Banking on the Right Notes

Does classical music have to be performed in a concert hall? Chances are that virtually all the concerts one hears

Does classical music have to be performed in a concert hall? Chances are that virtually all the concerts one hears at Harvard and in Boston are given either in an imposing recital hall or, if at the University, in a lavish House common room. It may be that surroundings such as Symphony Hall, Sanders Theatre or a Quad living room impart a definite charm and sense of dignity to the music itself. But now, Boston University School of Music has come up with two series which forsake the usual for very different and provocative settings.

The Graduate Touring Program and Nightmusic Series offer an alternative of sorts for concertgoers. This fall, the Touring Program features eight concerts by vocalists, chamber players, brass quintet and a violinist. The concerts take place at such locations as the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Walpole State Prison and the Goethe Institute of Boston. Today at noon, soprano Sheila Gayle sings music of Handel and Debussy at the Federal Reserve, 600 Atlantic Avenue, Boston, and the Romanul Chamber Players perform at the Gardner Museum, 280 The Fenway, Boston, at 4 p.m. All of the concerts are free and feature performances by students selected by the B.U. School of Music faculty. Call 353-3345 for more details.

The B.U. Nightmusic series presents four fall concerts by School of Music faculty members. The performances are at The Castle, 225 Bay State Road, Boston, in a relaxed atmosphere and among a small audience of 60 to 75 people. On Wednesday, November 1, pianist Linda Jiorle plays Mozart, Chopin, Debussy, Scriabin, Liszt, Schubert and Rochberg at 7:30 p.m. Free refreshments are served afterwards. Call 353-3345 for more details.

The rest of the concerts this week take place in more conventional settings. The Radcliffe Choral Society will perform its fall concert, "Motets, Songs and Graffiti" on Friday at 8 p.m. at Paine Hall, Music Building. Tickets are $1.50 with student ID, and are available at Holyoke Ticket Office or at the door. Oktoberfest 1500 is a festival of "German Song at the Court of Maximillian" performed by the Greenwood Consort with guest tenor Frank Hoffneister. Oktoberfest is offered today at Newton Arts Center, 61 Washington Park, Newtonville, at 8:30 p.m.; on Saturday, at Longy School of Music, 1 Follen Street, Cambridge, at 8:30 pm; and on Sunday at Horticultural Hall, 300 Mass. Ave., Boston, at 8:30 p.m. For the Longy concert, admission is $2.50 and information can be had at 648, 3873.

In a different vein, Charlotte Kaufman directs "The Poor Soldier," an Irish ballad opera by William Shield and John O'Keeffe, Dublin, 1783, at Tapestry Hall, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, at 3:30 pm on Sunday. The performance is free and details are available at 267-9300, ext. 340. At Berklee Recital Hall, 1140 Boyleston Street, Boston, Marla Prince leads a vocal ensemble tonight at 7:30 pm. Info about the free concert is at 266-1400. Also, at the University, sopranos Marguerite Coughlin and Sabra Loomis and pianist Alvin Novak perform works of Liszt, Wolf, Schumann and Berg. The free concert is at Adams House Lower Common Room at 8:30 pm.

Among the piano concerts, Darryl Rosenberg plays Mozart, Ravel and Schumann at Kirkland House Junior Common Room on Friday at 8:30 pm. At the Longy School, Randolph Nichols performs Mozart's Sonata in D Major K. 574, Brahms' Fantasie Pieces Op. 116. Poulenc's &Les Soirees de Nazelles" and Chopin's Ballade in G minor. The recital is on Friday at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $3 at the door; info at 861-0497. At B.U., Maria Clodes plays Bach, Schumann, Schubert and Ravel on Monday evening at 8 p.m. The concert is at 855 Comm. Ave., Boston, and tickets are $1 for students. Call 353-3245 for details.

The Boston Symphony Orchestra, under guest conductor Andrew Davis, performs two American works and a Strauss tone-poem tonight, tomorrow, Saturday and Tuesday at Symphony Hall. Davis, Music Director of the Toronto Symphony, will conduct the scherzo "Over the Pavements" by Charles Ives, "Before the Butterfly" by Morton Subotnick and "Ein Heldenleben" by Richard Strauss. The concerts are at 8 pm except for tomorrow's, which is at 2 p.m. 266-1492.

For baroque and classical enthusiasts, the New England Baroque Ensemble plays Purcell, Tomkins and Hume at Dunster House Library on Friday at 5:30 p.m. Also, the Cambridge Society for Early Music presents a concert of Mozart led by Michel Piquet on Monday evening at 8:30 p.m. in Sanders Theatre; tickets are at $7, $5, and $3 at the door. Call 247-1465. Finally, Robert and Catherine Strizich and Sandra Hammond play works of Foscarini, de Visee and Goultier in Gallery Gig at the Museum of Fine Arts (Gallery II-51). The lute, guitar and dance festivities begin at 7 p.m. on Tuesday and the concert is free.