New CD from Akiko Suwanai; she does not disappoint. Eight pieces: Saint-Saens, Berlioz, Ravel, Lalo and Chausson, with two Kreisler pieces. Philharmonia conducted by Dutoit. Ms Suwanai makes you think of Nathan Milstein; suave, alert, intelligent and never living off the (superb) sound of her Strad violin, but concentrating on the music, and the playing. Each of the eight pieces is among the "best in class". Perhaps only the Tzigane disappoints slightly by sounding as if Akiko has never met a real gypsy in her life. But it's a mild criticism amidst 75 minutes of exemplary and cultivated violin playing. In Saint-Saens one thinks of Heifetz. In Chausson, Enescu. In Kreisler and Ravel, Milstein. Praise indeed.