In recital at Old First Concerts this weekend, cellist Robert Howard (San Francisco Symphony, Philharmonia Baroque) and his duo partner Elizabeth Dorman offer a variety of interesting music beginning with one of my personal faves, Toru Takemitsu (Orion), and continuing with Messiaen, Stravinsky, and Brahms. Stavinsky's Suite Italienne is actually one of the composer's most delightful works, not a brow-knitter. And Brahms' sonata is, of course, beautiful. It's a nice concert for a summer afternoon, before we get down to the heavy business of the season.