This is going to be a good week. There are so many things to hear, concerts that promise great delights. We’ll start with the best of the best and go from there.

RECOMMENDED:
>> For many serious fans of the piano, especially those who prize accuracy of technique and intellectual craft, there is only Maurizio Pollini. The last time that he played in Washington, I leapt at the chance to hear him, as I have every other time. If you want to hear some fine playing by a classical pianist, do not miss your opportunity, this Wednesday (May 17, 8 p.m.) at the Music Center at Strathmore. At the time of this writing, the sponsor of the concert, Washington Performing Arts Society, has not announced what he will be playing. I am hoping that it will be some of the Chopin nocturnes, from his latest recording. Luckily for me, the program will probably be similar to what he played at Carnegie Hall last Sunday and will play at Chicago Symphony Hall this afternoon. There are a few tickets remaining for the Strathmore recital, starting at $40. Pollini is 64 years old: don’t wait too long.

>> As a musical statement on war, there are few masterpieces as powerful and moving as Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem. I should say a musical statement against war, which it most certainly is, composed for the rededication of Coventry Cathedral, bombed to ruins in World War II. The score combines texts from the Latin Requiem Mass with the poems of Wilfred Owen, a soldier killed in World War I, to devastating emotional effect. On Sunday (May 21, 4 p.m.), the Cathedral Choral Society will perform this remarkable piece, with Marina Shaguch (soprano), Robin Leggate (tenor), and Marcus Brück (baritone), in the beautiful locale of Washington National Cathedral. Tickets: $20 to $39.