This week's classical picks

Excellence spoken here. You might listen in vain for signs of a Gallic accent in the performance of the France-based Ebene Quartet Friday at the Kimmel's Perelman Theater. But the program of Mozart's Quartet in E flat (K. 428), Mendelssohn's Quartet in A minor (Op. 13) and Bartok's Quartet No. 4 is likely to be some of the most intelligent, vital playing you'll encounter anywhere in the chamber music world. (215-569-8080 or www.pcmsconcerts.org.) - David Patrick Stearns

Vintage "Ring." Time was, finding a terrific Wagner "Ring" cycle was an epic undertaking - and an expensive one. But the first "Ring" recorded in a digital format (14 CDs) can be had for a mere $35, and it's held up well. Recorded in the early 1980s, Marek Janowski's recordings with Staatskapelle Dresden feature a cast of late-20th-century greats: Theo Adam (Wotan), Lucia Popp (Woglinde), Siegfried Jerusalem (Siegmund), Jessye Norman (Sieglinde), and Jeannine Altmeyer (Brünnhilde). - Peter Dobrin

Wagner writes! As long as you're economizing on a nice "Ring," you can afford to splurge on a piece of genuine Wagneriana. New York's Swann Auction Galleries this week puts on display an 1877 letter written by Wagner in Bayreuth in which he grants permission to an unknown recipient to reproduce scenes from Der Ring des Nibelungen. To be auctioned Nov. 20, the one-page letter of just a few dozen words is expected to fetch $5,000 to $7,500 - a sum that would have left the composer, ever debt-

ridden, incredulous. - P.D.

Leon's World. That should be the title of the new disc by beloved veteran pianist Leon Fleisher, who returns to (mostly) left-hand repertoire at age 86 in the new Bridge-label disc All the Things You Are. Yes, the Jerome Kern title song is heard at the end - with pieces by Gershwin and Bach interspersed with more challenging Leon Kirchner and George Perle works. It's a wild mix unified by Fleisher's artistry, heard more vividly here than in most recordings he has made in recent years, and in excellent sound in Curtis Institute's Gould Hall. (http://www.bridgerecords.com/products/leon-fleisher-all-the-things-you-are/) - D.P.S.