Music

Among the most central pieces of the classical-music repertoire are the 16 string quartets Beethoven composed over the course of his career. For critic Lloyd Schwartz, these quartets, especially as recorded by the Budapest String Quartet, were crucial to his own musical upbringing.

Ed Ward connects the dots of the British band's eight studio albums, which were just collected in a box set.

For Miles, the better he knows how a tune works, the less he has to play to put it across

Sing the Delta is the roots-folk singer-songwriter's first album of new songs in 16 years.

The band's new Call Me Sylvia is as raucous as its debut, though it's slightly more self-conscious.

Ed Ward reviews the reissued catalog from the multiracial, multi-generational ska band.

The singer-songwriter and actor may not fit the country-music mold, but he carves out his own sound on hew new album, 3 Pears.

Memphis has been a music town since anyone can remember, and it's had places to record that music since there have been records. Some of its studies -- Sun, Stax and Hi -- are well-known, but American Studios produced its share of hits, and yet remains obscure.

Street Corner Symphonies is a 15-volume year-by-year survey of doo-wop by scholar Bill Dahl.

The members of Shoes have cobbled together albums like stubborn craftsmen who know that their trade is at once outmoded and valuable. Ken Tucker says Ignition retains the same pop-rock rigor heard in the band's 1970s records.