I managed to avoid spending any money at the Scottish Golf Show on Friday, no thanks to the dozens of exhibitors eager to do me the deal of the decade, and after a pleasant lunch accompanied by even more pleasant conversation window shopped and basked in the sun for a bit before getting home in time for the RSNO.

It's not often that I go to a concert and thoroughly enjoy every piece played but this was an exception. I had gone primarily to hear Beethoven's 4th piano concerto which has been one of my desert island discs since I heard it in the Festival Hall when I was a student visiting London in search of gainful employment. I don't remember who played it then or even the name of the orchestra but those opening piano notes and the orchestra's reply instantly evoke the sense of warm wonder that flooded through me on that first hearing.

The programme included a charming Haydn symphony and works by Kodaly. His Hary Janos Suite, originating as music for a comic opera, used a huge band with the esoteric (to us if not to the Hungarians) cimbalom, several lusty trombones, other booming brass and a satisfyingly large percussion section. For the most part it's loud, tuneful and jolly; all characteristics that make for happy listening. For the orchestra it called for vigorous playing and even athleticism from one of the marimba players who had to dive sideways at one point to still the reverberations of a set of tubular bells.

The audience went home most cheerfully.