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I spent last weekend at Leamington Music's Festival Week-End in glorious sunshine.

Haydn was the theme, and most of the ten concerts in the included at least one of his chamber works. As well as many fine things like the Gypsy Rondo and D minor piano trios, and The Seven Last Words, played by the , there was also a good deal of Schubert. The Trout Quintet, The Shepherd on the Rock, and the wonderful Trio in B flat D898 were only some of the works performed. Not surprisingly, those of us listening found many parallels between the two composers, thanks to some canny programme-planning by the festival's director Richard Phillips.

The high point for me was the Sunday morning recital by the young Austrian pianist . Here the qualities of the two composers were neatly juxtaposed. Wallisch's recital began with Haydn's E flat Sonata Hob XV1 49, and this was followed by a piece by Czerny - his brilliant Rondino on a theme from . Five of Liszt's fine Transcriptions of Schubert songs then took us effortlessly on to finish with a truly majestic performance of his Wanderer Fantasy.

Readers may wonder what I was doing there! I was giving a talk on 'Haydn - European Superstar' where I explored the growth of the composer's amazing reputation though his commissions, performances and publications. This was true fame. Move over Rinaldo!

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