This week should prove an embarrassment of riches musically.

Tonight at 8: 15, the newly formed Towson University Chamber Orchestra makes its debut in the university's Center for the Arts Concert Hall. With Mark McCoy on the podium, the orchestra will perform Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, Milhaud's "La Creation du Monde" and works by Stravinsky.

Tickets, at $4 and $6, are available at the Center for the Arts box office or by calling 410-830-2787.

Wednesday night at 8 p.m., Benjamin Pasternack, the newest member of the Peabody Conservatory's piano faculty, will give his first solo recital in Friedberg Hall.

Pasternack arrives in Baltimore with a most impressive dossier. As a youngster he was a protege of Mieczyslaw Horszowski and Rudolf Serkin at the Curtis Institute, and 10 years ago he won second prize -- no first prize was awarded that year -- in Italy's prestigious Busoni Competition.

Even more impressive are the reviews from Boston Globe music critic Richard Dyer, a difficult-to-please man when it comes to pianists.

Pasternack's fascinating program includes Beethoven's Sonata in A Major (opus 101), Chopin's "Barcarolle" and works by Mozart, Aaron Copland and Liszt.

For tickets, from $5 to $16, or information, call 410-659-8124.

All Beethoven

On Sunday, listeners in need of a Beethoven fix should hie themselves to the Second Presbyterian Church at 3: 30 p.m. for an all-Beethoven program performed by an ensemble that is described as Herbert Greenberg and Friends.

Since Baltimore Symphony concertmaster Greenberg's "friends" will include two of the greatest string players of the last 50 years, cellist Steven Kates and violist Joseph de Pasquale, this free concert should be a chamber-music afternoon to remember.

Call 410-889-6819.

Pub Date: 11/03/98