Best New Music of 2025

Album of the Year

Concerti per violoncello by Hanna Salzenstein & Le Consort.

Runners up

  • Stygian Wavz, Envy of None

  • Mark Lettieri Group Meets WDR Big Band at Studio 4, Mark Lettieri, WDR Big Band

  • Abracadabra, Beatrice Berrut

Other notable albums of 2025:

Ambient

The Reverent Sky (Steve Roach)

Classical

Guess Who? (Olga Pashchenko)

Ravel: Fragments (Bertrand Chamayou)

J.S. Bach: The Art of Fugue (Phantasm)

Sleep Circle (Max Richter, Louisa Fuller & Max Ruisi)

Shostakovich: The Piano Concertos & Solo Works (Yuja Wang, Boston Symphony Orchestra & Andris Nelsons)

Classical Crossover

Peter Gregson (Peter Gregson)

The Summer Portraits (Ludovico Einaudi)

Downtempo

Scapes (Data Rebel)

Chrome Ocean (Data Rebel)

Jazz

Barn Sessions, Vol. 1 (Four80East)

New Age

Where the River Widens (Erik Wøllo)

Smooth Jazz

Fasten Up (Yellowjackets)