NPR: The albums and songs of 2026 that we love the most (so far)

Tom Huizenga recommends: Canto Ostinato by Simeon ten Holt, performed by Sandbox Percussion, Metropolis Ensemble and Erik Hall

"Every time I hear it, this 50-year-old piece of Dutch minimalism, composed by Simeon ten Holt, sweeps me off my feet with its meditative, swirling eddies of sound. As in the clock-like cycles of our lives, its rhythms and melodic cells intertwine and recycle. But there's also freedom in the music, as the composer imagined it dressed in various arrangements. This new version, for mallet instruments, winds, strings and piano, undulates with delicate ripples of sound that crest in large waves only to recede and rise again. It's music to get lost in."

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