Well, finally I have heard the famous 1950s recordings of Emil Telmanyi playing the Bach unaccompanied suites and sonatas with the Vega “Bach Bow”. Copies of Testament transfers kindly sent by Dave Gomberg.

I had put off listening for some time; a Hungarian with a funny bow playing Bach in the 1950s did not somehow appeal. However, when it came down to it, I enjoyed the performances very much. There are pluses and minuses to the Vega Bow. On one hand, much of the harmonised writing with double stops is quite entrancing, and many of the chords sound distinctly enhanced. However, some of the fugal writing sounds strained (but this may also be the results of the inevitable strain on almost all violinists when playing the fugues). And the richochet passages in the Chaconne just do not come off as played by Telmanyi. Still, much comes off very well indeed, and there is an old world charm to Telmanyi’s playing that is a welcome respite from hot-shot young violinists striving to make their marks. An admirable two hours of enjoyable music making.

Finished the weekend with von Karajan’s 1950s Philharmonia recordings of Sibelius’s sixth symphony, plus Debussy’s La Mer. These two recordings have now been giving me much enjoyment for 48 years! Though not normally a lover of von Karajan’s music making, I make an exception for many of his 1950s recordings with the Philharmonia when he was more concerned with clarity and first class orchestral playing and less with smooth effects.

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.

Sunday evening (basking after "The Return of the King" on Saturday) listened with great pleasure to Michael Pletnev and the Russian National Orchestra in Tchaikovsky's Pathétique. This is a work I really like. Tried to follow it with Mahler's 9th (Haitink) but this just didn't work; Mahler sounded all noise and not much substance, after Tchaikovsky. Turned instead to Chausson and the Poème de l'Amour et de la Mer. Chose the new version with Felicity Lott; this really is very good indeed.

A question mark under all these different versions; when I want to listen to the Pathétique, I always turn to the Pletnev recordings. And when I want the Chausson, I think I'll always turn to Felicity Lott. So what am I going to do with all these alternative versions? Mahler's 4th will always be Barbirolli from now on (with perhaps just occasional excursions into the old Kletzki). I think that one of these days I am going to have a truly massive throw-out !

Audition round-up (2)

Nicolaj Znaider's recital CD was fairly typical. Exemplary technique, lovely sound (followed by lovely sound, followed by lovely sound ... ) with slow tempi in slower places that borded on the ludicrous. Why did he not listen to Heifetz and Achron playing the Hebrew Melody before embarking on his adagio molto rendition? These marvellous salon pieces simply do not have the content or the stature to be dragged out endlessly.

Enjoyed Isabelle van Keulen playing the Elgar concerto (BBC, with Halle and Mark Elder). Following the unfortunate example of Menuhin with Elgar, she kept slamming on the brakes in the first movement, despite a promising allegro for the first movement overall. But the andante was andante, and the final allegro molto was allegro molto. An unfortunate passage in the finale, and an unfortunate chord in the same movement. But, taken altogether, the performance was full of energy. Good partnership with the Halle. She has come on as a violinist; I recall being unimpressed with her debut LP (Saint-Saens third concerto, plus Vieuxtemps 5th, back in 1986). But her Mozart in 1991 was better. And this Elgar was very fine; fully the equal of the impressive Hilary Hahn performance (2002, with Colin Davis).

Audition round-up:

Highly impressed with 13-year old Chinese Tian-Wa Yang playing the Paganini caprices. She plays many of them deliberately rather than rapidly, but this enables you to hear that she is playing every single note. Incredible intonation in double-stops (it probably helps if you have the slender fingers of a 13 year old Chinese female). And a truly incredible right arm.

A bit angry with "Chloe", Chloe Hanslip's debut CD. Seems to me everything is wrong except her playing:

1. I don't know why a CD presenting a new violinist is covered in posed photos of a 14 year old girl. Is the disc aimed mainly at the paedophile market?

2. She should not have made her debut in a variety of salon pieces with orchestral backing. The main point of a debut CD is to feature the playing of the young artist. The orchestral backing is a distraction from listening to Hanslip's playing (viz, Sarasate's Romanza Andaluza, with its castanets and trumpets). She should have stuck to a good pianist so her playing really stood out.

3. Most of the pieces are somewhat slushy. She should have chosen more carefully. The Paganini "Campanella" at the beginning is really good; after that: too much slush (not even thinking of Williams' mawkish film theme).

4. I am always advocating "natural" balance between violin and orchestra in duo music. However, in this kind of repertoire, where the only real interest is in how well the violinist measures up to her predecessors and competitors, a balance between violinist and orchestra more like that given to Rabin or Heifetz would, for once, have been useful. Miss Hanslip plays a del Gesu violin; we do not really have a chance to appreciate it.

5. The liner notes have too many gushing adjectives: thrilling, great, magnificent, acclaimed. Do they not teach the English language at Warner?

I am very impressed with Chloe Hanslip's playing. But I don't know that I think much of her artistic management, her (ex) record company nor, probably, her pushy family. Let the girl play!

Spent around two hours transferring (with the new Terratec interface and software) and then listening to, Gioconda de Vito's 1952 performance of the Brahms Violin Concerto (Furtwängler conducting the Turin Radio Orchestra, public concert). Well, the sound wasn't too bad (though there is a lot of stage and audience noise). But the orchestral playing sounds amateur and under-rehearsed, and de Vito sounds technically below par. Bit of a disappointment. It was a relief to turn to Sergei Khachatryan playing the Sibelius violon concerto (Emmanuel Krivine and the Sinfonia Varsovia). Good to hear things in tune again !

With time, I have become very partial to Janacek's violin and piano sonata. It is both lyrical and passionate, tender and vivacious. A very fine new recording comes from the -- previously unknown to me -- Kai Gleusteen and Catherine Ordronneau. I like the music (which also includes around 20 of the Shostakovitch preludes arranged by Tziganov and the Prokofiev first violin & piano sonata). The playing is exemplary by both parties. The balance is exactly how it should be. And the recording quality is excellent. A thoroughly enjoyable CD (Avie). But I am a little shocked by my rejection of my "historic" Brahms violin concerto.

I have become somewhat hooked on the two CDs of Benno Rabinof, with excerpts from his New York radio broadcasts 1943-44. Having had Rabinof's "Gypsy" LP transfer for some time, I always thought he was somewhat "yesterday's virtuoso". However, as so often, live comes out so much better than studio. Rabinof, almost entirely in the virtuoso repertoire as befits American radio in the 1940s, really thrills. I particularly like the longer pieces: Ernst's "Otello" fantasy (11 minutes) and Hungarian Airs (8 minutes), plus Rimsky-Korsakov's Russian pot-pourri (11 minutes) and the Paganini-Kreisler "Le Streghe" (12 minutes). In particular, Ernst's Otello fantasy appeals to me greatly (I know it from Kavakos's performance). Certainly Rabinof is slick; but he is also thrilling to listen to (though I doubt I'd like his Bach or Mozart).

And, speaking of Kavakos: his new CD (with Peter Nagy) makes an excellent impression; I think he certainly joins Batiashvili, Suwanai and Repin in my quartet of younger violin players who give me a lot of pleasure. Kavakos does not go for slow tempi and oh-so-rich sound; he just plays the music with a wide variety of dynamics, colour and expression. On the new CD, I particularly like the Enescu third sonata, a work that falls to bits if taken too slowly.

This was really Arkady Volodos weekend. Played two recital discs (Miami, 2000 and Amsterdam 2003). There is an infectious enthusiasm about Volodos's playing; he radiates enjoyment and exhilaration. I very much enjoyed these two recitals of Scriabin, Rachmaninov, and various virtuoso pieces.
Less keen on Milstein, recorded 1983 in Berkely, California. For a start, the sound capture was bad (sounds as if it is a hand-held job from within the audience). A shame, since Milstein plays the Franck sonata that he never recorded commercially. The piano sound dominates in this recording, and the violin sounds distant (recorder was probably on the right hand side, facing the stage). From what one can hear, Milstein doesn't seem to be too enthralled by the Franck sonata; tempi are fast (same overall timing as Heifetz) with not much sign of love. Probably why it wasn't among Milstein's chosen 30 or 40 pieces that he kept recording and re-recording most of his life.

Took Hilary Hahn off the shelf, playing the Elgar concerto (Colin Davis, Bavarian Orchestra). It is a nice performance – partly due to Davis, who knows that Elgar must keep going and must never wallow. I am usually a bit disappointed in Hilary Hahn; when I heard her in the Wigmore Hall, she came over as too loud and powerful for a small recital hall. In Portsmouth (Guildhall) she played the Shostakovitch concerto immaculately, but missed the “blood on the fingers” trauma of the Passacaglia; Shostakovitch demands emotions that a girl from Baltimore has never experienced. And her Beethoven concerto recording was too slow. But she is a highly talented violinist and, for some reason, I think Elgar is on her wavelength in a way Shostakovitch is not.
Earlier, spurred by a review in Le Monde de la Musique, I took off the shelf my “Talents of Russia” CD of Marina Yashvili. She, also was quite a violinist! A beautiful performance of the De Falla siete cancones and a performance of the Paganini Cantabile just as I would like to play it.
The evening showed the advantages of having an extensive CD collection ! None of the listening was remotely pre-planned.

Sat back yesterday evening and listened to the new CD of Felicity Lott singing Chausson, Ravel and Duparc (Poème de l'Amour et de la Mer, Shéhérazade, and three of Duparc's Mélodies). Didn't get to the Ravel, but the Chausson and Duparc were truly superb (Armin Jordan and Suisse Romande Orchestra, recorded in 2000 and 2002). I have a soft spot for the French post-Romantics. And, I must say, Lott's French language comes over very well indeed – unusually well for a non-French native. I think this is a CD that is going to be spinning regularly for me, rather like that of Lisa della Casa singing the Vier Letzte Lieder.

This weekend, re-discovered Milstein from the latest Naxos re-issue (Obert-Thorn transfers). An incredible Mendelssohn violin concerto (1945, New York), Bruch violin concerto (1942, New York) and Tchaikovsky violin concerto ((1940, Chicago). The Mendelssohn is fleet of foot and entirely admirable. The violin tone in these recordings is really extremely lifelike and “undigital”. Orchestras are a bit dim, and soloist a bit too far forward, but otherwise one can just sit back and listen with enjoyment. Milstein is a violinist I have usually respected rather than admired. But these three concertos show very clearly why he is always considered to be one of the last century’s great violinists. And the sound is so much better than on the EMI / Capitol American re-issues of a few years ago. A great re-discovery.

Big listening day today: Repin, plus Bella Davidovich and cellist in the Tchaikovsky piano trio (1992 broadcast, and super); Repin in the Lalo Symphonie Espagnole (brilliantly played, but I think I am played out with the Lalo); Bronislaw Gimpel in the second Wieniawski concerto (radio, late 1940s) plus some bits – what a virtuoso he was! Also played most of the new Naxos Nathan Milstein re-issues from 1949-50 recordings (particularly good violin playing in the Glazounov concerto). Then finally the newly-purchased DG of Abbado and the Berlin Philharmonic playing Wagner: Tannhäuser Overture, Tristan Prelude & Liebestod, plus nearly 40 minutes of Parsifal, including the Act I Prelude, Good Friday music, and music and final chorus from Act III. A stream of beautiful, golden sound! I take back any suspicions concerning my new amplifier; the sound was excellent from the 2000 DG recording. I really like Wagner!
I shall round off the evening with Klemperer playing Mozart (1950).

Enforced Alkolfrei few days (antibiotic for an infected gum). Amazing how much more I can accomplish in an evening! Listened to the 28 August Prom performance of Vadim Repin playing the Brahms Violin Concerto (and made copies for Dave, Akiko and De Haas). Repin's concept is lyrical and relaxed; a valid concept, even if I still hanker after Heifetz after Repin has finished. He played the Auer cadenzas, which made a nice change. A good performance (and it recorded well). I’ll come back to it from time to time. His tone, particularly in the adagio, seems to be becoming “plummier”. By popular demand? A pity (viz Samaroff, below).
Then off into 25 tracks and 74 minutes of Toscha Samaroff, about whom I know nothing … except that he’s my kind of violinist. Despite his name, he sounds Hungarian, and his playing makes me think of Szigeti, Dinicu and the Léner Quartet. Exemplary articulation with the right arm. Clean sound with lots of colouring (not just the überall caffè con latte of the modern brigade). No idea when the 25 tracks were first recorded; but from the sound and the clicks, we are back in the 1920s and '30s. Can’t even think of declicking these recordings; it would take ten years. However, the unknown Samaroff joins the small band of violinists of whom I approve. Even Mr Google hasn't heard of Samaroff (or Samarov; who knows how it is even spelled?)

A long time since my last entry. Two weeks of this were spent in Kentucky / Georgia / Indiana, with no great musical or gastronomic experiences to recount. However, yesterday I re-listened to Handel’s Saul (John Eliot Gardiner, 1989). I really like Handel! Most refreshing. I find Gardiner somewhat inclined to be hectoring as a conductor, and he is not my favourite in this (or any other) repertoire. Weekend was spent eating langoustines and mussels. No complaints on that front. I then re-embarked on Klemperer’s Eroica (Danish performance of the early 1950s). As I have remarked before on this blog, my respect for Otto Klemperer grows stronger every year. Rounded off the evening with Barbirolli's superb performance of Mahler's 4th symphony. This is now my official favourite. A pity about the horns of the Halle Orchestra. But what a warm, affectionate performance! Makes one realise how cool Kletzki is (Philharmonia).

With time, I find I like Otto Klemperer's work more and more. The twentieth century probably saw two absolutely paramount conductors: Furtwängler, and Klemperer. This view was sparked after the receipt from Ronald de Haas of Danish Radio broadcasts of the 1950s. Der grosser Otto conducting perfomances of Beethoven's Eroica, Brahms Fourth, and Mozart 29 (also including Beethoven's Leonore III). All works, and performances, are Klemperer classics. Scrupulous care over dynamics, balance and tempi. Indifference towards mere beauty of sound. The works, in their 1950s mono, really do sound "rugged". And nothing wrong with that, even in the Mozart symphony. Klemperer's Mozart used to disturb me a little. But now I find that I appreciate "Mozart without make-up". And no one does the Eroica or the Brahms fourth better than Otto! The sound in all the works is absolutely fine.

Satisfying evening of violin & piano duos. Started with Michiko Kamiya (with Ian Brown) playing the first Saint-Saëns violin and piano sonata. Very passionate, very satisfying.
Next were Vadim Repin and Boris Berezovsky in the Strauss sonata. Magnificent, as usual.
Finally, Elisabeth Batiashvili and Stephen Osborne in the first Prokofiev violin & piano sonata, with Debussy’s La plus que lente as encore.
Great trio of performances. The Kamiya unexpectedly so. I upped her stars from one, to two!

Another good evening, thanks to Handel. Replaced my old LP with a new Hyperion re-issue (1984 recording) of Patrizia Kwella, Gillian Fisher and Catherine Denley in a collection of “favourites of the 1980s” – O come chiare e belle; Clori, mia bella Clori, and the Duello Amoroso. Lots of familiar tunes! And brought back good memories of the Music at Oxford concerts in the Sheldonian during that same period.
Handel really is most uplifting. Evening helped along by my first home-pressed ox tongue of the season. Delicious!

I seem to have become hung-up on Vaughan Williams' third symphony (André Previn and the LSO). A wonderful work, with echoes of Ravel, Debussy, Butterworth and Holst. There are three other Vaughan Williams symphonies in the 2-CD collection. But I am always faithful to the third (Pastoral).

Absolutely delicious pressed tongue yesterday evening; my first of the season. On the violin front, I greatly admire Rachel Barton's new recording of the Joachim concerto (Chicago SO, with the Brahms concerto as an "encore"). I didn't enjoy Barton's 1992 recital of Sarasate pieces. But the Joachim is excellently played (and superlatively recorded, especially when you consider Cedille is an American company). Played uncut (47 minutes) it comes over as a piece that should be played much more often.
Finally, still in love with Batiashvili's playing. Her concert of the Debussy, Prokofiev I and Brahms III sonatas (La plus que lente as encore) is an absolute three-star classic. Very able pianist partner is Stephen Osborne.