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As an opera composer, Verdi was always conscious of dramatic effect. With off-stage trumpets, a pounding bass drum and four vocal soloists, his Requiem Mass really packs a wallop. Conductor Marin Alsop muses on the human story and vivid drama behind one of the master's greatest works.

He counted Mahler, Sibelius and Korngold among his students, but the neglected pedagogue Robert Fuchs was also a composer of considerable merit. With delicate minuets and scurrying scherzos, the serenades of Fuchs are a delightful find.

Stacey Kent discusses her French-only album, Raconte-Moi, and the childhood relationship that sparked her love of the language.

Hear the veteran oboist make his instrument sing in blissful music by J.S. Bach.

Jazz pianist Barbara Carroll cut her teeth in the clubs on 52nd Street in Manhattan in the late 1940s and early '50s, with the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holliday and Charlie Parker. Today, she's 86 and still performing.

Three new Konitz recordings radiate the joy of making music in every note.

The young jazz pianist is just as comfortable with Thelonious Monk as he is with sampling audio, working with visual artists and performing with his trio. Watch his Bandwagon trio perform in NPR's Studio 4A, and hear a profile.

The melange that manifests in Murgai's "Space Twang" is fusion at its best, a presentation natural and convincing enough to make listeners forget that the viola is not an Indian instrument.

Fresh Air jazz critic Kevin Whitehead picks CDs, books and a DVD for the jazz lover on your list this holiday season. His selections include a book of Sonny Rollins photographs and music from the first season of the HBO series Treme.

Earlier this year, Higdon's Violin Concerto earned her a Pulitzer Prize. It was a surprising event that gave the composer a chance to reflect on the many friends and colleagues who helped her over the years.