The latest in NPR's compendium of the year's best music is a list of the Top Ten "New Music" albums, as chosen by WNYC's Nadia Sirota. On it is Alarm Will Sound's Nonesuch debut, a/rhythmia, which offers a diverse repertoire unified by the works' play on conventional notions of rhythm and pulse. "The idea sounds complex," says Sirota, "but the group makes its crystal-clear point joyfully through engaging programming and performances."

West Coast, Left Coast, the Los Angeles Philharmonic's festival curated by John Adams, continues tonight with the composer and Kronos Quartet performing California-inspired music at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Adams will lead the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group in performances of Ingram Marshall's Fog Tropes and selections from Frank Zappa's Yellow Shark; Kronos performs Harry Partch's U.S. Highball.

Three Nonesuch albums have made the list of the Best Albums of 2009 from David Dye, host of NPR's World Cafe: Wilco's Wilco (the album) ("a masterpiece that felt both ambitious and lived-in"), Dan Auerbach's Keep It Hid, and Allen Toussaint's The Bright Mississippi. Dye also picks "You and I," Jeff Tweedy's duet with Leslie Feist off Wilco (the album), among his choices of the year's best songs.

Gidon Kremer and Kremerata Baltica's Nonesuch recording of the complete Mozart violin concertos has received the Silver Award at the Record Academy Awards published by Japan's The Record Geijutsu. Australia's ABC Radio National's Breakfast has chosen the recording as Album of the Week, saying, "played true to the style of when they were written, the music sounds fresh and appealing."

The Times (UK) has had its say on the best albums of the decade, covering the best in classical, jazz, world music, and pop, and Nonesuch artists are represented in every one: John Adams at No. 1 on the classical list with Doctor Atomic Symphony; Brad Mehldau and Bill Frisell in jazz; Youssou N'Dour, Orchestra Baobab, "Cachaíto" Lopez, and Amadou & Mariam in world; the Malian duo in pop as well, along with Brian Wilson and Wilco.

When Joshua Redman joined Brad Mehldau for a duo set at London's Wigmore Hall last month, the Guardian said that with "the eloquent saxophonist" Redman, "Mehldau was often able to let his partner's built-in swing release his most whimsical side." The two perform together again for a very festive occasion: the National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony in Washington, DC, on December 3, with a PBS broadcast the following night.

This weekend marks the start of West Coast, Left Coast, the LA Philharmonic festival curated by John Adams, its creative chair. The festival, which celebrates the unique spirit of California's creative renegades, kicks off on Saturday with a special Opening Event titled Eureka!, featuring Kronos Quartet's premiere of a new work by Thomas Newman.

Kronos Quartet was in New York City earlier this week to receive the Asia Society's Cultural Achievement Award at the organization's annual gala at the Waldorf Astoria hotel Tuesday night. Kronos was recognized for its efforts to link cultures and create a global cultural dialogue through music. Among the night's honorees were Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, and Sesame Street creator Joan Ganz Cooney.

Bill Frisell premieres a new work he co-wrote with Mike Gibbs in a performance at London's Barbican Hall tonight with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, which will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on Tuesday. The Financial Times writes of Frisell: "Panoramic and evocative, his cocktail of jazz warmth, country whine and the echoing throb of jukebox rhythm-and-blues conjures images from the underbelly of American life. It is a vision that he never fails to coax from the many ensembles he works with."

Wilco has just completed its tour of Europe that included a London show the Independent called "one of the best gigs of the year, by one of the best bands in the world." The band tours North America in February and March and has now added a number of dates in Japan and Australia starting in April. The Vine says the band was "reliably excellent" when last in Australia, in "that hypnotic, skillful vein of Americana that suggests the band could play pretty much any style of music they want and still be better than most everyone, in any era."

NPR's All Songs Considered has compiled a list of The Decade's 50 Most Important Recordings. Among them are three Nonesuch recordings: John Adams's On the Transmigration of Souls, Ali Farka Touré and Toumani Diabaté's In the Heart of the Moon (World Circuit/Nonesuch), and Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. "These are the game-changers," says NPR of the 50, "records that signaled some sort of shift in the way music is made or sounds, or ones that were especially influential or historically significant."

The Low Anthem is back on the road with several dates in Europe in the coming coming week. Closer to home, the band has been nominated for three Boston Music Awards: Act of the Year, Album of the Year, and Song of the Year, making it one of only two bands with all three. Spinner has named "Charlie Darwin" its Video of the Day; Magnet says: "The song’s lush harmonies and sparse instrumental sound combined with the video’s strange desultory main character convey a certain sorrow that will haunt you for days on end."