It was a good weekend for historically informed performance: after a stunning concert of the Bachs by Café Zimmermann at the Library of Congress, it was out to the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center on Sunday night for a recital by the British duo of Andrew Manze and Richard Egarr. In charming prefatory remarks, Manze labeled the selection of one Schubert and three Mozart sonatas as “some of our favorites.” A look back over their…

As they did in 2006, the Cleveland Orchestra came to the Kennedy Center Concert Hall on Monday night for a concert sponsored by the Washington Performing Arts Society. After Washington, they will play a three-concert series at Carnegie Hall and then leave for an extended European tour. The Clevelanders were once arguably America’s best orchestra and were always classed among the Big Five symphonic ensembles in the country, a placement that more and more people…

The 40th season of the concert series sponsored by the Foundation for Advanced Education in the Sciences, which opened on Sunday afternoon with a recital by pianist Richard Goode in the relatively full Congregation Beth-El in Bethesda, will also be its final one. Dr. Giulio Cantoni, the founder of the series, passed away this summer, and Paola Saffiotti, the series’ guiding light in many ways, was diagnosed with cancer around the same time. For financial…

Last week’s battle of the orchestras may be eclipsed by this week’s. Besides the local symphonic ensembles, there are some visitors in the ring, too. The common theme is the piano concerti of Johannes Brahms, both of them disarmingly beautiful pieces, and here is how we call it. THE ORCHESTRAS >> The week starts strong with the Cleveland Orchestra on Monday (October 15, 8 p.m.) in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. Washington Performing Arts Society…

Maurizio Pollini’s recital at Strathmore last night was one of a limited number of appearances he is making in the United States this year, after Boston, Carnegie Hall, and Chicago. Thank you again, Washington Performing Arts Society! If you love the piano and its greatest repertory — by the twin masters of the 19th century, Fryderyk Chopin and Franz Liszt (the good and evil twin, respectively?) — you may not think that Pollini is necessarily…

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…

In late October the major musical groups in Washington — the Washington National Opera and National Symphony Orchestra — take a break from performing for a couple weeks until November. You might think that their absence would mean a reduction of concert volume, but this is not really the case. In fact, we have a lot to tell you people about for the next two weeks, and without opera and symphony, we may even get…