Playlist: The Rebels and Revolutionaries of Sound

To counter the idea that “classical music is... dull [and] irrelevant,” Rhodes, a pianist, constructed a guided introduction to a Spotify playlist featuring pieces by seven composers: Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Mozart, Rachmaninoff, Ravel, and Schubert. (The introduction, noting that “classical music is and has been overwhelmingly white and male,” also mentions Chevalier de Saint-Georges and Fanny Mendelssohn.) Structured like souped-up liner notes, each composer’s section outlines their biography, work, and influence. Rhodes then breaks down the history of the specific compositions featured, the performance, and his way of understanding it: Bach, for example, uses rhythm “to create this rocking, undulating quality, almost like that of a small boat.” He leans a bit hard on of-the-moment cultural references (Banksy, Lil Wayne, and Twitter all appear on a single page), but his enthusiasm is infectious. O’Neill’s pleasingly trippy Sgt. Pepper-esque collages slyly reposition bewigged men as psychedelic revolutionaries. Ages 12–up. (Oct.)