I have made the acquaintance of the playing of the pianist Eduard Erdmann (courtesy of six CDs from Ronald). One of the unfortunate large band of European musicians who came on steam during the years 1930-50 when the time was not propitious to make an international reputation -- especially if you were German or Russian. In terms of piano tradition, Erdmann belongs with Arthur Schnabel, Edwin Fischer and Elly Ney. Along with Alfred Cortot, he is a pianist for those who value musical performance above all, with 100% digital accuracy being less important than 100% musical credibility. Erdmann has a beautiful sound (he is billed on one CD as being a "Poet of the Keyboard"). Maybe he plays a bit too beautifully? There are players (Jascha Heifetz comes to mind) where you can too often find yourself marvelling at their playing, rather than at the music. With artists such as Fischer, Ney, Klemperer or Adolf Busch -- to pick a few random examples -- one marvels at the music.

Back to Bruckner. The admirable Pristine Audio has just released a transfer of Bruckner's seventh symphony (1949, Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Furtwängler, a performance I have known and loved for many, many years). As usual, one can only listen with admiration to the "new" sound on this latest transfer. And one can also admire the fact that, in 1949 and only some 48 months after the end of the second world war, with the virtual destruction of the major German cities, that 100 or so men were able to produce a performance such as this. Light and hope amongst the ruins. Now, Mr Rose, for a transfer of Bruckner's eighth with the same forces (either the 1944 or 1949 version). Then my personal Bruckner canon of 4, 7, 8 and 9 will be complete.

Violin Concertos by Britten and Korngold

Wheels turn, and what was once down starts to go up. Interesting on Tuesday 30th November to find the BBC broadcasting both the Britten violin concerto (James Ehnes) and the Korngold (Jack Liebeck). Written in 1939 (Britten) and 1947 (Korngold) the two concertos are almost contemporaneous, and both suffered the wrath of the critics who were all hung up on the compositional style du jour as epitomised by figures such as Dallapiccola, Nono, Boulez, Stockhausen, et al. I remember distinctly sniffy comments concerning the Shostakovich violin concerto after its premier in Britain around 1957 -- of the sort "well, Russian composers have to write this people's stuff, you know". Well, the composers du jour of the middle of the twentieth century are definitely on the down-circle of the wheel, and the people's stuff coming up. It's good to see Korngold and Britten going up; I have a soft spot for both concertos, though I am ambivalent about much of Britten's music (with important exceptions).

Why do we not hear ... many works that, for no apparent reason, are seldom if never played? More specifically, this evening, why does no one play the violin concerto in G minor of Reinhold Gliere? Almost finished in 1956, it's a lovely, autumnal work with echoes of Glazunov and Rachmaninov. Lush melodies, well written, enjoyable to listen to. But pretty well never played. I cannot discover an easily available modern recording of the work. The one I have and listened to this evening was played (very well indeed) by Boris Goldstein in an old Russian recording with a Moscow orchestra (LP transfer). The compositional style is pretty unfashionable for 1956 but, after well over half a century, should fashion matter?

Food this evening was a three-egg omelette stuffed with girolles. Absolutely delicious.

10th November 1910 was the premier of Elgar's violin concerto in London (soloist was Fritz Kreisler). Ten days later, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra played the concerto in Bournemouth. 10th November 2010 the orchestra played it yet again, with Simone Lamsma as soloist and David Hill (who is he?) as conductor.

It's been a lucky concerto in recordings, right from 1928 with Albert Sammons. I really enjoyed the Simone Lamsma performance; she plays with deep commitment and puts her heart into it. Lamsma has already well earned her Elgar credentials with a CD of Elgar salon pieces (plus the violin and piano sonata). On 10th November 2010 in Poole she really carries you along. Helped by the orchestra that really knows this music; this is not an occasion when you need Leonard Bernstein conducting the Israel Philharmonic. I now have to add this recording to my favourite four or five (and the second by a Dutch girl, since I much liked the off-air recording by Isabelle van Keulen a few years ago). A lucky concerto when it comes to recordings. As I have remarked (when talking of Thomas Zehetmair's performance) this is one of those concertos where the orchestra and conductor also play a vital role. Lucky 10th November.

Lovers of violin playing owe much to the Czechs, the Slovaks, the Hungarians and the Romanians. Returning back home, it made for a very pleasant evening listening to Antal Szalai and Joszef Balog playing 15 pieces arranged by Leopold Auer (another Hungarian). All of the pieces are well-known (apart perhaps from Auer's own Rhapsodie Hongroise Op 2) and all are attractive. Tchaikovsky, Schumann, Chopin, Wieniawski, Rubinstein, Achron, Paganini et al. all ripple happily past us, and Szalai has plenty of opportunity to show off a very fine ability to play a true cantabile. A happy musical evening with a strong Hungarian flavour. Szalai impresses as someone who just puts his violin under his chin and plays. No posturing, no striving for effect, no histrionics. And he and Balog certainly sound as if they have that music in their veins.

Simone Kermes and Colori d'Amore

A pretty astonishing new CD from Simone Kermes, in excellent partnership with Claudio Osele and Le Musiche Nove. What amazes is the fact that a) so much of the music is outstanding and b) so much of the music is "first recording". Alessandro Scarlatti, Antonio Caldara and Giovanni Bononcini predominate, though we also come across people such as Antonio Maria Bononcini. What an incredible period for musical compositions was that of 1690-1740! Especially by the Italians (not to forget J.S. Bach and Handel). Kermes sings with her usual verve and aplomb; the music sounds as if it were written especially for her.

"You get what you pay for" is not always true, at least not in the case of CDs. Brilliant Classics' CD of three sonatas for violin and piano by George Enescu contains thoroughly idiomatic playing by Antal Szalai (violin) and Jozsef Balog. The recording, and the recording balance, are exemplary (the engineers of the recent Wigmore Hall Live CD of Ibragimova and Tiberghien should take careful note and strive to emulate). At Brilliant Classics' £5 price, this CD is an excellent buy.

It is becoming a little disconcerting to realise just how much better many things were done during the first half of the twentieth century in so far as the Central European music repertoire is concerned (Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Wagner and Bruckner). After 1950, things progressed in leaps and bounds in terms of recording technique and, in particular, instrumental technique. But the ability to play music naturally? For this, all too often, we have to go back to the archives.

A thought prompted by my recent re-listenings to Furtwängler conducting Bruckner and Scubert in the 1940s and 50s, and now with my acquisition of a CD box in which Edwin Fischer plays 14.5 hours of Bach, Schubert, Mozart and Brahms. When it came to piano technique, Fischer was no Vladimir Horowitz. But then, when it came to playing Bach, Beethoven, Schubert and Mozart, Horowitz was no Fischer. In the piano world, Edwin Fischer, Elly Ney and Arthur Schnabel were at the summit in this repertoire, just as Bruno Walter, Otto Klemperer, Willem Mengelberg, Hans Knappersbusch and Wilhelm Furtwängler dominate the orchestral scene. Since then, things have become slicker, technically more reliable, more widely promoted. But better performances of much of Bach, Beethoven, Scbubert and Mozart? In my view: rarely. About time Adolf Busch recordings were re-jigged in good sound. Advances in sound restoration by the likes of Michael Dutton, Ward Marston, Mark Obert-Thorn, Andrew Rose, et al promise to open up this veiled promised land for everyday listening. More Fischer (EMI transfers are so-so at the best). More Adolf Busch. More Elly Ney. More Alfed Cortot. More Georg Kulenkampff!

The recording industry created expectations of complete technical perfection by instrumentalists, singers and orchestras. Thus those "take 180" tracks, and recordings of one concerto that took 2-3 days work for a 35 minute piece. Modern musicians are petrified of any error -- encouraged by reviewers such as the BBC critic recently who eliminated Janine Jansen's superb performance of Britten's Violin Concerto because it appears Jansen miscalculated one (ONE)note towards the end of the first movement. So goodbye Janine! And I can't even hear the miscalculated note, unlike Herr Beckmesser. We have talked ourselves into a ridiculous situation.

The duo partnership between Alina Ibragimova and Cédric Tiberghien is a very fine one, and their second Wigmore Hall Live disc of Beethoven violin & piano sonatas contains some world-beating playing. The recording, however, has a bad balance between piano and violin; when the piano is playing softly, it can always be heard. But when Ibragimova plays softly (which she often does) you have to strain your ears. We need 15% more violin, and 15% less piano. The violin sound, on the higher strings, is a little bright and steely. A great shame. The duo should hire some better sound engineers.

This blog is rapidly becoming a fan club for Pristine Audio, Andrew Rose, and Wilhelm Furtwängler. So here we go again. I downloaded the new transfer of Furtwängler and the Vienna Philharmonic playing Bruckner's 4th Symphony (broadcast tapes, October 1951, Stuttgart). The sound is little short of incredible, with most of the coughs and splutterings cleared up, into the bargain. Now, for probably the first time, one can just sit back and enjoy the music and the performance without having to make many allowances. Good times are here. I now sit and wait for comparable transfers of Furtwängler in Bruckner's 7th and 8th Symphonies. And then, quite frankly, one can throw away all other versions.

The three violin concertos of Camille Saint-Saëns make an attractive CD (72 minutes) and I enjoyed the new Naxos on which Fanny Clamagirand plays the three works. Here, she is a gentle violinist, a little hesitant in places, and does not have the sheer charisma of Tedi Papavrami on his recent disc of Saint-Saëns, Chausson and Ysaÿe where so much of the playing was quite magical. And Papavrami's 2005 Christian Bayon violin does sound so much sweeter and more powerful than Clamagirand's 1700 Matteo Goffriller (as recorded here). Good to hear 72 minutes of old Camille again, and a pleasant change from yet more Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn or Sibelius. The second Saint-Saëns concerto is rarely heard, but I have always liked it ever since an old Ivry Gitlis recording (with some very weird vibrato in the second movement; weird even for Gitlis).

The Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Wilhelm Furtwängler must surely have been the greatest orchestra/conductor combination of all time. I have just been listening to Pristine Audio's miraculous reconstructions of Schubert's 8th Symphony (Titania Palast, Berlin, 15 September 1953) and 9th Symphony (Alte Philharmonie, Berlin, 8 December 1942). The playing is simply stupendous, and the conducting miraculous. Add to that Pristine Audio's €9 price for the FLAC download, and it is clear we live in a golden age for those who enjoy great performances of great music. It is tempting to acquire the Pristine transfer of the 1942 Beethoven 9th with Furtwängler, but I really cannot take the finale of that work; a great pity Beethoven didn't have second thoughts and write an alternative.

No listening to music for me. I spent the week in Vienna. The city is wall-to-wall Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. You would never think that composers such as Schubert, Beethoven, Mahler, Strauss and Korngold also lived there for long periods. Alles ist Mozart. I like Mozart, but regret the obsession that the Vienna Tourist Board appears to have with the only Viennese composer. There is even a chain of Mozart shops (managed by Constance?) including a branch at the airport. Gurr!

I have been a bit negative recently. Here are two positive entries:

1. My oxtail stew was world-class. Tail of an ox; good red wine; onions; beef consommé; parsnips; carrots; herbes de Provence; bouquet garni (thyme, bay leaves); salt; pepper. Cook for two hours. Leave for 48 hours. Re-cook for one hour and eat some; leave for a further 48 hours; eat some more; leave for ... etc. By the end, the whole thing when cold is just solid jelly.

2. Saint-Saëns' third violin concerto, and Introduction & Rondo Capriccioso; plus Chausson's Poème -- have not wanted for superb recordings over the past 80 years. But these three works, plus Eugène Ysaÿe's Poème Elégiaque, are truly superb on a 2009 CD from Tedi Papavrami (Aeon). The Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège is conducted by François-Xavier Roth. I have enthused over this disc before, and I enthuse again. Because:

* Of the four works on the CD, it is difficult to think off-hand of better versions.
* The playing is idiomatic, accurate and excellent.
* The recording is first class.
* Papavrami's bow (2008) and violin (2006) illustrate that the claim only "old" instruments are really good is simply not true.

Throughout the 57 minutes of this CD I found myself (unusually) admiring the sheer sound of Papavrami's instrument. A CD I keep by my player, since I love the music, the playing and the sound.

The performance of Bruckner's 9th symphony conducted by Wilhelm Furtwängler in Berlin on 7th October 1944 has always been very special. With the Red Army and Götterdämmerung only six months away from Berlin, there is an air of intense focus in both the conducting and the playing. And, it must be said, the broadcast tapes of that era are of exceptional quality.

I have collected this performance in its various incarnations (the last being on DG). But Andrew Rose's new effort for Pristine Audio in "ambient stereo" is truly excellent. I downloaded the FLAC files today and wrote them to a CD. One of recording history's great masterpieces lives again in truly exceptional sound (for its age). I am only sad to think I won't be around in 30 years time to hear the ultimate in sound restoration of performances such as this.

After vowing "no more CDs of the Brahms violin & piano sonatas" (since I have so many) I bought another one, urged on by my enjoyment of Alina Ibragimova and Cédric Tiberghien in the first sonata. The new candidate is Jack Liebeck, whose début CD I much admired some years ago. Liebeck plays attractively and sensitively on the new disc, but his pianist, Katya Apekisheva, is a bit of a Russian tank ... and balanced forward, in addition. I'll wait for more Ibragimova.

I did not like Arabella Steinbacher's recent recording of the Beethoven violin concerto, finding it too slow and sentimentalised -- sort of Beethoven / Bruch. But I do like her performance of the second violin concerto of Shostakovich and here, with a better balance, the orchestra plays a much more important part than in the recent Czech performance with Bohumil Kotmel (which I may have over-praised at the time).

No danger of over-praising Elly Ney. Ronald kindly donated two CDs of her playing, and I am highly impressed. Has the adagio molto semplice of Beethoven's Op 111 ever been better played, with more understanding? I suspect not. The recordings (German, mainly from the mid-1930s) are quite extraordinarily good.

And while I am in a praising mood: Marks & Spencer's lamb Rogan Josh is far better than any Indian dish from any other British supermarket. Succulent, tasty, delicious.