Lang Lang [Olaf Heine]

GILBERT & George – that inscrutably suited double-act who turn their own lives (and bodily waste) into abrasive but expensive art – make a point of provocation. And one of their more memorable joint-statements is that “Music is the Enemy”. They never listen, and apparently don’t like it.

So you’ll be surprised to know that on Oct 5 they’re at the Festival Hall, collaborating with the Philharmonia Orchestra in a concert that takes up the theme of an exhibition G&G have been running next door at the Hayward Gallery, subtitled Sex, money, race, religion.

How much involvement they’ve had in putting the concert together I don’t know. But I see that sex is being represented by Wagner, money by Dukas, race by Duke Ellington and religion by Bach. Which if nothing else covers plenty of ground. southbankcentre.co.uk

• For an example of pianistic chalk and cheese, you couldn’t better the Barnum & Bailey showmanship of Lang Lang against the controlled platform manner of András Schiff. And comparison is at hand this week when they’re both playing in London: Lang Lang at the Barbican, Oct 6 (barbican.org.uk) and Schiff in a mini-season of appearances at Wigmore Hall, Oct 5,7 & 9 (wigmore-hall.org.uk).

Both have virtues. But my personal preference would be for the middle-ground of Stephen Hough who shares the QEH stage with the Viano Quartet, Oct 9, in programme that includes a quintet for piano and strings he wrote himself – being a composer as well as a performer. southbankcentre.co.uk

A few days later Hough will also feature in the London Piano Festival which runs every year at Kings Place and starts its 2025 season, Oct 9, with a joint recital by the Festival’s two founders: Charles Owen and Katia Apekisheva. Music by Schumann and Tchaikovsky alongside specially commissioned works that have been inspired by Schumann and Tchaikovsky. An interested idea. kingsplace.co.uk

• For anybody into Mahler, this is your week with a vengeance – starting Oct 3 when the Philharmonia play his 4th Symphony at the Festival Hall: southbankcentre.co.uk The next day, Oct 4, there’s another Mahler 4th in a reduction for chamber forces, done at Kings Place by Aurora Orchestra: kingsplace.co.uk

Also on Oct 4 there’s a performance of Mahler’s 9th by the BBCSO at the Barbican: barbican.co.uk

And if that isn’t enough, there’s his massive 8th – known as the Symphony of a Thousand because it calls for so many people onstage – at St Paul’s Cathedral, Oct 9, done by the Bach Choir with the Philharmonia: thebachchoir.org.uk You begin to wonder if a Mahler moratorium might be timely, if only to give other composers a look-in.

• Operatically, ENO’s old, messy and characteristically in-your-face Calixto Bieto staging of Carmen returns to the Coliseum Oct 8-Nov 5. Don’t expect it to be pretty. eno.org

• English Touring Opera bring their new production of Britten’s traumatising early work, The Rape of Lucretia, to Hackney Empire, Oct 4: hackneyempire.co.uk

And for collectors, there’s a new production of Handel’s rarely-staged Giustino at the Royal Opera’s Linbury Theatre, Oct 7-18: a piece with a complicated plot involving sea monsters, collapsing mountains, castrati in lead roles, and a degree of gender fluidity in others. Could be fun. rbo.org.uk