Pianist Murray Perahia

WEEK OF THE KEYBOARD:
>> Of the many alluring keyboard concerts on the schedule this week, none is bigger than the next area recital of American pianist Murray Perahia, sponsored by WPAS in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall on Saturday afternoon (October 17, 4 p.m.). As I wrote of Perahia’s 2007 recital at Strathmore, no real fan of the keyboard is likely to miss the opportunity to hear him play. The program includes the chance to hear one of the selections from his latest CD of Bach partitas.

>> The other end of the keyboard’s historical spectrum is represented by a recital of French harpsichordist Blandine Rannou on Tuesday night (October 13, 7:30 p.m.) at La Maison Française (4101 Reservoir Rd. NW). She is not well known on this side of the Atlantic yet, but she will play music by the Couperins, Forqueray, Balbastre — the grand siècle repertoire featured on her recordings, which have been critically lauded in France. Tickets: $20 (students, $15).

>> In a rather different take on historical repertoire, pianist Christopher Taylor will give a performance of Bach’s Goldberg Variations on Wednesday evening (October 14, 7:30 p.m.) in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. The twist is that he will play on a Steinway Double-Register Moór Concert Grand, a grand piano with a double keyboard, an attempt to reproduce the harpsichord’s ability to switch quickly between registrations.

>> Shifting from the old to the new, pianist Christopher O’Riley, the host of NPR’s From the Top, will play his famous arrangements of Radiohead and Nirvana in the Barns at Wolf Trap on Saturday night (October 17, 7:30 p.m.).