John Adams is the subject of a feature article and interview posted today on Salon.com, about Adams's "pretty marvelous book," Hallelujah Junction, and everything from his "bold and blissful work" Harmonielehre to the "electric" new production of Doctor Atomic at the Met. Says Salon: "[A]fter reading Hallelujah Junction, and learning how he consistently challenged himself to go deeper into and wider into music, and himself, it's easy to see how Adams has earned his spot on the A-List of living composers." With Doctor Atomic, writes The Times (UK), the composer "has written his most eclectic and boldest score."

It is with great regret that Randy Newman has had to postpone his forthcoming European tour on doctor's orders, because of physical limitations and severe pain caused by stenosis in the lower back and neck. The 18-date tour had been due to start this Saturday, November 1, in Berlin. "I deeply regret not being able to come," says Randy. "I like it so much in Europe, and I've always been treated so well. I'll get there as soon as I can."

Last weekend, Wilco performed at the 22nd annual Bridge School benefit concert  organized by Neil Young, with whom the band will be heading out on the road a month from now for a tour of North America. But you don't have to wait that long to see the band play live. Tune in to The Colbert Report on Comedy Central tomorrow night, when Wilco will be the show's guest. On Saturday, members of the band will play a free Concert for Change on behalf of the Obama campaign at the Union Theater in Madison, Wisconsin.

Dawn Upshaw's performance last month with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony for the Opening Night Gala of Carnegie Hall's 118th season receives its broadcast premiere tonight on PBS's Great Performances. When the all-Bernstein program had its San Francisco debut, the San Francisco Chronicle hailed Dawn's performance as "the high point" of the evening, citing her "fizzy, funny and wonderfully evocative rendition" of the aria "What a Movie" from the opera Trouble in Tahiti.

Fresh off their performance at New York's historic Apollo Theater in Harlem last night, k.d. lang and her band head up to Connecticut tonight to perform at the Fairfield Theatre in Bridgeport. And tomorrow morning, fans across the US can tune in to ABC's Good Morning America to watch k.d. perform the song "Coming Home" from her latest Nonesuch release, Watershed.

Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile close out their cross-country tour of music from their eponymous debut duo album tomorrow night at Carnegie Hall, for which they will be joined by special guest, violinist Mark O'Connor. Tonight, the pair's penultimate performance takes place at Lisner Auditorium at George Washington University in Washington, DC. Before Meyer and Thile head down to Washington, they'll visit the WNYC studios in New York for a live performance this afternoon on Soundcheck, beginning at 2 PM ET.

Hallelujah Junction, the two-disc collection of select tracks by John Adams, earns four stars in The Independent. The composer's "charming and illuminating memoir" of the same name, says the New York Times Sunday Book Review, "is a cogent account of its author’s escape from the world of ­audience-alienating 'process' music absorbed with its own making and his arrival at a place where intellectual adventurism and robust emotion coexist ... There is no more self-aggrandizement in this wry, smart and forthright memoir than there is in the venturesome but elegiac music of Adams’s maturity. Indeed, Hallelujah Junction stands with books by Hector Berlioz and Louis Armstrong among the most readably incisive autobiographies of major musical figures."

It was 10 years ago that the Buena Vista Social Club took the stage of Carnegie Hall for what Spinner says was "a cultural event as much as a concert" and, the site exclaims, "How fresh it sounds today! ... It's every bit as revelatory as the introductory album had been and arguably even more involving for the concert setting. You can hear the joy of the performers and audience alike." The Times (UK) gives four stars to this recording of "the triumphant" event.

Laurie Anderson gave two performances of Homeland this weekend in Berkeley, California. "Singing, reciting, teasing, exciting and playing electric violin with a dynamic trio," says the San Francisco Chronicle, "Anderson brought the large audience at Zellerbach Hall to its feet for a prolonged and well-deserved standing ovation." The review describes the piece as "Anderson working in top form, engaging, witty, thought provoking and musically inspired ... [with] new songs that rank with Anderson's best work."

Randy Newman is the subject of a Pitchfork interview, posted today, in which Randy talks about his latest Nonesuch release, Harps and Angels; the current state of affairs in the US and abroad; and how they all tie together. "Randy Newman's not the most prolific songwriter," says Pitchfork, "but when he does deign to release a new record, it's because he's got something to say. Harps and Angels is full of the satirical barbs and critical observations Newman fans have come to expect ..."

k.d. lang performs at New York's historic Apollo Theater tonight in Harlem as part of her Watershed tour, which stopped at Birmingham, Alabama's Alys Stephens Center Saturday. The Birmingham News gives the performance four stars, calling k.d. "an awesome talent ... well deserving of her reputation as one of the most unique and powerful vocalists of this generation ... Lang's abundant gifts served her well throughout the evening. Gorgeous vocal tones were a constant, matched by exquisitely expressive interpretations of lyrics."

The Magnetic Fields brought their fall tour to a close yesterday after a full weekend of performances that brought them from Columbus, Ohio, to Philadelphia to Washington, DC. Getting a head start to the weekend's gigs, the band played in Jersey City, New Jersey, on Thursday night, leading The Star-Ledger to write: "As offbeat as he is, Merritt is also a pop purist. His songs were full of graceful melodic twists and clever turns of phrase. There is, simply, a poetry to his words that you rarely hear at a rock show."