One of the choices listed above - Murray Perahia playing Handel on a modern piano - is happy to ask the other side of the question: Does progress enhance or does it distort?

Modern-instrument performers became afraid of playing Bach and Handel, and modern orchestras stayed away from music before Beethoven.

In Bruges, the Academy of Ancient Music under Andrew Manze plays Vivaldi, Handel and Bach with Susan Gritton as soprano soloist.

Thursday's 4:30 P.M. "Introductions" is to the harpsichordist Bradley Brookshire, who will play Bach, Handel and Scarlatti.

So this evening they will play Mozart, Haydn, Handel and other composers in a chamber music concert in Avery Fisher Hall.

Not quite drumming, not quite hammering on the rooftops, it was as if someone had trained a hundred woodpeckers to play Handel.

The organist played Handel, guests obediently opened their programs, and bridesmaids emerged in flounced dresses.

She also played Handel and Schubert on Blake's piano.

On Wednesday, the summer band plays Handel, Tchaikovsky and Sousa, while the jazz band tackles "Send in the Clowns" and other popular standards at the Danbury High School.

Melange of Periods Another program begins with the orchestra playing Handel on period instruments and ends with the Brahms Violin Concerto, played on modern instruments.