Nonesuch Records releases Kronos Quartet’s Music of Vladimir Martynov on January 10, 2012. The album includes three works written or rescored for Kronos by the contemporary Russian composer Vladimir Martynov—The Beatitudes, Schubert–Quintet (Unfinished), and Der Abschied—and features a special guest performance from former Kronos cellist Joan Jeanrenaud. Kronos’ artistic director and founder David Harrington says Martynov’s music “straddles various points of musical history and time; the music seems to me to reflect and absorb humanity in such a beautiful way." The album is available for pre-order.

Last week, Björk concluded a nine-show residency in her hometown of Reykjavik, featuring music from her new album, Biophilia. Nonesuch teamed up with Icelandair to send two fans to the closing-night performance. The winners, Justin Allan and Adam Spencer of Seattle, also enjoyed a few welcome surprises along the way. You can read all about it in Justin's words here. "The whole Icelandic adventure was pretty damn amazing, from beginning to end," he says. "Just like magic. It was truly amazing and spectacular, in every sense of the word."

Senegalese singer/songwriter Cheikh Lô is back in North America for a ten-day tour with Still Black, Still Proud: An African Tribute to James Brown. Lô joins Brown's longtime band leader Pee Wee Ellis and a band the Boston Globe has called "a pancontinental funk-soul supergroup," featuring Maceo Parker and Vusi Mahlasela, to celebrate the music of the legendary Godfather of Soul. The tour begins tonight at the University of North Carolina and includes stops in Massachusetts, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and Ontario.

Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin reunite on Broadway for An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin, which begins in previews at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre tonight. Patinkin, who has released five solo albums on Nonesuch Records, and LuPone, who can be heard on Nonesuch's 2006 Broadway cast recording of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, first appeared together giving Tony Award–winning performances in the original production of Evita. The Los Angeles Times says: “These two music and theatre legends deliver a sparsely elegant master class in the art of conjuring emotional truth in dramatic song.”

The Black Keys are featured on the latest edition of NPR's All Songs Considered, the show's last regular episode of the year. "Run Right Back," off the band's forthcoming album, El Camino, due out December 6, kicks off the show. All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen calls it "wonderful" and says of the band: "They're the pillars. You just know they're gonna put out really solid rock." Derrick Tuggle, the star of the video for the album's first single, "Lonely Boy," stopped by the Ellen show yesterday. Watch the segment here.

Nonesuch released guitarist/composer Jonny Greenwood’s instrumental score to director Tran Anh Hung’s film Norwegian Wood earlier this year. An adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s bestselling novel, the film was released in the UK in the spring of 2011 and will be released in the US beginning January 6, 2012. The Mail on Sunday said: “Jonny Greenwood wrote the film’s majestic music which features classical strings and modern experimental sounds that brilliantly enhance the emotional turmoil of young love and the stunning natural landscapes.” Pick up the soundtrack here.

The nominees for the 2011 fRoots Critics Poll have just been announced, and included among them are Ry Cooder's new album, Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down, which has been nominated for Album of the Year, and Kate & Anna McGarrigle's three-CD collection Tell My Sister, released this spring on Nonesuch, which was nominated for Reissue/Compilation Album of the Year. Nominees are chosen by experts in the UK and worldwide; winners will be announced by BBC Radio 3 in a special edition of World On 3 on December 2.

Randy Newman, whose new live performance CD+DVD Live in London is out now, made his Austin City Limits TV debut this past weekend with an hour-long episode on PBS. You can watch the first 20 minutes of the episode here and the complete show at video.pbs.org, available until December 10. The Independent and the Daily Mail give Live in London four stars; the Sunday Times calls it "essential listening for anyone who cares about the art of songwriting."

Brad Mehldau and Joshua Redman head out for a duo tour of Europe, starting with two shows in Spain this weekend, followed by stops in Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Luxembourg, with a return to Spain for a final tour stop at the Voll-Damm Barcelona International Jazz Festival. The duo head to Australia in January and resume their US duo tour in the spring. Mehldau has a number of solo gigs ahead as well, a duo show with Joe Henry in London, and a trio show with Joe Martin and original Brad Mehldau Trio dummer Jorge Rossy in Spain.

The Black Keys' new album, El Camino, is due out in less than four weeks. If you've seen the video for "Lonely Boy," you've gotten a taste of what's to come. Now comes a first listen of another album track, "Run Right Back," which premiered on BBC Radio 1's Zane Lowe show. Listen online at bbc.co.uk. Both songs are on the limited-edition vinyl 12-inch available at participating indie music retailers on Record Store Day's "Back to Black" Friday, November 25.

Randy Newman, whose new live performance CD+DVD Live in London was released this week, is set to make his Austin City Limits television debut when the show presents an episode dedicated exclusively to his work this Saturday, November 12, on PBS stations across the US. The set list features 17 songs from throughout Newman's career, including "Short People," "Political Science," and "You Can Leave Your Hat On." Read the complete set list and watch Newman's ACL performance of "You've Got a Friend in Me" here.

Gidon Kremer recently performed in Lincoln Center's White Light Festival in a program titled Homage to J.S. Bach. "Kremer's performance of the Bach Chaconne was the wonder of the night," writes The New Yorker's Alex Ross. "Herbert von Karajan once declared that Kremer was the greatest violinist alive; this still seems to be the case. His legendary reading of the Chaconne ... has grown ever deeper with age." Kremer joins the Kremerata Baltica chamber orchestra for a brief European tour starting next weekend.