Gone is the old gramophone. In its place are an antique Steinway and a new Bluthner, both nine-foot long, concert grand pianos, on whose keys have played greats like Tamas Vasary, Albert Ferber, Peter Frankl and Wilhelm Kempff. The venue is different too - Gulati Hall, St. Vincent's School, but which easily accommodates the 300 PMS members and many non-members. What has not changed is the aim ``to foster and promote the love of western classical music'', says Jehangir Batiwala, honorary secretary.

The Society has 15 to 20 live concerts and performances each year, beginning with the student concert in June or July. Explains Batiwala, ``It allows students of music to get a feel of playing on stage in public and using good instruments.'' These are followed by performances by musicians, mostly foreign or foreign-based. ``The interesting thing is that all these musicians play simply for the love of music,'' says Binaifer Malegam, also honorary secretary. She explains that PMS works closely with similar societies in Mumbai, New Delhi, Madras and Calcutta to work out a performer's schedule so that as many centres as possible are covered.

How do they get in touch with musicians from all over the world? Says Batiwala, ``We are listed in international music directories and word also passes through word-of-mouth. We also host performances for the British Council, Max Mueller Bhavan, Alliance Francaise and embassies in Delhi.'' The government of India is another source for them. ``The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) also collaborates with us and we regularly host concerts for musicians who have come through them.'', says Malegam.

Pianists, string quartets and trios have played for the Society. Puneites have also been able to enjoy chamber music, choral concerts and even occasionally orchestral music. In recent years PMS has diversified considerably. ``We support and promote all art forms. We've had jazz concerts, folk music concerts, puppetry, musical theatre and dance performances as well.'', says Batiwala.

These performances, explains Batiwala, are fund-raisers as well for concerts through the year. PMS depends largely on the corpus collected through such events. Membership comes cheap - an annual Rs 150 for an individual. Says Malegam, ``We want everyone to be able to enjoy music.''

Although there is a ten-member committee in place, Malegam and Batiwala alone would normally be able to organise a concert. This includes coordinating with other centres, scheduling concert dates and obtaining permission from Mantralaya for a foreign artist to perform. Says Malegam, ``That is due to Adi Framjee who was the secretary of the Society for 39 years. He made the Society what it is. He had no access to e-mail, computers and faxes but he managed to get some really great artists.'' Batiwala does all PMS work out of his office at Forbes Marshall Group much as Framjee did. Corporate support has always been important to PMS, beginning with Shantanu Laxman Kirloskar's tenure as president of the society for 35 years.

The concert season ends in March, for, fewer musicians tour the country in summer. This is the time that PMS hold video screenings of concerts, music documentaries, music appreciation workshops and lecture recitals. Says member Dr Samresh Chatterji, ``The music workshops are very enjoyable. This would probably be a better way to attract a greater audience. I did attend one video showing but frankly, I didn't find it very interesting.''

He feels that PMS has done good work in making western classical music available to people, but he says, ``I am not sure that the Society has done enough to expand the audience. Most would get a fairly limited picture of western classical music here, for solo performances are not the best type of music for a newcomer. I realise orchestral performances are expensive but these are after all the greatest richness of western classical music.'' But it is nice to learn that Pune audiences are as good as any where else. Says Batiwala, ``The audience here is small but discerning.'' Malegam agrees, ``Die-hard concert goers attend concerts, floods and traffic jams notwithstanding!''