Daniel Barenboim's all-Liszt recital of Italian-themed works combined scholarship, musicianship and technical brilliance in equal measure to make a forceful case for the problematic Hungarian master. I still can't tell you how Barenboim does it, but his performance was astonishing, and, for me, revelatory.

Concert pianists are expected to perform from memory. That was no problem for me until my psyche was permanently scarred in an auto accident. But over many years, as I was forced to cope with things far more crucial than missing a passage in a piece of music, I learned to trust my inner resources.

The Opera Company of Philadelphia takes few risks in its entertaining staging of The Italian Girl in Algiers, even though Rossini’s opera offers a potentially controversial ridiculing of Islam.

The Italian Girl in Algiers. Opera by Gioachino Rossini; libretto by Angelo Anelli; directed by Stefano Vizioli. Through November 23, 2008 at Academy of Music, Broad and Locust St. (215) 732-8400 or .www.operaphilly.com.

Orchestra 2001 looks at four pieces, each built around a distinctive framework, including two written by the durable Elliot Carter in his 90s.

Orchestra 2001: Piston, Divertimento for Nine Instruments; Carter, Asko Concerto; Carter, Dialogues (Emmanuel Arciuli, piano); Copland, Appalachian Spring. James Freeman, conductor. November 15, 2008 at Independence Seaport Museum. (610) 544-6610 or www.orchestra2001.org.

To loyal BSR readers waiting anxiously to find out how those augmented sixths in Mozart’s Jupiter and Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony work out: It's all my computer's fault.

If they have the right vision, lesser known regional conductors can outperform stars as lustrous as Riccardo Muti. Both Karl Middleman and Mischa Santora have lately demonstrated visions of their own.

Philadelphia Classical Symphony: Saint-George, Symphonie Concertante in G Major for Two Violins and String Orchestra; Mozart, Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola, and Orchestra in E Flat Major. Hirono Oka, violin; C.J. Chang, violin and viola; Karl Middleman, conductor. October 31, 2008 at First Unitarian Church, 2125 Chestnut St. (215) 228-2224 or www.classicalsymphony.org.

Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia: Rossini, Overture to L’Italiana in Algieri; Mozart, Piano Concerto No. 9 in E-flat Major. Shai Wosner, piano. Haydn, Symphony No. 86 in D Major. Mischa Santora, conductor. November 9, 2008. At Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center, Broad and Spruce. (215) 545-5451 or www.chamberorchestra.org.

Lyric Fest offered children an international song and dance extravaganza with the quality and sophistication that kids should be exposed to when they make their first acquaintance with the arts.

Lyric Fest: “A World of Friends.” Songs by Mozart, Ravel, Poulenc, Brahms, Barber, Shostakovich, et al. Suzanne DuPlantis, Jennifer Hsiung, mezzos; Cara Latham, Randi J. Marrazzo, Maggie Moliterno, sopranos; Mark Moliterno, baritone; Richard Troxell, tenor. Motet Choir of the Pennsylvania Girlchoir, Mark A. Anderson, conductor; Caroline Foley and the Voloshky Ukrainian Dance Ensemble; Lisa Lovelace and Her Dancing Friends; Jake Miller and Wilder Troxell, actors. November 9, 2008 at Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill, 8855 Germantown Ave. (215) 438-1702 or www.lyricfest.org.

I have just seen the telecast of the Metropolitan Opera’s Doctor Atomic, which gives the opera a different perspective than what I saw in an earlier live performance at the Met. I now feel greater admiration for the opera’s high spots but also greater annoyance with its shortcomings.

Doctor Atomic. Opera by John Adams; libretto by Peter Sellars. Alan Gilbert, conductor. Metropolitan Opera production through November 13, 2008 at Lincoln Center, New York. Film version shown November 8, 2008. www.metropolitanopera.org.

Visiting conductor Michael Tilson Thomas gave full measure with a concert consisting of Copland’s robust early Symphony for Organ and Orchestra, and Mahler’s Fifth. The latter is one of the signal works of the 20th Century, although its rich detail is not served by Verizon Hall’s acoustics, and its musical material was too often distended by Tilson Thomas’s erratically stretched tempos.

Philadelphia Orchestra: Mahler Fifth Symphony; Copland Symphony for Organ and Orchestra. Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor; Paul Jacobs, organ. November 6-9, 2008 at Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center. (215) 893-1900 or www.philorch.org.

As a teenager, our critic Dan Coren fell so completely under the spell of the young Canadian pianist, Glenn Gould, that it took him more than 30 years to catch up with the great pianist whom Gould pushed off the stage: Roslyn Tureck.

A Romance on Three Legs: Glenn Gould’s Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Piano. By Katie Hafner. Bloomsbury, 2008. 272 pages; $24.00. www.amazon.com/Romance-Three-Legs-Obsessive-Perfect/dp/1596915242