For about the first time, I was unable to listen to something to which I wanted to listen, because I couldn't find it! The multiple-disc Karajan set from the 1950s proved impossible to track down. I wanted to listen to Sibelius's 6th Symphony. But couldn't, because I couldn't find it. The time has come to do something about my CD collection and its chaotic organisation (for rarely listened-to works).

But, by fortunate chance, I picked up Furtwängler and Erich Röhn in the Beethoven Violin Concerto (1944, Berlin). This really is probably the greatest recorded performance ever of this work, not the least because it is a true duo partnership, with Furtwängler playing the Berlin Philharmonic. The performance has muscle and vigour; after all, it is around 1803 and very soon after the 18th century. Would that the likes of Nikolaj Znaider or Hilary Hahn would listen and take note! But you do also need a conductor of genius.