A friend sent me an off-air recording of Vadim Repin and Nikolai Lugansky playing at a concert in Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow, 25 December 2010. The recital included two works that also appeared on their DG CD -- the Janacek sonata, and second Grieg sonata. Plus two extra works: the C minor Op 30 No.2 sonata by Beethoven, and the Romanian Folk Dances by Bartok. This new CD is also three star; the recording suffers a little from limited dynamic range (going from mezzo-piano to mezzo-forte) but the playing has a virile energy and exuberance that is completely captivating. The recording is well balanced between piano and violin. Back in the 1950s when I began listening to recordings, non-studio recordings were sniffed at because of the occasional warts. This new Repin-Lugansky CD seals the argument for me, however: there is all too often a discernible frisson and élan in a live performance that does not reproduce under studio conditions. Two Russians playing in Moscow receive exceptionally warm applause from the Christmas Day audience -- well merited.

My purge of recordings goes on apace. But as fast as I shovel recordings out of the back door, in come more through the front. I need yet another recording of the Beethoven violin concerto like I need an extra five centimetres round my waistline. But Liza Ferschtman has just recorded the Beethoven concerto (unfortunately with a token orchestral partner of the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra under Jan Willem de Vriend). And how can I not discover a new Liza Ferschtman performance?