Founded in 2005, Brooklyn Rider are as daring in their repertoire choices as they are in performance. From classical to folk, Beethoven to Golijov, the US string quartet’s self-proclaimed refusal to specialise has resulted in some of the most thrillingly diverse and captivating albums of the past 20 years. In celebration of Brooklyn Rider’s two decades spent wandering musical worlds far and wide, this playlist offers a whistle-stop tour of the ensemble’s universe. Alongside powerfully expressive performances of Beethoven, Debussy, and Philip Glass, a composer with whom the group has formed a close relationship over the years, there’s fizzing originality in new works by composers such as Colin Jacobsen, Kate Bush, Nico Muhly, Caroline Shaw and LJOVA (also know as Lev Zhurbin). Listen to Zhurbin’s Culai, a freewheeling homage to the improvisatory traditional music of Romania. Then follow Brooklyn Rider to Armenia, Brazil and Mexico, and finish with one of the most arresting tracks from the group’s 2025 album The Four Elements, Dan Trueman’s Under My Feet & Up There, which offers an impassioned take on the fragility of our planet.