BBCSO/Gaffigan review – all-American evening of sleek grooves and edge-of-seat Barber

The UK premiere of Wynton Marsalis’s Concerto for Orchestra was playful and punchy, before elegant Gershwin and noirish Barber

I’m a neuroscientist. Here’s why our brains need pop concerts

Attending a Nick Jonas show with my kids was an invitation to experience ‘collective effervescence’ – a healing, shared experience

Add to playlist: the heartbreak post-mortems of Cape Town’s Rowlene and the week’s best new tracks

The South African singer has been a memorable guest artist, but the unhurried, emotional tracks on new album Some Strings Attached show she’s ready for the spotlight

The Real Kyle McCarren review – musical eulogy to lost bandmate strikes a chord

Andy Roninson’s tribute to a friend who died aged 21 combines original rock, soul and folk songs in a considered exploration of grief

Hillborg: Lost Landscapes album review – sonic imagination and luminous colours

Unconventional instrumentation adds to the filmic feeling of these three works by the Swedish composer, played on this recording by a powerhouse orchestra on top form

Henry Threadgill, Vijay Iyer, Dafnis Prieto: Fifteen review – Pulitzer winner stirs gorgeous improv patterns

By turns gleeful, sensitive, urgent and ruminative, this is a brilliant set that plays to the trio’s formidable strengths

Open Mike Eagle and Kenny Segal: Doomed! review – caustic, crushing breakup album flirts with catharsis

The rapper-producer duo muster a breakup record with glistening beats and lovelorn lyrics that mull over grievances without resolve

Why is Drake barking like a dog? Six things you need to know about the rapper’s midlife pivot

There’s a lot to unpack as this proud son of Toronto closes in on 40 – from his gambling to his very public dates. Here goes!

‘It was lonely being a young queer artist’: Sam Smith on finding health, happiness – and their hazel-eyed fiance

On their new album, Smith is subverting their singer-songwriter roots to tell a queer love story. They talk about their shifting fanbase, the nasty undercurrents of fame – and finding sanctuary in New York City

Johnny Young, host and creator of Young Talent Time, dies aged 79

The singer-songwriter and producer also wrote several Australian hits including The Real Thing for Russell Morris

Bruckner Symphony No 3 album review – Anima Eterna’s period instruments bring visceral drama

There’s bone-crushing intensity in this striking recording of the original version of the Bruckner’s third. Pablo Heras-Casado teases out vital, almost operatic detail

Billion-streamers, Beyoncé and heart-bruising beauty: Frank Ocean’s 20 best songs – ranked!

It’s a decade since the Los Angeles musician released the seminal album Blonde. To lessen the pain of his hiatus, we count down the best of an artist who redefined R&B

Chelsea Wolfe: The Dark review – existential reflection goes from whisper to gothic scream

The genre-blending Californian artist casts off past toxic influences with a powerful set of tender, brooding and emotionally charged songs that wouldn’t feel out of place as festival anthems

James: Getting Away With It review – hippies, hardnuts and dreamers unite

Auto-hagiography it may be – most of the interviewees were in the band at some point – but this portrait of the seminal Manchester indie group is charming stuff

We’re going to party like it’s 1629… the masques, the music and the mayhem of Banqueting House

What music soundtracked 17th-century England? Ahead of a DJ set in Banqueting House, Georgia Mann looks at the wild, the experimental, the melancholic – and why a theorbo caused a security alert