Leg-work

Final preparations for Sunday's Schubertreise in Jodoigne, the eight in that series. Unhappy with the turnout last time, I decided to take publicity into my own hands — printing and distribution of posters and flyers in Jodoigne and hinterland, with the help of my wife Myriam. Time-consuming but not a waste of time, if it means more numbers (we shall see). It also gave us an opportunity to visit out-of-the-way places such as Jauchelette, picturesque Mélin, Lathuy, St. Rémy-Geest with its distinguished church tower, Hoegaarden, home of a much-loved beer, and Tienen. In Hoegaarden I saw the most magnificent villa dating from around 1900, one of the most spendid I've ever seen. A listed building, not surprisingly.

900 flyers distributed, which is a lot of house. Bear in mind that about one third of households refuse to accept publicity...

If you feel inclined, Michel Stas and myself would love to see you on Sunday afternoon, 10th April at 5pm in the Chapelle Notre-Dame du Marché, Grand' Place 1, 1370 Jodoigne (about thirty miles east of Brussels). Reservations: +32 486 383322 or conorbiggs@hotmail.com

The piano we're using this time is something of a rarity, built by the Belgian J.Vogelzangs around 1850, and restored by Claude Kelecom. The kind of instrument that Liszt might have performed on, perhaps playing his own Schubert song transcriptions.