Tomorrow's programme features two mighty ballads, "Lodas Gespenst" and "Amphiaraos". "Lodas Gespenst" or "The Ghost of Loda" is a hummdinging account of Fionn MacCumhaill's battle with Loda in the Orkneys. How on earth did Schubert end up writing a song about an Irish hero? Well, the answer is Ossian, aka James MacPherson, a wily Scots fraudster, who palmed off celtic "manuscripts" on a gullible public under the pen name "Ossian". MacPherson was rumbled by Dr. Johnson among o

Schubertreise XVII (imagine, almost halfway there) is approaching fast, and as usual I feel a mixture of fear and exaltation. Usually at this point my body provides a handy get-out clause in the form of fictitious sore throats (psychosoma). At the same time the desire to perform these oven-ready songs provokes the sort of feeling that greyhounds must feel before the starting gun. On the menu this time: some more humdinging ballades, "Minona" and "Lodas Gespenst", the latter S