The Elgar violin concerto has been lucky on record, with many successes and few turkeys. The recording by Hilary Hahn with Colin Davis and the LSO continues the concerto's run of good luck. The performance feels swift but, compared with Sammons or Heifetz, it is not that fast. But both Hahn and Davis know that it is fatal to wallow in Elgar. Hilary plays entrancingly; I have not been an uncritical admirer of hers, but she certainly wins a lot more than she loses. A pretty admirable modern violinist. This recording has been criticised by some as being "heartless". Well, not criticised by me; I add it to the file of Sammons, Kang, Heifetz, Van Keulen, Chung et al as yet another really good Elgar violin concerto.

In the same evening, I listened to Christian Tetzlaff and Leif Ove Andsnes in the first Bartok violin & piano sonata. I bought my first recording of this piece in 1959 (Menuhin) and have been listening to it and buying it ever since. I still don't like it and hardly recognise a phrase or a passage, even after nearly 50 years of listening. It's either Bartok or I who is at fault; I suspect Bartok.