The classical music team of The New York Times shares its favorite albums of the year below. Also read our list of the best classical performances.

The classical recording industry continues to founder, and yet every day the critics for The New York Times receive more CDs than they know what to do with, from labels large and small, featuring star artists and unknowns, performing the work of composers long dead or still young. An astonishing, inspiring number of these albums are excellent, making it difficult for each writer to choose just five for this list of 25 of the year’s most memorable.

The best thing about this litany of bests? Its variety. While there is a great deal of piano here — and why not? — there is also a range of vocal, chamber and orchestral music. (Though, interestingly, there is nothing that could be called a symphony, at least not in the conventional sense.)