Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens...these are a few of my favorite things. And I have some favorite, music, too. In this week's America 250: The American Experience, Lauren Rico and I share our American favorites, including Samuel Barber's sound of summer, Caroline Shaw's glimpse into the natural world, and a folk song celebrating the Michigan lake and orchards where I grew up.

Decades before science fiction took over movie screens, Gustav Holst created a sound we still associate with outer space. The Planets has influenced generations of film composers. We look to the stars tonight on 91.1, 107.5 and our music stream.

Can you sing along with Disney’s Aladdin? I had the soundtrack on cassette and learned every single word. Later I learned the story has been on a magic carpet ride for centuries. Hear a whole new world to Aladdin in Carl Neilsen’s version this morning.

You know The Godfather. You know Romeo and Juliet. Both films were scored by Nino Rota, but they represent just a small part of a career that included more than 150 film scores. Discover more of his extraordinary music on Reel Music, Saturday night at 9 and Sunday evening at 6 on WSHU, 91.1, 107.5, and our music stream.

Take a musical road trip with no traffic, no tolls, and no wrong turns - just great performances from festivals across America. From the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival on Long Island to the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont, with stops in Boston and Oregon, too, hear performances from across the country on the encore presentation of America 250: The American Experience, tonight at 8 on WSHU.

What do rock stars do when they want to get serious? After Franz Liszt grew tired of his touring pianist rock star era, he settled down and got philosophical. His work Les Preludes reflects on love and death, pointing us to things bigger than ourselves.

One of Béla Bartók's final works was also one of his most personal - a piano concerto written as a gift for his wife. Hear Lang Lang perform Bartók's Third Piano Concerto with the Vienna Philharmonic on the encore presentation of Carnegie Hall Live, tonight at 8 on WSHU.

Just because you aren’t given the spotlight doesn’t mean you don’t have something valuable to say. Ludwig Thuille didn’t get nearly as much attention as his friend and fellow composer Richard Strauss, yet his artistry lives on in his gorgeous Sextet.

A photograph can capture a moment. Caroline Shaw wondered if music could do the same. Inspired by the seascapes of 19th-century French photographer Gustave Le Gray, Shaw's Gustave Le Gray transforms light, movement, and atmosphere into sound. Experience this Grammy-winning composer's musical snapshot tonight on 91.1, 107.5, and our music stream.

Stereotypes say middle age is when we become set in our ways and, maybe a little, well...boring. Experience said otherwise for Darius Milhaud, who wrote his first symphony in his 40s, and then went on to write 11 more. It’s never too late to discover Milhaud’s Symphony #1.