THE EYE ON...CLASSICAL& OPERA

Maurizio Pollini begins his Beethoven Piano Sonata cycle in London's Royal Festival Hall on 24 Nov at 7.30pm; Alfred Brendel plays Beethoven's Piano Concertos in London's Barbican Hall on 25, 27 and 29 Nov at 7.30pm

Two of the world's greatest pianists - and Beethoven interpreters - play Beethoven within a day of each other this week. Whilst Maurizio Pollini plays the first recital in a chronological survey of the piano sonatas (which will take him until next June to complete), Alfred Brendel gets through all five piano concertos in just five days.

Interestingly, both the Italian-born Pollini and the Austrian-born Brendel share the same birthday, 5 January, though Brendel, born in 1932, is 11 years older than Pollini. Through long, distinguished careers, both have made Beethoven the keystone of their repertoires.

There is little to separate them in terms of keyboard style; they match each other for pristine technique and probing intellectual insight that frequently gives even the best-known piano works a new and revelatory quality.

Whilst the chronological approach followed by Pollini has its advantages in charting Beethoven's development, it also has its pitfalls, not least because of the question of whether to play them in order of composition or merely in terms of numbering; besides, the South Bank's publicity brochure for the series has Pollini playing only 30 and not 32 sonatas, for it omits Op. 49, Nos 1 and 2.

Over at the Barbican, Brendel revives his long-established partnership with Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. He opens by contrasting the bravura First concerto with the serene Fourth. On Wednesday the Mozartian Second partners the heroic Third, leaving the Emperor Concerto to stand alongside the Seventh Symphony on Friday evening.

Pollini or Brendel? There is no choice: both demand to be heard in this unique pianistic clash of the Titans.

EYE ON THE NEW

The world premiere of Tan Dun's kaleidoscopic Orchestral Theatre III, a multi-media work about the 1960s, from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, conducted by the composer.

Huddersfield Town Hall, 26 Nov, 7.30pm