The more Dr. Alan Walker thought about it, the more it made sense. He'd known a year ago of the loss of two major sponsors for his annual Great Romantics Festival. His options were clear: either pull the plug on the entire event or somehow bravely soldier on. He chose the latter.

But wouldn't it have been easier to run the festival biennially instead, giving organizers more time to raise financial support?

"My argument against that is that if we do, people will forget. If there is no festival, they'll think that it has stopped altogether," Walker said from his Ancaster home.

So, from Thursday, Oct. 9 until Saturday, Oct. 11, the Great Romantics Festival will brighten the city's classical music scene for the 14th time.

However, it will do so in a downsized manner, with fewer events and fewer artists.

"Yes, you can call it downsizing, but I prefer to say that we're having a two-day festival spread across three days," chuckled Walker.

"It's partly financial, certainly not artistic. We're very fortunate. We have a lineup of artists wanting to come."

Gone from the festival are the traditional Thursday morning events.

Things will now kick off on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. with a concert given by the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra in Hamilton Place under the baton of Horst Forster from Berlin, Germany, a frequent guest conductor at the festival.

The bill will contain Mendelssohn's Ruy Blas Overture, Schumann's Cello Concerto with Kaori Yamagami as soloist, and Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony, a chestnut last roasted some six GR festivals ago.

Tickets to that event are $36, $49, $59, senior $32, $45, $54, student $10, high school or younger $5. Call 905-526-7756.

Walker will officially open his festival at 2 p.m. on Friday in MacNab Presbyterian Church, 116 MacNab St. S.

Redeemer College University's Dr. Chris Teeuwsen will then give an organ recital consisting of several works by Johannes Brahms, plus Reger's Introduction and Passacaglia in D Minor.

At 7:30 p.m., the festival moves to McMaster's Convocation Hall for a recital by Georgian pianist Yelena Beriyeva, the runner-up in this year's Hilton Head International Piano Competition. Beriyeva's program will include works by Beethoven, Brahms, Liszt and Chopin.

The festival returns to MacNab Presbyterian on Saturday at 10 a.m. with a Schumann and Brahms Lieder recital given by Dundas's John Fanning and Ancaster's Valerie Tryon.

At 11 a.m., William Wright delivers a lecture on Brahms and the piano, focusing on the music that will be played at the piano gala held in MacNab at 2:30 p.m.

This year's gala will be an all-Brahms affair, something Walker has never before attempted.

"I gave this matter (a Brahms gala) some thought, and decided that it wasn't such a bad idea after all," said Walker.

"It's relatively easy to plan a gala around the works of Chopin, and other Romantic composers. But the moment you come to Brahms, you've got a choice between all these miniatures, beautiful though they are, and the really big pieces like the F Minor Sonata or the Handel Variations."

Walker's choice? Brahms's meatier fare. Tryon will perform the Seven Fantasias op. 116, and William Aide will get a handle on the Handel Variations. Beriyeva is down for Book 2 of the Paganini Variations, and Walker has chosen Louis Nagel to nail down the F Minor Sonata.

Is Walker concerned that Brahms won't sell like Chopin?

"On the contrary," replied Walker. "I think Brahms is a big seller. Almost from the moment he started composing, he's been, to put it in a vulgar way, at the top of the charts. Brahms is one of those rare composers. He hardly ever goes wrong."

Individual events are $15, senior/student $10.

Saturday morning's combined events are $15, senior/student $10.

The price for all of Saturday's events is $25, senior/student $15.

Tickets are available at the door. Saturday's 7:30 p.m. Candlelight Banquet in the Hamilton Convention Centre is $65, and must be reserved in advance.

Call 905-525-9140, ext. 23674. For more, log onto artset.net/greatromantics.html.

Leonard Turnevicius writes on classical music for The Hamilton Spectator.