Guardian Music — Two new albums show a surge in forward thinking in a derivative ageIt probably helps that you like jazz when it comes to swashbuckling new albums by Polar Bear (Peepers – quick-witted, feisty, melancholy) and Brad Mehldau ( the two-CD Highway ... more info

Guardian Music — Paul Morley delves into experimental jazz with Mercury-nominated Shoreditch quintet Polar Bear and Florida-born pianist Brad Mehldau It probably helps that you like jazz when it comes to swashbuckling new albums by Polar Bear (Peepers – quick-... more info

Guardian Music — Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (Chandos)As if determined to show just how versatile a pianist he is, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet has followed the completion of his survey of Debussy's piano music with an utterly different new project devoted to Haydn's keyboard works... more info

Guardian Music — Traverse, EdinburghThe commedia dell'arte figure of Pierrot was the unifying theme to this programme from the Hebrides Ensemble. The figure of the lovelorn clown was present both in the music and on stage as Pierrot emerged to gaze at the luminous mo... more info

Guardian Music — Barbican, LondonAs both composer and conductor, John Adams is "in focus" at the Barbican until the end of the season. His residency began with the London Symphony Orchestra, and there was the European premiere of his latest orchestral piece, City Noi... more info

Guardian Music — Colston Hall, BristolIn maturity, Alexander Scriabin became a law unto himself; so hearing his early Piano Concerto in F sharp minor is a valuable reminder of his indebtedness to Chopin. And in the latter's anniversary year, Peter Jablonski's perform... more info

Guardian Music — Nelson Freire(Decca, two CDs)Though the multinational labels apparently remain intent on signing up more young pianists who might sell discs as much on their looks as on their talent, it is good to see that the recording career of Nelson Freire is st... more info

Guardian Music — What links Tolstoy, Beethoven, a virtuoso violinist and a young, married Czech woman? The inspiration for the elderly Janacek's string quartetsOpera and leider com­posers have always drawn inspiration from literature. Instrumental music, meanwhile... more info

Guardian Music — Royal Festival Hall, LondonIn a few years, ­Yannick Nézet-Séguin has ­become a hot-property conductor. But in ­London he has mostly made his name performing Austro-German repertoire – so this was a chance to hear how the young Q... more info

Guardian Music — Royal Opera House, LondonThe Royal Opera has, of late, ­developed a passion for unearthing substandard works by Russian composers. First there was Tsarevich, Tchaikovsky's ­anodyne fairytale. Now we have The ­Gambler, Prokofiev's 1929 adapta... more info