Thanks to Lee, I am conducting a re-appraisal of the playing of Itzhak Perlman. So far I have listened to de Bériot's delightful Scène de Ballet, and Viott's Concerto No.22 in A minor. Perlman has never greatly appealed to me; I once heard him live around twenty years ago (in London) playing the Sibelius violin concerto and recall that, although being highly impressed by the accuracy of his playing, I found the end result somewhat bland and nowhere near the classic performances by violinists such as Heifetz or Ginette Neveu.

My impression is confirmed by the present CD. It is difficult to imagine better violin playing; it's almost a text book. However, the unfailing and relentless sweet tone begins to jar after a while, and the Viotti concerto seems to go on for ever. As well as a beautiful sound, perfect taste and perfect technique, a violinist has to have variety of sound in his or her playing. Perlman is Mr Sugar. I never liked his playing of the Paganini Capricci and always found them too bland and too monochromatic.