point out a different sort of best-of mention: The Independent (UK) has named Nonesuch.com one of the Top 10 Music Websites of the Year.

"I'm always in the mood for Randy Newman lately," says author Sarah Vowell during her stint as guest DJ at KCRW. She includes Randy's song "The World Isn't Fair" among the five favorites she brings to KCRW's Guest DJ Project. In the song, Randy offers the success of certain "froggish men, unpleasant to see," with their beautiful Hollywood wives, as a contemporary example of capitalist disparities Karl Marx might find repugnant. "[T]he thing I really love about this song and it's something I guess I try to do writing about history," says Vowell, "is this song takes this turn in the middle."

The Black Keys are getting set to head south for the summer in a two-week tour of Australia, starting December 29 just outside Perth. You can catch some of that in-concert Black Keys energy with their recently released Nonesuch DVD, Live at the Crystal Ballroom, which the Boston Herald recommends it the perfect last-minute gift suggestion and "the next-best thing to seeing this dynamic rock duo in-person," with bonus features behind the scenes "of the awesome Attack & Release."

Emmylou Harris, a longtime animal lover and advocate, has teamed up with the animal-rights group PETA to record two new and timely public service announcements. Emmylou urges listeners not to keep their dogs chained outdoors, particularly during the bitter cold of winter, and to bring them indoors, as part of the family, for the benefit of both dog and family alike. She also encourages pet owners to spay or neuter their cats and dogs to help ensure that all dogs and cats find the loving homes they deserve.

Leonard Cohen's classic "Hallelujah" has lately become resurgent in the UK pop world as the featured song on the finale of British TV singing contest X Factor. The song has been interpreted, famously, by countless performers, from Bob Dylan to Jeff Buckley to k.d. lang. k.d. recorded the tune for her 2004 Nonesuch debut, Hymns of the 49th Parallel, and it has become a highlight of her live performances, called “downright transcendent” by the Boston Herald and “mesmerizing” by The Guardian. The BBC has put together a multimedia quiz "Do You Know Your Hallelujahs?" testing readers' knowledge of the song's various incarnations.

Beginning tonight, the PBS series Independent Lens will broadcast Wonders Are Many, the 2007 documentary film that captures the making of John Adams's 2004-05 opera, Doctor Atomic. The film goes behind the scenes to examine both the creation of this monumental work, leading to its world premiere at the San Francisco Opera House, and the working relationship between the longtime collaborators Adams and Sellars.

Elliott Carter's 100th birthday was marked last Thursday at Carnegie Hall and around the world, with celebrations continuing through the weekend and beyond. Los Angeles Times music critic Mark Swed writes, in his review of the Carnegie event: "The world has never known such an artist, one who has reached 100 prolifically making vibrant work for which the wisdom of experience is employed to produce new sensations. History has been made before in Carnegie Hall and centenaries of great composers celebrated, but Thursday’s concert was a first." In London, the Ensemble Intercontemporain's Carter birthday program earns five stars in The Times (UK) and "must be ranked as one of the musical highs of 2008."

The Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra performs the seasonally appropriate Adams nativity oratorio, El Niño ... David Byrne brings his "spectacular show" (Charleston Post & Courier) to Florida ... Elliott Carter's 100th birthday celebration continues at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and around the world ... Emmylou Harris considers Kitty Wells on NPR's All Things Considered ... Mandy Patinkin performs Mamaloshen and Broadway's finest at New York's Public Theater ... Chris Thile and Edgar Meyer join Garrison Keillor, Yo-Yo Ma, and Renée Fleming for A Prairie Home Companion ... Wilco plays on with Neil Young then headlines in Baltimore ... and more ...

Elliott Carter celebrated his 100th birthday last night with a concert at Carnegie Hall that featured the New York premiere of Interventions, his piece for piano and orchestra, performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, led by James Levine, with Daniel Barenboim at the piano. The New York Times calls the occasion "a milestone in music history. And the 17-minute piece—though brainy and complex, like all of Mr. Carter’s scores—was somehow celebratory: lucidly textured, wonderfully inventive, even impish. This was the work of a living master in full command." The celebration continues this weekend with Making Music: Elliott Carter at Carnegie Hall, Day of Carter at Lincoln Center, and concerts in Chicago, Paris, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Vienna, Cologne, Munich, Basel, and Porto, Portugal.