Friday 9 August 2002

Yesterday evening I greatly enjoyed Vaughan Williams' third symphony (Previn conducting the LSO). It's a work that takes a lot of playing in order to sink in. But I think it is sinking in at last. It would be quite good to have a score, since I am still not conscious of where the first movement ends, and the second begins. And it's one of those pieces where you have to get the volume right from the start (otherwise the music keeps either fading into nothing, or blasting you out of your seat).

And today I received at long last the Testament re-issue of the Kogan / Bruch recording of the first Paganini concerto. At last! This has rarely been seen since it was recorded in 1955, and I was extremely lucky to have found an Italian cassette of the performance some decades ago. An extremely welcome reissue (though, after waiting 47 years, one cannot help but feel that EMI is more interested in undermining re-issue companies than genuinely preserving Kogan's brilliant performance for posterity).

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