Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert. How the world of music would be so very much poorer had they not existed, all three within 30 years of each other in Vienna. I was surprised many years ago when wandering round a graveyard in Vienna, to come across the grave of Anton Diabelli, he who gave a waltz theme to Beethoven for his variations, opus 120. Diabelli's tomb is only a few metres from the area where Mozart's remains were hastily interred.

I grew up with the 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli, played around 55 years ago to me by a Decca LP with Wilhelm Backhaus. I have lived with them ever since. A CD that arrived yesterday played by Paul Lewis earned a rare three stars from me. I cannot agree with Lewis's statement of Diabelli's waltz – condescending, and dismissive. Diabelli was a highly important Viennese publisher, and Beethoven would never have mocked his waltz in that way. But after the first two minutes and 27 seconds, all goes well and Lewis joins a pantheon of profound performances of this superb piece of music and Western culture.