tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36452592012-02-17T09:53:55.309ZPersonal journal dealing mainly with music listened to, plus various food and wine matters. Rants at a few favourite topics.Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.comBlogger6721100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-42427638830325367572012-02-17T09:53:00.000Z2012-02-17T09:53:55.318Z

The viola is not a large violin tuned a fifth lower, however much some moonlighting violinists try to pretend. In sound, it is more akin to the cello and demands a quite different playing technique from the violin. I like the sound of “true” viola players such as Tabea Zimmerman and Pierre Lénert and to these I can now add the Chinese viola player Pijun Xu; from the CD cover picture of her, she

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-75730774346771808642012-02-11T17:01:00.000Z2012-02-11T17:01:13.269Z

Beethoven's violin concerto is a difficult work to play, mainly because of its long first movement (22-24 minutes, on average). Of the many, many recordings of the work I have, my heart gravitates usually to three: Adolf Busch (live at Carnegie Hall, 8th February 1942), Erich Röhn (live 12th January 1944) and Georg Kulenkampff (studio 1936). All three have in common that they are played by

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-51848324649968498192012-02-09T17:25:00.002Z2012-02-09T17:25:15.568Z

Back home after two wonderful weeks in Northern Thailand, Laos, and Kuala Lumpur. 37 CDs await me for listening! A good part thanks to my friend Lee. Started my North European change of diet with a superb rabbit with red wine and mushrooms, cooked by me from a recipe discovered by my friend Anne. Had I been able to follow the recipe exactly, the dish would have had five stars. But since there

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-53833966595526429112012-01-21T15:19:00.000Z2012-01-21T15:19:23.025Z

Pristine Audio's latest release brings us the familiar recordings of Jacques Thibaud and Alfred Cortot in sonatas by Franck, Debussy and Fauré, with a couple of fill-ups from Fauré and Debussy. Like meeting old friends again. Difficult to know whether to admire more Cortot or Thibaud. Or the original recording and balance engineers from the late 1920s, or the miraculous transfers from 78s by Mark

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-36418280803548606302012-01-21T10:52:00.000Z2012-01-21T10:52:39.082Z

Listened again with enormous enjoyment and admiration to Vasily Petrenko and the Liverpool Philharmonic in Shostakovich's 10th Symphony (Naxos). The work appeals to me more and more. The recording is exceptional. The conducting sounds spot-on. And the orchestral playing confirms my suspicions that a second-tier orchestra playing its heart out is often preferable to a major international orchestra

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-73222139640328700582012-01-17T01:15:00.000Z2012-01-17T01:15:50.974Z

I had intended to listen to Sibelius's seventh symphony this evening, but became side-tracked when looking for a particular disc and ended up listening to Paganini's 24 Capricci instead. Highly enjoyable; the violinist was the extraordinary Tianwa Yang when she was young (!) – only 13 years old when this recording was made. But her considerable virtues as a violinist were much in evidence, even

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-17411328293641608202012-01-15T12:53:00.000Z2012-01-15T13:58:41.736Z

In the good old days, you went to a record shop, found an LP that looked good, asked to hear it, then sat in a listening booth and listened. You could do this even into the 1960s; I remember sitting in a booth in Oxford High Street when I was a student there, listening to La Bohème from start to finish – I had tears in my eyes at the end. I bought the two LPs (Beecham, Björling, de Los Angeles).

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-2608946628257272202012-01-15T10:27:00.001Z2012-01-15T10:28:12.991Z

A sudden whim yesterday evening saw me take Otto Klemperer's mono recording (1955, Philharmonia) of Beethoven's Eroica symphony off the shelf -- and listen to it with very great pleasure. It really is a great classic recording of Klemperer at his finest. One admires the forward woodwind and reduced strings that really bring out the essential of Beethoven's revolutionary symphony. Not an ideal

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-49891960039558019032012-01-09T00:03:00.001Z2012-01-09T00:03:18.860Z

Maria Callas in Tosca or Norma; Edwin Fischer in Bach; Otto Klemperer in Beethoven; Wilhelm Furtwängler in Bruckner or Wagner; Walter Gieseking in Debussy: to these I would add Tianwa Yang in Sarasate. Prompted by a remark from a friend, I indulged myself in 68 minutes of Miss Yang playing Sarasate and was sorry when the 68 minutes were up. I did not admire the playing; I did not admire the sound

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-480669051973282882012-01-08T00:22:00.000Z2012-01-08T00:22:10.800Z

Odd that Sibelius's fourth symphony seems to have escaped me for my past 55 or so listening years. It appears I (now) have four recordings of the work, but I had pigeon-holed it in my mind as being noisy and rampaging. How wrong can one be? On my new traversal of Sibelius, I listened to the fourth this evening and really took to it (it was reputed to be one of Herbert van Karajan's favourite

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-38537185281674675012012-01-07T16:31:00.000Z2012-01-07T16:31:18.394Z

I never thought much of Efrem Zimbalist as a violinist. He has always seemed to me a somewhat pale and characterless pupil of Leopold Auer, albeit one with an exemplary technique. However, I was strangely impressed with his E minor string quartet on a new Naxos CD (Fine Arts Quartet). Written in 1931, the quartet is highly likeable; the musical language sounds turn-of-the-century Anglo-French –

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-40938587953757197812012-01-04T22:45:00.000Z2012-01-04T22:45:26.109Z

“Good news! Monsieur Ysaÿe has escaped the German armies and is on a boat for England. Unfortunately, it is said he is bringing all his music with him”. So goes a well-known Eugène Ysaÿe story from the first world war. I know of none of the six violinists to whom he dedicated his six solo sonatas who recorded them (but the mid- 1920s was not a good time for adventurous recording projects). When

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-49432866353561277072012-01-01T14:08:00.002Z2012-01-01T14:22:14.087Z

Ah ! My pot au feu d'agneau; or lamb stew; or Irish stew; or merveille d'agneau aux fines herbes. Or any other pretentious name that can be conjured up. Anyway: take a good lamb stew stock from the freezer (from the last time of this dish). Add more leeks, carrots, parsnips and onions and – above all – mixed herbs and rosemary. Simmer. Then add barley, and more lamb – scrag of lamb, stewing lamb,

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-41314323031408830982012-01-01T01:38:00.000Z2012-01-01T01:50:44.923Z

2011 ended with a stuffed, boned pheasant and a good bottle of Côtes du Rhône wine. Then on to what, for me, is the pinnacle of Western music and the high point of High Baroque: Bach's Mass in B minor. It is a work I associate with special occasions, and I usually play it at the year's end. Coincidentally, it was the very first work I heard at a concert (at the age of around 13 in St Wilfred's

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-48261264403631361782011-12-31T00:14:00.000Z2011-12-31T00:14:24.584Z

There are not too many violinists whose violinistic voice one can recognise within seconds; Heifetz, Rabin, Kreisler and Elman come immediately to mind, and then one has to think a bit. It was good to hear Mischa Elman again this evening, in a BBC studio recital from 1961 when he was 70 years old. Immediately one smiles at the plaintive sound of his violin, and the deliberate articulation with

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-38160308102295501682011-12-30T10:28:00.002Z2011-12-30T10:28:19.476Z

A violin-loving friend in Brussels sent me a DVD of Alina Ibragimova, the violinist who can do no wrong, playing the fourth Mozart violin concerto (with the Deutsche Kammerphilhamonie Bremen and Paavo Järvi). It is an entrancing performance. Ibragimova plays with immaculate technique, immaculate taste and immaculate musicianship. What is rarer: she communicates a real sense of enjoyment in her

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-4023424254345367442011-12-29T22:08:00.001Z2011-12-29T22:08:43.012Z

I finished listening today to all six CDs of Josef Suk recordings from the 1950s and 60s. Not too much to add concerning my deep admiration for Suk's violin playing: accurate, silky but not over-sweet, intensely musical and, in the duos, with the real musicianship of a superb chamber music player. I would just add that I enjoyed all 26 works on the discs – even including the works by Jaroslav

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-21484931285471061842011-12-24T12:20:00.001Z2011-12-24T12:20:48.244Z

About to start listening to Disc V of my six-CD pack of Josef Suk (all very good, so far). Waiting in the wings is a 2-CD pack of Mischa Elman (BBC recordings from 1961). Then this morning arrives a 10-CD box of Josef Szigeti. There never were such times. The Szigeti box cost me £9.99 from Amazon (including postage).

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-80095496214021876912011-12-23T00:07:00.000Z2011-12-23T00:07:08.911Z

My father, who played his double bass in the London Symphony Orchestra throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, had an immense regard for Pierre Monteux and one can hear why in a recording by Monteux and the LSO (1959) of Sibelius's second symphony. A commentator to this blog pointed me towards this recording: fortunately. It's a CD I picked up a couple of decades ago, probably in America in the

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-29833970009609131332011-12-21T23:16:00.000Z2011-12-21T23:16:21.591Z

Riccardo Chailly - Beethoven Symphonies I bought this new set mainly to have a well-played and well-recorded set of the Beethoven symphonies suitable for my new headphones. I did not expect Chailly to supplant Klemperer in Beethoven; but, then again, I rarely listen to the Beethoven symphonies any longer. Day One: the first symphony. I like this performance. Under Chailly the performance dances

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-86280817021043304312011-12-18T19:23:00.001Z2011-12-18T19:23:50.948Z

Josef Szigeti, Oscar Shumsky and Josef Suk were all violinists of the first rank who eschewed low-cut dresses, TV shows and all the other “celebrity” razz-matazz. They were simply first class violinists of the old school. Working my way through a six CD box of early (1950s and 60s) recordings by Josef Suk, I find myself in immense admiration of his playing. So far I've heard his early Dvorak, Suk

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-47188977060691406062011-12-16T23:39:00.001Z2011-12-16T23:39:46.199Z

Sibelius seems to have fallen out of fashion for the moment, although back in the 1950s and 60s he was all the rage (just as, at the present time, we suffer from wall-to-wall Mahler). Almost by chance, this evening I pulled his second symphony off the rack (LSO conducted by Colin Davis) and I enjoyed it immensely. A big plus for my wireless headphones, this ability to listen to the thundering

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-21235084789183843542011-12-13T23:20:00.001Z2011-12-13T23:20:25.659Z

I rarely venture outside of Western “classical” music. But one of the other paths I enjoy is gypsy music, and the other is selective American folk / country music. Listening this evening to Nina Simone was a very great pleasure. She was a singer who sang from the heart and mixed black, country, jazz and classical streams. I first came across her in the late 1950s singing “Love me and leave me”

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-7358275836008546432011-12-11T22:37:00.001Z2011-12-11T22:41:40.863Z

Susan Graham sings a very fine version of Chausson's Poème de l'Amour et de la Mer (with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Yan Pascal Tortelier, 2004). Nice to hear a singer really engage with the words and the music. Chausson's early death (in a bicycle accident, of all things) was yet another sad loss for music. I've had a long love affair with Chausson's sad song cycle, starting back in the

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-66002888130330673152011-12-11T21:44:00.001Z2011-12-11T21:48:42.518Z

After being somewhat diappointed with James Ehnes's re-recording of the Paganini Caprices, I am pleased to give a good welcome to Thomas Zehetmair and his 2007 recording of the same works. I particularly enjoyed Zehetmair's subtle and prevalent variation of dynamics -- from pp, to ff. And Zehetmair, unlike Ehnes, brings out much of the showman character of these capricci. Welcome to the Paganini

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-90184742845442764442011-12-06T10:55:00.001Z2011-12-06T11:02:03.395Z

The recent superb Beethoven violin concerto recordings by Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Christian Tetzlaff and Liza Ferschtman were spoiled for me by their bizarre choice of cadenzas (when so many good alternatives exist). It would not have taken much to put the cadenzas on a separate track and thus give us the option of inserting some other version. That (should be) an advantage of the digital age.

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-76068628981397827382011-12-04T17:39:00.001Z2011-12-04T17:39:42.993Z

It is pretty self-evident that a significant proportion of current “famous” young classical performers owe as much to their looks as to their prowess with the bow, the keyboard, the larynx or the baton. How many young fat, be-spectacled young performers can you remember with front-rank billing? There are exceptions. I have always been somewhat mesmerised by the violin playing of Lisa

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-8491650773537027012011-12-04T16:28:00.001Z2011-12-04T16:30:42.028Z

Over an hour of virtuoso violin music is hard to bring off, but I enjoyed a new CD of opera fantaisies from an unknown (to me) young violinist, Haik Kazazyan (from Armenia). A past CD of opera fantaisies from Gil Shaham disappointed greatly a few years ago, but Kazazyan is an intelligent and sensitive player (as well as being a thorough virtuoso) and brings a wide range of dynamics and tone

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-72025669997121664222011-12-04T14:35:00.001Z2011-12-04T14:37:09.708Z

Three stars for Lucy Crowe! I have not really come across the young English soprano before, but her CD of cantatas and cantata arias by Handel really impresses. She has a lovely voice, with a golden timbre to it, and – oh joy! – she actually enunciates clearly so we can hear every word of the recitatives and arias. How rare, how welcome, and what a contrast to Alexandrina Pendatchanska whom I

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-71673683906238112042011-12-02T23:39:00.001Z2011-12-02T23:42:25.535Z

Another recording of Handel's opera Agrippina, this time conducted by René Jacobs. Once again, I enjoyed every minute of the three and a half hours. Jacobs is much more theatrical than was John Eliot Gardiner, and he doesn't go for Handel's after-thought unsatisfactory ending, as did Gardiner. I prefer Gardiner's Agrippina (Della Jones) but much prefer Jacobs' Ottone (Bejun Mehta, versus

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-59224303489613645882011-12-01T10:45:00.001Z2011-12-01T10:46:22.416Z

In the beginning, I listened to 78 rpm records on a portable (sort-of) wind-up gramophone where you had to change the steel needle after every side. I soon advanced to a record-playing deck (78s only) that plugged into the radio for sound. Then I had my very own record player (Pye Black Box) with an autochanger and the ability to play LPs. Things progressed over the years; I was a late adopter of

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-34837499617620415982011-11-26T22:53:00.001Z2011-11-26T22:55:39.431Z

After many years and many tries, I am beginning to enjoy Shostakovich's tenth symphony. The performance by Vasily Petrenko conducting the Liverpool Philharmonic sounds excellent to me, and the recording (on a cheapo Naxos CD) is first rate. This evening, however, I decided that for such music I have to invest in a pair of wireless headphones. Click, click on Amazon; the headphones will be

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-61320220296325905812011-11-26T16:46:00.001Z2011-11-26T16:47:51.479Z

What happened to “classical” music after around 1950, both in terms of writing, and performance? Having greatly admired Josef Szigeti yesterday (1940 recordings) I find myself today bowled over by Walter Gieseking in Beethoven sonatas (1938-40). Giesking plays like, I imagine, Beethoven might have done, with an appropriate wildness to much of the music. Difficult to think of much significant

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-66783784709028166532011-11-26T10:49:00.001Z2011-11-26T10:52:12.493Z

Yesterday evening I dipped into Josef Szigeti (with Andor Foldes) playing short pieces by Schubert, Brahms, Dvorak, Hubay, Kodaly, Mussorgsky, Lalo and Debussy (recordings from 1941, on a Biddulph CD). It was striking how violinists of the pre-1950s era were able to invest each short piece with its own colour and character. One listens to Szigeti, and the 33 minutes or so occupied by the pieces

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-11767913343519438402011-11-19T11:12:00.001Z2011-11-19T11:14:15.537Z

I was disappointed a few weeks ago revisiting Guido Cantelli in Tchaikovsky's Pathétique symphony; it seemed to me simply too fast and too Toscanini-like. However, the Pristine Audio reincarnation of Cantelli's 1950 Tchaikovsky 5th Symphony restores this famous performance to life. Also on the Pristine disc is Cantelli's 1951 Romeo & Juliet Overture; this is a work I love, and this is the

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-48372871020752537952011-11-07T20:59:00.000Z2011-11-07T20:59:31.102Z

Monday, and finishing up things since I shall not be eating in again until Saturday evening. So a good start with pâté de foie de canard, followed by perfectly cooked langoustines, followed by a truly excellent sirloin steak, followed by the remains of a very ripe Camembert. The whole accompanied by a good green salad and a bottle of Côtes du Rhône. No dessert, alas.

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-71256077330970737732011-11-06T16:34:00.000Z2011-11-07T08:13:05.775Z

Three and a half hours go by quickly when listening to Handel's Agrippina. I listened to the 1991 recording on Philips conducted by John Eliot Gardiner which is excellent, with a good spacious sound and with Gardiner less manic than often. The singers are very good, though sometimes lacking in theatrical thrust. The singers (with not an Italian amongst them) simply do not relish the words in a

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-24770369807049853742011-11-05T16:00:00.001Z2011-11-05T16:21:16.413Z

People who like drawing up lists of “top three” or “top ten”, or whatever rarely have much problem with the three greatest composers, and Bach, Mozart and Beethoven almost always romp home. But the second tier? And the third tier? Almost as difficult for list-builders as “the greatest French / English / Italian composer”. However, Handel (and Schubert) must always come immediately after the top

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-46716244200046999122011-10-31T16:20:00.002Z2011-10-31T16:20:40.574Z

There are some CDs that, without star names or trumpet-blowing PR, manage to be highly enjoyable. One such I heard yesterday evening features Svetlin Roussev (violin) and Frédéric d'Oria-Nicolas (piano). They play the third sonata by Nikolai Medtner, coupled with the third sonata by Grieg. Both works are first class. The recording and balance (2008) are first class. The playing reminds me that “

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-13072699110667221362011-10-29T19:01:00.000+01:002011-10-29T19:01:35.183+01:00

During the 1950s and 60s, my father lived just two streets away from Alfredo Campoli, and since he played in the LSO for almost all of that period, he came across Alfredo frequently. He never had a good word to say for the violinist. Partly because of Campoli's background (a café violinist who announced he was turning “classical” after 1945 when café orchestras went out of fashion in England) and

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-59564727710445030912011-10-20T14:04:00.000+01:002011-10-20T22:22:24.097+01:00

Ion Voicu was a phenomenal virtuoso of the violin. Coming to prominence as a violinist in Romania during the period 1940-65 he was of gypsy heritage and not the least attraction in listening to him is the confluence of gypsy, Central Europe, and great virtuosity. Like so many superb violinists of that period in Central Europe, he never became really well known but he lives on via his posthumous

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-4815107451135743362011-10-16T15:47:00.000+01:002011-10-16T15:47:34.043+01:00

Pleasant hour listening to Liana Isakadze and comrades playing string music by Otar Taktakishvili, Sulchan Nassidse, Nodar Gabunija and Sulchan Zinzadse. Hardly household names. An old copy CD, courtesy of Carlos. I particularly enjoyed the concerto for violin, cello and chamber orchestra by Sulchan Nassidse; some quite original music, and a strong link with Georgian folk music. Interesting and

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-77285576310474511692011-10-14T21:19:00.000+01:002011-10-14T21:19:45.375+01:00

Good food and a good meal. Somewhat difficult to find in restaurants, even if one pays much money. A little easier to find at home, if one cooks it without outside intervention. This evening was superb: a truly excellent aged sirloin steak (thanks to Marks & Spencer). A good green salad with a highly superior dressing (out of a bottle). A three star Reblochon cheese, with a three star Camembert,

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-72486894781114987262011-10-11T09:39:00.000+01:002011-10-11T09:39:13.647+01:00

With great delight, I am steadily working my way through four hours on four CDs of Walter Gieseking playing Debussy (a truly incredible bargain from Regis, with the complete set costing only something like £12). The recordings were made by EMI during the period 1951-4 and sound extraordinarily good, since the piano is much more tolerant towards digitised “old” sound compared with the violin. And

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-69704234389352407772011-10-02T21:21:00.000+01:002011-10-03T11:34:58.107+01:00

The violin concerto by Aram Khachaturian is not the world's greatest. And the Romanian Radio studios in 1954 were not the world's greatest recording venue, nor the Romanian Radio Orchestra the best orchestra of the time. But the performance recorded in 1954 by the said forces conducted by Niyazi created one of the all-time greatest violin concerto recordings in history. Julian Sitkovetsky plays

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-31827543431866594582011-10-02T17:20:00.000+01:002011-10-02T17:20:30.775+01:00

A hot afternoon in England, with temperatures going up towards 29 degrees. So a good time to sit back in a cool(ish) lounge and spend three hours with Handel, this time with his opera Berenice. The usual ridiculous plot of sundry kings, queens, princesses and princes in exotic lands (Egypt, this time). No really memorable characters (such as strong, wicked sorceresses). And no great arias in

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-42062630749701556122011-10-01T16:39:00.003+01:002011-10-01T16:39:26.796+01:00

“Harry Collier”, said Mephistopheles; “your time has come, and we will descend together to a very warm place where you can re-join many of your friends. I have decided that you may take with you just one copy of just one violin concerto – the violin is my instrument. The concerto will be: that of Piotr Tchaikovsky. Make your one choice, and come with me”. “Lord Mephistopheles”, I stammer (

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-49209462294033472282011-09-29T15:01:00.000+01:002011-09-29T15:01:52.106+01:00

Fleeing the advancing armies, or tidal wave, or whatever: which CDs do I grab and take with me? Do I choose work, or performance? This involves also the perennial question of recording quality, versus performance. For me, performance of a given work is always the No.1 consideration; recording quality comes second. Where there is a clear “winner”, rival candidates can safely be left behind. So I

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-29394728507442724172011-09-27T22:01:00.001+01:002011-09-27T22:01:53.300+01:00

Somewhere around I have all 21 Brahms Hungarian Dances played by: Marat Bisengaliev, Aaron Rosand, Hagai Shaham, Oscar Shumsky .. and Baiba Skride. A vast assembly of individual violiinsts plays a selection of one or more indidual dances, from Leopold Auer to Fritz Kreisler and Jascha Heifetz, and beyond. I have no doubt as to the winner of the complete 21 dances: Baiba Skride and her sister,

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-14218770480002323152011-09-26T11:38:00.000+01:002011-09-26T11:38:25.952+01:00

After enjoying my recent Naxos CD of three Russian violin concertos, I turned to Julia Fischer on a PentaTone CD where she plays three more Russian concertos (Khatchaturian, Prokofiev 1, and Glazunov) accompanied by Yakov Kreizberg and the Russian National Orchestra. A pity Ms Fischer has left PentaTone; it's a company that currently produces some of the best quality recordings. I greatly

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-5606698276859102792011-09-25T09:34:00.001+01:002011-09-25T09:34:21.171+01:00

A new Naxos CD of “Russian Violin Concertos” makes pleasant listening. The three concertos are quite undemanding of the listener and pass an enjoyable 64 minutes. The violin concerto by Julius Conus is (relatively) well-known. The Concertino for violin & string orchestra by Mieczslaw Weinberg claims to be a world première recording; the piece, dating from 1948, was only published in 2007. I

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-81312548379076233122011-09-18T15:35:00.001+01:002011-09-19T13:08:55.821+01:00

In any recorded performance of the Brahms violin concerto, the important elements – apart from the composer – are the violin soloist, the conductor, and the recording engineers. Despite my recent massacre of my CD collection, I have still ended up with 79 (!) recordings of Brahms' Op 77. The most recent is by Baiba Skride, with Sakari Oramo on the Orfeo label. It is excellent. Miss Skride plays

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-49287056112940615502011-09-17T15:31:00.002+01:002011-09-19T11:25:13.073+01:00

When I was younger, most major pianists were bald-headed men: Solomon Cutner, Wilhelm Backhaus, Sviatislav Richter, Vladimir Horowitz, et al. But after enthusing recently over Lise de la Salle, I have now to enthuse over Yuja Wang. Her recital CD of Stravinsky, Scarlatti, Brahms and Ravel is one to keep close to the CD player. She displays cool intelligence, plus an incredible technique. Which

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-15417714408270855762011-09-11T11:34:00.000+01:002011-09-11T11:44:49.848+01:00

I first heard Elgar's Piano Quintet at a concert at Boxgrove Priory many years ago and was immediately attracted to it. For some reason it has often been disparaged by critics, some of whom no dealt felt that, because of its date of composition (1918-19) Elgar should have been dabbling in serialism and electronic synthesisers, or whatever. For me, the music is saturated in nostalgia, in mourning

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-1811418389015410432011-09-10T11:13:00.000+01:002011-09-13T11:35:33.943+01:00

It is a little difficult to understand why the music of Henri Vieuxtemps isn't played more. His music is melodic, well written and immediately appealing. It is, however, pretty well absent from concert halls, and rare in recordings, apart from the fifth violin concerto, for some reason. These are good days for lovers of rarer music in recording. Yesterday I took delivery of a boxed set of all

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-25659940566853565312011-09-02T22:35:00.000+01:002011-09-02T22:35:17.901+01:00

There are certain 'golden classics' of recorded music such as: Abert Sammons playing the Elgar violin concerto, Jascha Heifetz playing Saint-Saëns' Havanaise, and Introduction & Rondo Capriccioso, Wilhelm Furtwängler in Bruckner symphonies … and more. Having listened almost obsessively many times to Alina Ibragimova and Cédric Tiberghien in Guillaume Lekeu's sonata for violin and piano, I sense

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-78999042792004365762011-09-01T10:13:00.000+01:002011-09-01T22:53:22.556+01:00

When someone commented to Leopold Auer that he thought Heifetz played a piece too quickly, Auer is reputed to have replied: “Maybe, but you listened to every note, did you not?” And it is true: Heifetz had such a chameleon sound, with infinite variety of bowing, fingering, colouring, rubato and dynamics that we sit glued to the sound of what he is playing. I remembered Auer's remark when

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-26335496582339461002011-08-31T11:16:00.000+01:002011-09-07T14:25:34.690+01:00

Beethoven's "Von Herzen - möge es wieder - zu Herzen gehn!" [from the heart, to the heart] sums up quite a lot of what moves me in music – be it folk, popular or classical. I don't take to music that is purely commercial, nor music that is purely cerebral. I bought a Wigmore Hall Live recording by the Skampa Quartet because it was a very cheap offer, and because it contained quartets by Mozart,

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-56467557941640853652011-08-28T21:46:00.000+01:002011-08-28T21:46:12.874+01:00

There are advantages in having a large collection of recordings, one of which is that, when I suddenly have a desire to hear something different, there is plenty of choice. Today I had a desire to listen to ... Mozart and started with his symphony No.39, one of my favourites. Performed by Otto Klemperer and the Philharmonia, one of my favoured conductors for the Austro-German orchestral corpus.

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-12722047350473414342011-08-27T18:33:00.000+01:002011-08-27T18:33:05.083+01:00

Listening to a new recording of Handel's Aminta e Fillide, I wonder anew at how music, melodies and arias simply poured out of the 21 year old Saxon. The cantata consists of a string of non-stop hits, many of which were re-cycled in later works (particularly the operas). This is the third recording I have of this work, which is highly dependent on having two good soloists, plus expert chamber

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-69239496364368448982011-08-19T15:27:00.000+01:002011-08-19T15:27:28.732+01:00

I am often criticised (particularly by members of my family) for having multiple versions of the same piece of recorded music. Things become even more ridiculous when one has multiple versions of the same piece of music by the same artist. For the record, I have FOUR recordings of Lisa Batiashvili playing the Beethoven violin concerto. Until yesterday, I had two of the same Lisa playing the

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-21921695444492224242011-08-16T22:12:00.000+01:002011-08-16T22:12:07.771+01:00

For much of my life, I have sat down and listened dutifully to the music of Franz Liszt without particularly enjoying it. I must have at least one kilo of Liszt CDs in my collection. This evening, however, I listened to Liszt with enjoyment, thanks to the playing of Lise de la Salle, a 23 year old pianist from Cherbourg for whom I have had a great affection for the past few years. Miss de la

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-35143053356409773422011-08-14T16:19:00.000+01:002011-08-14T16:19:59.203+01:00

A quote from the American Record Guide sums up my feelings after listening to Adolf Busch and Rudolf Serkin playing Schubert's Fantiasie D 934 in 1931: “Why is it that pre-WW II chamber music recordings – this one is a good example – are almost invariably more relaxed and laid-back in style; sweeter, riper and richer in tone; smoother and more refined in execution; more involved and overtly

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-68138011304844963582011-08-08T14:53:00.000+01:002011-08-08T14:53:25.266+01:00

Giovanni Battista Pergolesi died in 1736 at the age of 26. Guillaume Lekeu died in 1894 just one day after his 24th birthday. What immense losses! Had Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Wagner et al died at the age of 24, how much poorer music would be. At the moment, I am conducting a mini Lekeu festival in my flat, centred on his chamber works. I have two recordings of the magnificent

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-86370754594668999862011-08-05T14:43:00.000+01:002011-08-05T14:43:25.284+01:00

Living in England, I have been deluged all my life with eulogies to Great British pianists, tenors, violinists, oboe players, conductors, composers, and so on. In whatever country you live, you need to apply a strong filter to news / reviews / promotional puffs. So I am reticent when approaching Kathleen Ferrier, easily the most famous British contralto / mezzo soprano in history. Over-hyped?

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-91501884330221199952011-08-02T18:43:00.000+01:002011-08-02T18:43:05.210+01:00

It is surprising, given my highly ambivalent feelings towards the symphonies of Gustav Mahler, that I have spent the past few days in semi Mahler saturation. The latest was an ultra-cheap Regis CD of Kathleen Ferrier singing the Kindertotenlieder, plus three of the Rückert songs. I complained about Katerina Karnéus in the Kindertotenlieder: first song 6' 12”; second song 5' 08”. With Bruno

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-77484368058807493222011-07-27T14:39:00.003+01:002011-07-27T14:42:52.724+01:00

A CD featuring a recital given in Vienna in May 1974 confirms many of my ideas (and prejudices). The two artists are David Oistrakh and Paul Badura-Skoda. The Russian and the Viennese play Viennese duo classics by Beethoven, Mozart and Schubert. As with the recent Heifetz recital that emerged from Uruguay, I welcome the absence of a recording studio. Very often, a public performance brings a

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-29416404678268062652011-07-24T18:29:00.000+01:002011-07-24T18:29:22.238+01:00

Patricia Kopatchinskaja CD Part II. This was a lot better than the first part (Kreutzer Sonata). In fact, the performance of the Bartok Six Romanian Dances by Ms K. and Fazil Say was truly excellent. Mr Say's hair style suggests he is a fan of Franz Liszt, but his five movement sonata for violin and piano is a long way from Liszt but not at all disagreable; it is well written, clever, and

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-48731416731306226142011-07-18T10:40:00.000+01:002011-07-18T10:40:31.619+01:00

An unusual day saw me listening to Brahms, Dvorak and Mahler, hardly my normal daily fare. The Dvorak four pieces, plus the E minor Mazurek, were played by Josef Suk and very fine they were, too. I particularly admired Suk's bowing, articulation and immaculate double-stops in the Mazurek. Then on to Suk and Julius Katchen in their classic 1967 account of the three Brahms violin & piano sonatas,

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-83942913153933009082011-07-16T16:09:00.002+01:002011-07-16T16:14:06.160+01:00

I greatly enjoyed the performance of the Beethoven violin concerto by Josef Suk (coupled with the Dvorak concerto) ably and interestingly accompanied by Malcolm Sargent conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra in the Albert Hall, September 1965. The performance by Suk is within the classical Central European tradition (compare with Wolfgang Schneiderhan, Erich Röhn, Adolf Busch or Georg Kulenkampff

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-56044764814106385272011-07-15T14:38:00.000+01:002011-07-15T14:38:31.694+01:00

At the moment, practically every music-related publication I pick up seems to feature a full page colour advertisement for a violinist called Charlie Siem. I have no views on Mr Siem and have not yet heard him (mainly since his choice of repertoire to record spells out endless duplications in my collection; the only thing that interested me so far was Wieniawski's first concerto, but I think that

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-37935922854963237082011-07-12T09:58:00.000+01:002011-07-12T09:58:13.094+01:00

I am not making wise CD purchase decisions at the moment. After the recent Respighi disaster, I decided on the spur of the moment to order a CD by a violinist I much like and admire, Patricia Kopatchinskaja -- despite the fact that none of the music was among my preferred pieces. So I started with the Beethoven Kreutzer sonata -- and hated it. Miss Kopatchinskaja plays in a "pseudo baroque" style

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-87605302039542189062011-07-10T10:12:00.000+01:002011-07-10T10:12:38.848+01:00

The latest transfer of Bruckner's fifth symphony, transferred by German engineers from the original tapes, is pretty remarkable. For a recording made in October 1942, the sound is perfectly acceptable, with just the loudest fortissimo passages sounding restrained. In addition, you get the inspired conducting of Furtwängler; no one now in Bruckner has the same mastery of pulse, tempo, dynamics and

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-31668910211260225472011-07-06T22:23:00.000+01:002011-07-06T22:23:48.218+01:00

Nearly twenty years ago in 1992, the Staatskapelle Dresden was a marvellous orchestra, at least when playing the German Romantics. It probably is superb, to this day, but this evening I was listening to Colin Davis conducting the orchestra in Schubert's 'Unfinished' symphony, and Brahms' third. Glorious music, glorious playing (and pretty fine 1992 recording, as well). Only conundrum is: where

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-43900178682580094532011-07-04T10:32:00.001+01:002011-07-04T10:34:28.280+01:00

Most of Sunday was devoted to listening to Wagner's Parsifal, in a glorious recording from the Mariinsky Theatre conducted by Valery Gergiev. Although I also have the opera conducted by Goodall, and by Knappertsbusch, I suspect this Parsifal is the one to have. The opera needs good voices, but there are no real "star" roles or arias. The orchestra is all-important, so a recording with excellent

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-86922563337245208182011-07-02T16:34:00.000+01:002011-07-02T16:34:01.479+01:00

Rare I buy something completely unplayable. I bought a Naxos CD of music by Respighi thinking it was a violin disc with a hitherto unknown violinist. But the violin concerto “by” Respighi turns out to be arranged, completed and edited by one Salvatore di Vittorio, who also conducts an orchestra. The non-violin concerto part of the CD (most of it) is of pastiche music similarly assembled and

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-32990416699577122662011-07-02T15:23:00.000+01:002011-07-02T15:23:13.494+01:00

Some CDs are an instant hit with me, and so it is with a new disc featuring Sandrine Piau (with Susan Manoff). Piau's golden voice has never sounded better than in this compilation of songs by Strauss, Fauré, Mendelssohn, Chausson, Vincent Buchot, Poulenc and Britten. An hour of pure enjoyment in German, French and English. And Manoff's piano is an excellent partner.

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-2653319600987096382011-06-26T22:38:00.001+01:002011-06-26T22:41:05.061+01:00

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

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-89110259093554859162011-06-26T17:24:00.000+01:002011-06-26T17:24:32.047+01:00

The music of Eugène Ysaÿe has never been really popular (with the exception of some of the solo violin sonatas). It inhabits a post-Wagnerian / early modern sound world and is thoroughly violinistic in nature. Ysaÿe wrote a lot of music, but not much survives in recordings bar the sonatas and a very few favourite pieces. One of its problems is often length; on a CD kindly sent to me by my friend

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-30464653543111274972011-06-19T22:08:00.000+01:002011-06-19T22:08:48.062+01:00

The cradle of violin playing extended from the Ukraine and the Black Sea, to Venice and northern Italy, then across to Hungary, then south again to Romania. This is where luthiers Jews, gypsies and folk bands grew up and cross-fertilised. The violin (like the clarinet) was popular because they were portable; when the gendarmes or vigilantes turned up, you could put your fiddle under your arm and

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-32504516076231327512011-06-18T16:40:00.000+01:002011-06-18T16:40:22.290+01:00

For a long time, Alfred Cortot playing Chopin has passed me by. However, a couple of Naxos CDs with exceptional remastering by Mark Obert-Thorn make me realise that this is my kind of Chopin. I like the way Cortot plays. I like the sound of his Pleyel piano. I like his romanticism and phrasing. And if he misses a few notes occasionally; Chopin puts in far too many notes, anyway, so a 5% reduction

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-1933034451883014742011-06-18T15:19:00.000+01:002011-06-18T15:19:49.097+01:00

Maybe I was just a bit curmudgeonly when reacting recently to Julia Fischer's latest CD. With time, the Respighi and Suk pieces become more attractive, and Miss Fischer's violin playing evokes ever-increasing admiration. A good CD to keep on the side for the time when a 15-20 minute piece of Romantic violin & orchestra music seems to fit the mood. And found clams on sale in Morrison's today, so

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-8672060810071313032011-06-16T19:52:00.000+01:002011-06-16T19:52:46.758+01:00

For the (gastronomic) record: stewed neck of lamb with carrots, onions, many herbs, pearl barley (second heating, this evening). Followed by highly ripe cheeses (brie, camembert) accompanied by a tomato salad with spring onions and oil and vinegar. Finished with fresh strawberries and raspberries, marinaded in brandy. A good red table wine from the Lot region of France (2008). I await Monsieur

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-13083664182102866812011-06-15T13:11:00.001+01:002011-06-15T14:01:47.649+01:00

Unusually for me, I had an orchestral evening, starting with Valery Gergiev conducting the LSO in Debussy (L'après-midi d'un faune, La Mer, Jeux). Very fine indeed. The LSO plays marvellously well on this occasion, the LSOLive sound is excellent, and Gergiev has the measure of these works. I have never cared much for Jeux; perseverance needed. La Mer I have know since teenage (starting with von

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-51960208721747081152011-06-14T11:21:00.000+01:002011-06-14T11:21:12.210+01:00

I have mixed feelings about the new CD from the highly talented Julia Fischer (with the Monte Carlo orchestra under the late Jakov Kreizberg). At least the repertoire is different and gets away from the eternal Ravel Tzigane or Beethoven Romances. Chausson's Poème is very welcome, as is Vaughan Williams' evergreen Lark Ascending. Respighi's Poema Autunnale is a novelty, and Suk's somewhat long

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-11359994571937267092011-06-13T13:58:00.000+01:002011-06-13T13:58:08.587+01:00

As a Bach lover, and always ready for a bargain, I bought the three CD Sony set of Murray Perahia playing "all" the Bach keyboard concertos. Most of the concertos are not for solo keyboard, or are adaptations by Bach of the original violin concertos (notably, the G minor, A minor and E major). One is a triple concerto, one the fifth Brandenburg, and one the "Italian" concerto for solo keyboard.

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-79757792630621966192011-06-04T23:41:00.003+01:002011-06-05T09:40:47.513+01:00

It is not easy to hold the attention of an audience for one and a half hours with just a solo violin. But not the least feature of the Bach recital by Alina Ibragimova at the Assembly Room in Bath this evening was that, by the time she reached the third partita for solo violin, and the end of the concert, we were still hanging on every note she played. She has an extraordinary palette of colours

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-78174388166922673432011-06-04T16:25:00.000+01:002011-06-04T16:25:38.123+01:00

The final volume in the traversal of Beethoven's ten sonatas for violin and piano is another triumph for Alina Ibragimova and Cédric Tiberghien. In their hands the music really comes alive; the Kreutzer sonata, which is not one of my favourites, is a magnificent tour de force. Violin and piano here form a true duo partnership, and Ibragimova and Tiberghien really listen intently to each other.

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-59980092675199243642011-06-02T22:57:00.000+01:002011-06-02T22:57:22.182+01:00

Even after over 50 years, Jascha Heifetz's performance of Spohr's A minor Op 47 concerto remains one of the supreme examples of violin playing at its peak. Spohr's concerto demands sophistication from the player; and it certainly receives it from Heifetz. A miraculous performance. The (free) download from Brompton's gives excellent sound from the 1954 original. Dinner this evening was: * Fresh

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-33681053899411984342011-05-29T12:13:00.000+01:002011-05-29T12:13:46.970+01:00

I have probably heard young Mozart's violin concertos too often, so I was surprised to have been enthralled by a May 2011 off-air recording by Alina Ibragimova (with a truly excellent Royal Liverpool Philharmonic conducted by Vasily Petrenko). The violin part of the D major concerto K 218 is fascinating in Ibragimova's hands, with a wide variety of colours and nuances, played fast and straight.

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-20974173610453014352011-05-22T15:11:00.000+01:002011-05-22T15:11:38.059+01:00

Clever of Brahms to have designed his three sonatas for violin & piano so they fit comfortably on to one CD (and, in the case of the present recording by Arabella Steinbacher and Robert Kulek, with room for the FAE scherzo as well). Steinbacher adopts leisurely tempi, as is the wont nowadays. I still worry that her violin sounds better in its lower registers than in the upper, though the

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-78904009560718277662011-05-21T11:30:00.000+01:002011-05-21T11:30:15.293+01:00

A note in praise of: Les Caves du Bouteiller (24340 Mareuil sur Belle, France - www.lacavepicerie.com). A pleasant, enthusiastic and knowledgeable owner, a superb range of wines on which the owner can expound for hours: and a range of 250 whiskies (going up to around 300 towards Christmas, Monsieur Thierry Lannier claims). And all this in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere! An address to

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-61263557226360207512011-05-17T21:22:00.000+01:002011-05-17T21:22:23.614+01:00

I had half forgotten about Julian Sitkovetky, until Andrew Rose and Pristine Audio released his Sibelius violin concerto (1953) and Paganini second concerto (1955). Sitkovetsky was quite a violinist, with an incredible technique combined with a patrician musicality and an impassioned, noble sound. Distinctive and unforgettable. He had a short life and a truncated recording career, but these two

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-71206403968154893122011-05-17T15:40:00.000+01:002011-05-17T15:40:56.688+01:00

Back from France, my car laden with red wine, rosé wine, foie gras, saucissons, ham, pâtés, J&B whisky, and rillettes. Found a CD of Arabella Steinbacher playing the three Brahms violin & piano sonatas waiting for me. I'll listen the them in gaps between eating and drinking.

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-4196196241006310172011-05-01T21:19:00.000+01:002011-05-01T21:19:52.643+01:00

I kept the new CD of Arabella Steinbacher playing the Brahms violin concerto for a few weeks before listening to it, partly because I was somewhat surfeited with the work, and partly because I was disappointed with Steinbacher's languid performance of the first movement of the Beethoven violin concerto. But this evening I plucked up courage and played the CD and was surprised and happy to enjoy

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-59173568291877642432011-05-01T16:06:00.000+01:002011-05-01T16:06:52.670+01:00

We are fortunate in that Hagai Shaham (and Hyperion) were interested enough in the music of Jenö Hubay to record several CDs of his music. Once again, we find we are living in a golden age when it comes to recordings; imagine hunting for Hubay's concertos during the period 1930-80. Hubay did not write “great” music. But his music is well written for the violin and contains tunes and themes of

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-61071971638599459932011-05-01T10:22:00.000+01:002011-05-01T10:22:24.215+01:00

I had not come across Vadim Gluzman before (except in one short piece). But I enjoyed listening to him playing the Glazunov and Korngold violin concertos – helped by a BIS recording that meant even I could hear the violin when it was playing pianissimo. Gluzman, who hails from the Ukraine, is a romantic player with a full tone and impeccable technique. How he is ever hoping to stand out from his

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-29192290541500749442011-04-29T19:54:00.001+01:002011-04-30T02:46:50.088+01:00

As befits a Royal Wedding evening: a typical English dinner: In a wok with a little vegetable oil: slices of pepper, shallot. Cook briefly, Add sliced chestnut mushrooms. Cook briefly. Add sliced scallops cooked (briefly in a separate pan) in butter with salt and pepper. Cook for a couple of minutes, and add soya sauce. Eat with boiled rice. Delicious.

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-84998786078276667922011-04-26T10:42:00.000+01:002011-04-26T10:42:52.725+01:00

An unusual evening Monday in that I spent the time listening to ... Yehudi Menuhin, and some of his recordings from the 1930s: Mendelssohn violin concerto, Dvorak violin concerto, Wieniawski's Légende, the Bach double concerto (all with Enescu) and then the Elgar concerto from 1932. Menuhin's approach to all the music was highly personal, and there is a freshness and enthusiasm in his playing

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3645259.post-38733507820038626592011-04-25T11:28:00.000+01:002011-04-25T11:28:59.188+01:00

In his memoirs published in the 1950s, the usually waspish Carl Flesch praises Erica Morini, commenting only that her technical style now sounds "outdated". Listening again to the recent Audite release of Morini in Berlin in 1952, the "outdated technical style" does provide fascinating glimpses as to the sheer range of violin technique, particularly in the small salon pieces by Brahms, Wieniawski

Harry Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431442988080082664noreply@blogger.com0