See, hear, read: our local experts share the books, music and movies they’re craving this month

“In 1703, Antonio Vivaldi was given the position of maestro di violino at the Ospedale Della Pietà in Venice. The Pietà, ostensibly an orphanage for girls, was also a centre of music and education, and Vivaldi composed some of his most famous vocal and string pieces for its talented young residents. This album features a great selection of these works sung by soprano Elin Manahan Thomas and played by the Florilegium ensemble, specialists in the Baroque repertoire.” —John Holland Manager of L’Atelier Grigorian

Vivaldi: Sacred Works for Soprano and Concertos (Dec. 6)

“In the 1950s and ’60s, the book editor and publisher Richard Seaver propelled a host of underexposed, rabble-rousing writers into the mainstream. In his post­hu­mous memoir, The Tender Hour of Twilight, Seaver reveals how he defied social and literary convention by supporting the beat poets and authors like Samuel Beckett and Malcolm X. It’s a fitting farewell from a man who championed maligned works that have since become a kind of alternative canon.” —Benjamin Walsh Staffer at Nicholas Hoare

The Tender Hour of Twilight by Richard Seaver (Jan. 6)

(Illustrations by Mia Overgaard; bottom photograph courtesy of Farrar, Straus and Giroux