Six by Sondheim, a new documentary examining the life and music of composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim, premieres on HBO tonight at 9 PM. Directed by frequent Sondheim collaborator James Lapine, Six by Sondheim is a personal profile of the artist presented through the six of his iconic songs. Told primarily in Sondheim’s own words, the documentary includes interviews with the composer, rarely seen archival material, and re-stagings of three songs produced especially for the film, including Audra McDonald performing "Send in the Clowns." NPR's Fresh Air calls the documentary "delightful." The Boston Globe calls it "stunning," a "must-see for musical theatre lovers." Watch the trailer here.

Audra McDonald wowed an audience of more than 18 million viewers on the live, televised broadcast of The Sound of Music on NBC last Thursday, portraying the Mother Abbess to great critical acclaim. McDonald "has been pretty much unanimously appointed the show-stealer of the night," says TIME. The Christian Science Monitor says "McDonald was a majestic Mother Abbess." The Los Angeles Times says: "The golden pipes of McDonald, playing the Rev. Mother, opened the broadcast, but her memorable scene came later, singing 'Climb Ev'ry Mountain,' one of Rodgers and Hammerstein's most enduring numbers from their 1959 Broadway musical." Watch the performance here. And hear her take on "Edelweiss" on her new album, Go Back Home.

Inside Llewyn Davis, the new film from Joel and Ethan Coen, opens in select theaters in New York City and Los Angeles today. The film, which has already been met with great critical acclaim, continues to earn accolades. Los Angeles Times' Kenneth Turan calls the Coen brothers' latest "a singular experience, one of their best films." NPR says it "represents not just another in a streak of brilliant films, but the finest blend yet of the duo's sharp, laugh-out-loud wit and sobering insight into the loneliness and absurdity of existence."

Carolina Chocolate Drops kick off their tour bidding farewell to founding member Dom Flemons ... Inside Llewyn Davis opens in NY & LA ... Adams and Reich are on the program in Miami ... Bombino closes out North American tour at Carnegie Hall ... Shawn Colvin plays the Pacific Northwest ... Jeremy Denk and Richard Goode play Mozart with Cincinnati Symphony and NY Philharmonic, respectively ... Kronos Quartet celebrates its 40th in Berkeley, performing Glass, Riley, and Crumb ... 

Jeremy Denk spoke with PBS NewsHour's Art Beat correspondent Jeffrey Brown about his new recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations and its companion DVD with video "liner notes" of Denk demonstrating passages on the piano as he explains certain details of the iconic piece. In their conversation, Denk describes the Variations as "one of the most beautiful music lessons in history." Watch the NewsHour segment here. Jeremy Denk joins the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra for two concerts this weekend.

Inside Llewyn Davis, the new Coen brothers film set in the Greenwich Village folk scene of 1961, is a New York Times Critics' Pick. The Times' A.O. Scott says Oscar Isaac "plays both Llewyn and the guitar with offhand virtuosity." The Wall Street Journal lauds “Isaac's phenomenal performance.” The actor discussed the role and the music on NPR's All Things Considered and on WNYC's Soundcheck, which you can listen to here, and in a Hollywood Reporter piece you can watch here. Time calls the soundtrack "a trove of sonic pleasure," and Rolling Stone calls it "pure pleasure."

Steve Reich has been named the Artist in Residence at the 2014 Big Ears Festival, which will be held in downtown Knoxville, Tennessee, March 28–30, 2014. The composer will be in attendance, as Ensemble Signal will perform his groundbreaking 1976 piece Music for 18 Musicians, along with his new Radio Rewrite, inspired by two songs from Radiohead. Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood will perform Reich’s Electric Counterpoint, and So Percussion will perform his 1971 classic Drumming. Weekend passes go on sale this Friday, December 6, at noon.

Inside Llewyn Davis, the new film from Joel and Ethan Coen, has received the award for Best Feature at the Gotham Awards. A new featurette called "Finding Llewyn Davis," looks at how Oscar Isaac earned the title role. You can watch it here, along with a film clip of Justin Timberlake, Carey Mulligan, and Stark Sands performing "Five Hundred Miles" here. "Folk music is essential to the film—and not only as its soundtrack," writes the Wall Street Journal's Jim Fusilli. "It’s clear from Inside Llewyn Davis that the Coen brothers listen to music with a writer’s ear for story." The Village Voice gives the film five stars, saying it "might be the best Coen brothers movie yet," and calls Isaac's voice "luminous as the moon."

Audra McDonald performs in the televised broadcast of Rockefeller Center’s 81st Christmas Tree lighting celebration, tonight on NBC at 8 PM ET. The holiday special will also include performances from Mary J. Blige, Toni Braxton, Mariah Carey, Kelly Clarkson, The Rockettes, and more. On Thursday, McDonald performs in NBC’s live production of The Sound of Music, portraying Mother Abbess opposite Carrie Underwood as Maria, Stephen Moyer as Captain von Trapp, Laura Benanti as Elsa Schrader, and Christian Borle as Max Dettweiler.

Inside Llewyn Davis, the new film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, opens in select theaters this Friday, December 6. You can watch a new featurette on the music and making of the film here, as well as an excerpt from the film with the song "Please Mr. Kennedy." New York's David Edelstein calls the film "transcendentally soundtracked." The New Yorker's Anthony Lane writes: "If you love the Coens, or follow folk music, or hold fast to this period of history and that patch of New York, then the film can hardly help striking a chord." The New York Times's Janet Maslin exclaims: "Inside Llewyn Davis has the best T Bone Burnett soundtrack since the Coens’ O Brother, Where Art Thou?"

Happy Cyber Monday! The savings continue as the Nonesuch Store sixth anniversary sale, which began last week, rolls into Cyber Monday and beyond, with all currently available CDs, LPs, and DVDs here at nonesuch.com (pre-orders excluded) 34% off the standard retail price. That's an extra savings of about 20% off the everyday low prices listed on the site; the sale discount will be show at checkout. As always, almost every album includes high-quality MP3s at checkout. 

With less than a month to go before 2013 comes to a close, music magazines have begun to weigh in on the best in music this year. Rolling Stone, Mojo, Q, and Uncut have all published their lists of the Best Albums of the Year, and included among them are a number of Nonesuch releases: the latest from Emmylou Harris and Rokia Traoré and the label debut albums from Sam Amidon, Devendra Banhart, Bombino, and Iron & Wine.