I did not recall having heard Ottorino Respighi's 1917 sonata for violin & piano, even though I have recordings of it by Heifetz, Politkovsky and Shumsky. It's a work with many attractive moments and lasts for 27 minutes in its latest re-incarnation by Frederieke Saeijs and Maurice Lammerts van Bueren. The works sounds like something by Guillaume Lekeu crossed with Richard Strauss, with a dose of Nikolai Medtner. The well-played and recorded Naxos CD also contains Ravel's somewhat hackneyed violin & piano sonata, plus a nondescript sonata by Enrique Granados (that sounds like anything but Granados).

The 24 caprices by Nicolò Paganini are staple diet to advanced violinists, but they are not that easy to play; some, in fact, are pretty difficult. The caprices also contain some very attractive music, and this is sometimes lost while the violinist struggles to play three parts at once in different parts of the sound spectrum. Thus, the new recording of the caprices by a string quartet does, in fact, make for pleasant and interesting listening. Paganini's not-inconsiderable musical and melodic gifts can be fully appreciated -- especially in some of the caprices that are technically difficult on the violin. The recording is by the Wihan quartet, and the excellent arrangements by William Zinn. A thoroughly worthy enterprise all round, and something that should enter the repertoire of string quartets.

Also a happy listening experience is the re-issue of the 1986 recording by Oscar Shumsky of the Bach unaccompanied sonatas and partitas. I have many, many versions of these in my collection, but Shumsky appeals greatly. As to be expected, he plays simply and in an undemonstrative manner; it is as if the only people in the world were Bach, Shumsky and a violin. No grand-standing here. And how nice to hear Bach played with an attractive sound, warming vibrato, and dead-accurate double-stopping almost worthy of Fritz Kreisler's playing. Oscar goes into my select few for these works.

Bernard Coutaz, the founder of Harmonia Mundi, died on 26th February at the age of 87. I have many recordings, and quite a sizeable number of them are from Harmonia Mundi, a company that proves that, in the musical world, small can be both beautiful and powerful, and that one individual can make an enormous difference. Thank you, Monsieur Coutaz; and rest in well-deserved peace.

Like most people, I imagine, I had never heard of Hanna Shybayeva until I read a review in the American Record Guide extolling her CD of Schubert sonatas. The best adjective for Ms Shybayeva's playing is probably level-headed. She does not draw attention to her pianism; attention is focussed strictly on the music. And what music! Schubert's later piano sonatas have everything that I missed in Chopin the other day: a sense of a real person behind the music, a person of ever-changing moods and ideas -- in 12 bars, Schubert can encapsulate three or four different modulations and mood changes. The music is enough by itself and needs a first-rate pianist who finds the right tempi and concentrates on communicating the music. This Hanna Shybayeva does to an exemplary degree. Originating from Belarus, she now appears to be based in Holland from whence this very cheap and very desirable Brilliant CD comes. The sonatas on the disc are the A major D959 and A minor D784, both supreme works in the piano repertoire.

George Frederic Händel's music was like an iceberg: after the composer's death in 1759, nine tenths of his music was submerged and lost from the world of music. Astonishingly, it has only been over the past twenty years or so that Handel's music has re-appeared in popular view. Until recently, Handel was The Messiah, Water Music, Fireworks Music, and a few bits and pieces.

How impoverished were the generations from 1759 until around 1990! So much extraordinary and beautiful music simply lost from the scene. This evening I listened (again) to the CD where Sandrine Piau sings Handel arias -- mainly from the oratorios. Wonderful music. Wonderful singing, and also top-grade backing from Stefano Montenari and the Accademia Bizantina. A recording for the "do not file away" pile. And a recording of music one would probably never have found before 1980.

Alice Sara Ott playing Chopin's complete waltzes. She plays them very well, and most expertly. I bought the complete waltzes long ago played by Dinu Lipatti. He also played most expertly but I was disappointed by the music. I am still disappointed by the music, even when played now by Miss Ott. 19th century salon piano music is not for me, I fear. When it comes to piano music I enjoy Scarlatti, Bach, Schubert, Medtner, Rachmaninov, and many others. But not Chopin (or Liszt).

It was quite a relief to turn back to Handel, and a new CD of opera arias sung by Johannette Zomer. Much more my cup of tea.

The twentieth century was rich in violinists. Probably Kreisler and Heifetz stand out as the two greatest. But the third greatest? A long list of candidates, including Nathan Milstein, David Oistrakh and Michael Rabin. But, to my mind, after listening to him again for 50 minutes this evening, the third greatest violinist of the last century was ... David Nadien. Emphasis on violinist, on the craft of playing one of music's most difficult and contrary instruments. But Nadien (almost) trumps them all when it comes to mastering the four strings with a wooden stick strung with horse hair.

I seem to have entered a piano-listening phase. I certainly enjoyed the CD from a British teenager called Benjamin Grosvenor. Quite incredible playing, worthy of the young Gilels or Cortot, with extreme sensibility to both the piano and the music. I could have done without the three bits by Nikolai Kapustin, since I prefer jazz in a jazz environment and not juxtaposed with Scarlatti, Albéniz, Chopin, et al. The same goes for the George Gershwin piece. However, all in all the CD offers a feast of attractive music and quite remarkable playing. On the CD cover and back, it is, however, remarkably difficult to make out the name of the pianist.

Back home from a truly wonderful trip to Bangkok and Hanoi. I should have discovered that area of the world much sooner in my life! And I eat four meals a day and also managed to lose weight.

One advantage of being back home, however, is being able to listen to music again. I made the acquaintance of Franco Gulli, playing Paganini back in the 1960s. Wonderful technique and a lovely sound. A bit short on dynamic contrasts, but nevertheless highly enjoyable listening (and that is not always true when violinists attempt Paganini). Also renewed acquaintance with the stunning Liza Ferschtman, another Dutch girl of incredible talent. Her programme of Bach (first sonata and third partita) and Ysaÿe (first and second sonatas) is a most attractive juxtaposition. And it's good to hear a violinist playing Bach without trying to imitate what a violinist may have sounded like in 1720.

Perhaps, when I make my long-delayed Carnegie Hall début, it will be with the Concertgebouw orchestra in an all- Saint-Saëns programme, with the three violin concertos (around 75 minutes). The orchestra can fill in with some of the orchestral pieces such as Le Rouet d'Omphale.

I have just listened to the three violin concertos with much pleasure. In common with Handel, Camille Saint-Saëns wrote music that was stress- and angst-free, but with good tunes. The Swiss CD, with the Romanian-born but Swiss domiciled Liviu Prunaru playing tastefully and impeccably, is excellent. Prunaru, like most of Saint-Saëns' music apart from his "Organ" Symphony, seems to have passed into obscurity. A shame; popularity is fickle and I would give 50 hours of Gustav Mahler's music in return for one hour of Saint-Saëns.

Two of the three concertos were dedicated to Sarasate (the last two, confusingly numbered 1 and 3) and Prumaru plays much as one imagines Sarasate would have done: suave, sophisticated and tasteful, with a sweet and sonorous violin from the Guarneri family (1676).

Bit fixated on stewed neck of lamb with dumplings at the moment, the stew well seasoned with thyme and bay leaves. But it's so cold every day! Life needs lamb stew with 2007 Côtes du Rhône wine. I probably will need a change of diet in Bangkok next week, however.

Shuffle-play on CD players has a very limited use for classical CDs. But I discovered yesterday evening it is a great invention for tackling Paganini's 24 caprices which, apart perhaps from No.24, have no really logical order and Paganini would certainly not have expected people to play, or listen to, all 24 in the printed order. Shuffle play here is great, since all too often the first 12 or so caprices are listened to more often than the final 12. Shuffling the order gives everyone a chance to be heard.

Purcell and Handel, with Marc Minkowski

When Henry Purcell died in London in 1695 at the age of 36, Handel was just 10 years old and 10 years away from the start of his meteoric career. Purcell wrote his Hail, Bright Cecilia in London in 1692; Handel wrote his A Song for St Cecilia's Day in 1739; both Purcell and Handel based the poems on Dryden's words (more tastefully, in Handel's case).

The two works make a fascinating juxtaposition on a new CD conducted by Marc Minkowski, with his Musiciens du Louvre. He has assembled a thoroughly competent team of singers -- special mention to tenor Richard Croft and glorious soprano Lucy Crowe -- and it is nice to hear a real choir again, as opposed to the economy quartets favoured by recording impresarios, concert promoters and financial advisers. Minkowski uses a pitch of 415hz, which avoids a lot of the "baroque rasp" that comes from playing stringed instruments with no warming vibrato. All in all, an extremely attractive coupling of two extremely attractive works. The two CD set has a filler a performance of Haydn's Cäcilienmesse but, given my allergy to most church music and indifference to Haydn, it may take me some time to get round to listening to this.

James Ehnes in Paganini's Capricci

James Ehnes is a violinist I usually admire rather than warm to. But his new (2009) recording of the evergreen 24 Caprices by Paganini is very fine. All 24 caprices are extremely challenging to play, of course, but not all are exercises in red-blooded virtuosity, and Ehnes provides plenty of (welcome) contrast when he tackles the many legato and melodic passages. I like the varied dynamics Ehnes brings to the pieces, and I like his judicious observance of most repeats; the caprices have always been a problem in both LP and CD eras in that they (barely) fit on to one CD if all the repeats are made -- Ehnes weighs in here at just over 78 minutes. This is definitely a set of old Nicolò's pieces to keep with the best, since Ehnes is a very fine violinist and ace technician.

Well, of all things, I enjoyed listening again to Sibelius's violin concerto; probably the 20th century's most played and best loved concerto. It was an off-air recording with Janine Jansen playing the solo part, and the Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Mariss Jansons. A bit untidy in parts, and the balance was often a bit out (in favour of the orchestra). But the (live) performance was very much on its toes and, as usual, Ms Jansen impressed enormously by her verve, technique and commitment to the music. An excellent performance. What Milstein and Oistrakh were to previous generations, Janine Jansen is to this: thoroughly dependable and recommendable, like pretty well all performances by this young Dutch violinist.

From all accounts, and from a few (very late) recordings, Pablo Martín Melitón de Sarasate y Navascués was a violinist noted for taste, technique, refinement of sound, and sensibility; no red-blooded, high-octane bravura. And this sound world is perfectly reproduced in the admirable Naxos recordings (planned to cover all of Sarasate's works on twelve CDs). Where would we lovers of the violin literature be without the likes of Naxos? Waiting patiently for EMI, Philips, RCA, Sony or another of the old "major" labels who failed so dismally in this repertoire from 1910 onwards?

Volume III of the projected twelve has just appeared, and features Sarasate's works for violin and orchestra. The quality of the music varies, a little; Sarasate was no Mozart or Schubert. The recording quality in this latest volume is adequate (an orchestra in Navarra). But the violin playing of Tianwa Yang (born in Peking in 1987) really impresses. Miss Yang may not produce the right sound or style for Bruch or Brahms (for all I know). But her feeling for the music of Sarasate is emphatically right. Jiggle with the labelling a little, and it could even be Pablo himself playing the violin. And with Miss Yang's dead-on sense of style is her truly incredible mastery of the violin; there is nothing Tianwa Yang cannot play with 100% accuracy. The final section of the over-familiar Zigeunerweisen is truly breathtaking and goes immediately to first place in front of the 75 (!) versions I have. Step back, Mr Heifetz!

"Oriental" violinists are sometimes denigrated for being technically superb but lacking rapport with the music they are playing. In my view, Tianwa Yang's rapport with the music of Pablo Martín Melitón de Sarasate y Navascués is complete (as a quick cross-refence to Sarasate's few recordings in 1903 will confirm).

The second Cavalleria Rusticana this evening, following the recording by Riccardo Muti I listened to a week ago. And the winner is: Giuseppe Sinopoli, with no doubts. The Sinopoli recording has superior pacing, superior dynamic shading, superior playing from the Philharmonia (the same orchestra as for Muti) and a superior recording. The violence blazes in the hot Sicilian sun much more vividly for Sinopoli.

Earlier, I enjoyed again Dietrich Henschel singing Vaughan Williams (Songs of Travel), Mahler, (Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen), Pizzetti (three songs) and Dupac (five songs). Henschel manages his multi-lingual programme well (with French coming off worst, however). I prefer the Mahler with piano rather than orchestra, and the fahrenden Gesellen is one of the few Mahler works I can really enjoy. The 69.50 minute programme is a bit gloomy on a grey February afternoon, however. Henschel's excellent pianist is the delightfully named Fritz Schwinghammer.

I love the music of Henri Vieuxtemps, and pass few opportunities to purchase new recordings when they come out (which, alas, is somewhat rare). The recording of Vieuxtemps' viola music by the violist Thomas Selditz is good, and Selditz plays like a true viola player rather than as a wannabe violinist. I am less sure about the pianist, Vladimir Stoupel, however, who plays more like the Russian he is rather than the Belgian he is not. Despite Selditz's fine viola playing and sound, I'll stick to Pierre Lénert and Jeff Cohen in this attractive viola music.

There have been many fine sets of the Beethoven sonatas for violin and piano since recording began; one thinks immediately of Szigeti and Arrau, of Grumiaux and Haskil, and of many others. I do find the new set by Ludwig van Beethoven, Alexander Melnikov and Isabelle Faust to be completely satisfactory, and the above order of the artists is deliberate. From this set one comes away with an admiration of Beethoven, and with a consciousness that the piano has the lion's share in these sonatas. This is far from decrying Faust's contribution; she plays to perfection the part allotted to the violin by the composer. A set to keep, with a fine recording quality and balance, to boot. At times Faust reminds me of Adolf Busch in Beethoven, and there is no higher praise than that.

An excellent Thai fish stew this evening, without mussels but with lots of squid and plenty of fish bits. I am improving steadily !