Some ideas about filling a CD containing the Beethoven or Brahms violin concertos comes with an enjoyable CD where we find Philippe Graffin and the Ulster Orchestra playing "Rare French Works" for violin and orchestra. I greatly enjoyed Lalo's Fantaisie Norvégienne, Ernest Guiraud's Caprice, Saint-Saëns' Morceau de Concert, Joseph Canteloube's Poème, and other pieces. Hands up all those who know any music by Guiraud, apart from his recitative interpolations into Bizet's Carmen? Well, his Caprice (nearly 12 minutes long) is most enjoyable.

Most of the works on the CD were written around / because of / dedicated to, Pablo Sarasate. Philippe Graffin plays in the manner of the 19th century violin celebrity.

“You play Bach your way. And I'll play Bach his way” Wanda Landowska, an arrogant Polish harpsichord player, is alleged to have told someone. What do we know about what Bach wanted? We know with his music he was keen on texture, on structure, on harmony and on rhythm. We know from his frequent borrowings, transpositions and re-writings that the actual sound of his music had a lesser place; an oboe might replace a violin, a bassoon might replace a clarinet, the prelude to the third partita for solo violin would turn up as an organ solo in a cantata. So when it comes to the sonatas and partitas for solo violin: what would Johann Sebastian have expected of the player?

My feeling (unlike Landowska I don't know these things) is that Bach would have expected players to stick to the text, to play all the notes … and to use all the craft, skills and technique in their armoury to make the notes come alive and to arouse interest and admiration. I think that Bach would have been disappointed at many “baroque” performances, and also by the many who play his notes accurately and well but without bringing anything to the party.

I greatly admired Jascha Heifetz's playing on a recent re-listen. I have really enjoyed Lara St. John's two CDs of the six works this evening. Lara brings love, spirit, enthusiasm and an extensive palette of bowing, dynamics and colouring so that the music is constantly alive. Bach, I feel, would be happy. Lara does not worry about how Bach would have played the pieces; she just uses the scores to show what a violin can do. In my personal pantheon of desert island recordings, Heifetz and St. John are now neck-to-neck in the final strait.

On a CD, Ruggiero Ricci once assembled cadenzas to the Beethoven violin concerto by David, Vieuxtemps, Joachim, Laub, Wieniawski, Saint-Saëns, Auer, Ysaÿe, Busoni, Kreisler, Milstein and Schnittke. I find it a pity that Liza Ferschtman chooses to use the cadenza Beethoven wrote for the piano version of the violin concerto (adapted by Wolfgang Schneiderhan). It's too long and, being derived from piano music rather than the violin, it doesn't exploit the violin too well.

But that is now my only minor gripe concerning Liza Ferschtman's new recording. The dynamic range is still wide and you have to set the tuttis to be as loud as bearable in order to hear all the softer music. Fortunately the Beethoven violin concerto does not have many loud tuttis. Liza F. plays beautifully; the style is classical, which suits this concerto admirably – one reason why Adolf Busch and Eric Röhn feature high on my list. I was impressed with the orchestral contribution on the new CD; the wind players are given the kind of prominence one associates with Otto Klemperer and, in this concerto, it's a great advantage. So, after my second hearing, I am most enthusiastic. The only other minor gripe is that the concerto is only 45 minutes long, and it would have been good to have something else interesting on the CD – Britten, Korngold, Vieuxtemps, or whatever – instead of the two minor Romances that Beethoven wrote as pot-boilers.

Another Beethoven Violin Concerto, but I could not resist hearing Liza Ferschtman playing it (Challenge Records). Surprisingly good orchestra is "Netherlands Symphony Orchestra" (this is probably a pseudonym). The good news is that Ms Ferschtman plays beautifully, is well integrated with the orchestra, is balanced ideally, and knows all about playing piano and forte.

The bad news is that the broad dynamic range of the excellent recording means that you need to listen to the music in a BIG room, in an isolated space, with big speakers and a powerful amplifier. Otherwise, like me, you will miss much of the pianissimo violin playing (of which there is much in this concerto). Fortunately I know the Beethoven violin concerto backwards, so I can fill in the blank spaces; fortunately Beethoven doesn't go in for pianissimo passages in harmonics. But do recording engineers not realise the constrictions most of us face when listening to recordings? I suppose I could ask my neighbours to leave the building for 40 minutes, then really turn up the volume ... But I'll probably just have to get out my headphones and listen to it that way.

For many years now I have been a loyal fan of Erica Morini, so I was pleased to receive a new Audite release of Morini in Berlin (1952). She plays the Tchaikovsky concerto (with Ferenc Fricsay) plus miscellaneous baroque sonatas and encore pieces with Michael Raucheisen. The Sevick school -- including Morini, Kubelik and Schneiderhan -- went out of fashion after the 1940s with the advent of the "plummy" Russian violin school with stars such as Oistrakh and Stern. But there is a lot to be said for the "Sevcik sound": the immaculate intonation, the tightly focussed tone, the sparing use of vibrato, the emphasis on articulation via bow strokes. Erica Morini was a major violinist and it's sad we have so few recordings of her in her prime.

I was, also, very impressed with Audite's sound restoration from performances and recordings in 1952 Berlin. Amidst the ruins of the city, there was a strong renaissance of music making and recording (the Tchaikovsky concerto being a public performance in the Titania-Palast that replaced the old Philharmonic hall on which someone had decided to drop a bomb).

Unusual weekend so far. Music centred on Ludwig van Beethoven (of all people) and re-visited the works of my childhood: sixth and seventh symphonies, plus fourth and fifth piano concertos.

The symphonies were played by Willem Mengelberg and the Concertgebouw Orchestra (public performances, April 1940). The (Pristine) sound was excellent, for the period, and the orchestra glowed with a rich, golden sound. Fascinating to hear a great conductor and a great orchestra of 70 years ago. But I cannot take Mengelberg's tempo in the trio of the third movement of the seventh symphony; it is so slow! When the wretched trio came around for the second time, I had to skip forward to the finale.

The two concertos were played on a new CD by Yevgeny Sudbin who is my kind of pianist. A truly incredible technique, but playing that has you listening intently to Beethoven, rather than to Sudbin. Pretty definitive versions of these two old warhorses.

And Morrison's had a special offer of gilt-head bream, so I bought two fish and eat one this evening. Grilled simply with olive oil, mixed herbs, salt and pepper and then adorned with squeezed lemon. Light, flavoursome and delicious. When I am re-incarnated I'll open a restaurant: Casa Paganini?

This weekend my favourite scallop dish (ginger, salt, pepper, spring onions, soya sauce, cooked briefly in a wok) and then squid (garlic, salt, pepper, parsley) cooked in a wok. Then two favourite violin concertos: the first Shostakovich concerto (Lisa Batiashvili) and the Elgar concerto (Thomas Zehetmair). Both concertos in the top three recorded performances ever, and both 21st century recordings, which bodes well for the future of classical violin playing.

Latest Pristine Audio offering is THREE performances of the Mendelssohn violin concerto with Heifetz (plus Toscanini, Beecham, or Munch), all on one CD. Heifetz made his public début at the age of seven playing the Mendelssohn concerto; I don't think he liked it very much. All his performances show a lack of warmth and affection and concentrate on rapidissimo virtuoso playing. Breathtaking: yes. But not particularly attractive.

For once, the Pristine Audio transfers disappoint and are not better than most other people's efforts. As the ratings agencies would have it: Pristine is downgraded in my eyes from AAA to AAB.

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?

Scallops, Prawns and Squid. Plus Bach's Solo Violin Works

Fresh scallops, prawns and squid. Marinated for a few hours in fresh ginger and spring onions. Cooked in a wok for a few minutes with black pepper and a little oil. Dash with a little soy sauce. Excellent meal on a bed of rice. Quite delicious.

I discovered recently that I have complete recorded sets of the Bach sonatas and partitas for solo violin by: James Ehnes, George Enescu, Devy Erlih, Christian Ferras, Julia Fischer, Bronislaw Gimpel, Arthur Grumiaux, Jascha Heifetz, Alina Ibragimova, Oleg Kagan, Sigiswald Kuijken (x2), Johanna Martzy, Yehudi Menuhin, Nathan Milstein (x2), Ruggiero Ricci, Benjamin Schmid, Oscar Shumsky, Lara St. John, and Emil Telmanyi. 21 different sets! Which is ridiculous. The grand purge will begin very shortly. Left will be Heifetz, Ibragimova, St. John, Shumsky, Milstein (DG) and maybe one other. Until another interesting set appears ...

Patricia Kopatchinskaja comes from Moldova, the daughter of two folk-music parents, and seems to be inheriting the mantel of Gilles Apap as an enfant terrible of the violin. I listened to her new CD with interest, since it is based upon folk and pseudo-folk music of Moldova and Romania. When Kopatchinskaja tackles Enescu's third sonata, Ravel's Tzigane and Dinicu's hora staccato, they are certainly different. She brings a folk-fiddler's freedom and wildness to the violin parts and the result is extraordinarily refreshing. Enescu's sonata was written in a pastiche folk idiom ("dans le caractère populaire roumain") and the playing of Kopatchinskaja -- and the pianist Mihaela Ursuleasa -- brings out the folk roots quite brilliantly. We are a long way from Joshua Bell (or André Rieu). Ravel's Tzigane Hungarian gypsy imitation also comes over well, with Daddy Kopatchinsky playing the piano part on a cimbalom -- novel, but in character and a pleasant change.

The CD also contains some attractive horas and doinas from Moldova and Romania played by the Kopatchinsky family (Mother plays the violin and viola). The couple of bits by Ligeti and Kurtag can be skipped over, and the bit by someone called Jorge Sanchez-Chiong should be skipped over, even though it only lasts one minute and four seconds -- about one minute too long, for me.

Pavel Sporcl made an excellent CD of gypsy pieces, and that is a CD I listen to regularly. When violinists play folk music with which they have a special empathy, the results are often most enjoyable. I'll keep Kopatchinskaja's CD near to hand and it will probably be my first choice when I want to hear Enescu's third violin & piano sonata.

I haven't heard Elizabeth Watts before and, on a new CD of Bach cantatas and solo cantata arias her voice sounds quite beautiful. She is billed as a soprano, but on this CD comes over more as an alto or, at best, a mezzo soprano. This seems to be the problem with the chosen pitch of A = 415 Hz, where everything comes over a bit murky and even the normally exuberant trumpet in "Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen" sounds here a bit like an emasculated trombone. At this pitch, most of the orchestral detail, so important in Bach, recedes into the undergrowth. Slower arias are taken very slowly, and much of the CD reminds me of what things used to sound like when I inadvertently played a 45 rpm disk at 33 rpm. Let us hope to hear Ms Watts at a more acceptable pitch and with a more alert conductor than Harry Bicket.

It was interesting re-listening to Jascha Heifetz's 1952 recordings of the Bach solo sonatas and partitas (new transfer by my friends at Pristine Audio). For the first time for ages, Heifetz's violin at last sounds like Heifetz's violin (which was not the case with the RCA / BMG transfers). There was a lot of warmth in Heifetz's sound. These new Pristine transfers are the ones I will keep, and the old set can go to a charity shop.

Listening to all six works during a 24 hour period can often be a challenge, with monochrome and monotone violin playing from many contestants. No challenge with Heifetz: the range of bowings, colours and dynamics he produces means that all six works are a pleasure to hear, one after another. 1952 was not a great vintage period for American recording technology, but in their new re-incarnation the Heifetz recordings are perfectly acceptable (the first sonata, for some reason, sounds slightly lower recording quality than the other five works). The Bach unaccompanieds are a highly competitive area, but these Heifetz recordings now join Lara St.John, Oscar Shumsky and Nathan Milstein in my personal pantheon. Probably Heifetz beats Milstein now; he is just even more interesting to listen to.

I bought -- and listened to -- a Mahler symphony! No one can say I have not been faithful to Gustav Mahler since around 1956 when I bought my first Mahler pieces (fourth symphony, and Kindertotenlieder). The new acquisition was Mahler's fifth symphony, I work I got to know first as a teenager by studying the full score I loaned from a public library; the new CD has Valery Gergiev conducting the LSO (very fine recording, and orchestral playing).

But, alas: Mahler is not for me (except for a few isolated bits). I find too much of the music banal and superficial. Mahler was a great orchestrator, but so many of the bits I like (usually involving small forces of harp, pianissimo violins, woodwind, etc) seem to turn up in all the works. Set beside two other Austrians who happened to write nine symphonies -- Schubert and Bruckner -- Mahler is revealed as not being in their league. There is no profundity, no spiritual element, in Mahler's works. Flashy; yes. Well-written; yes. But no greatness and often noisy (Stürmisch bewegt, mit größter Vehemenz for the second movement tempo indication says it all). I remember a concert in London where I last heard Mahler's fifth and finding the sheer noise level thoroughly disagreeable.

Added to the fact that the two plaice I had bought turned out to be scrawny and unsatisfactory, and I didn't enjoy the rosé wine I had with them; it was not a great evening! Back to Schubert and Bruckner.

After over 70 years, the six Bach suites played by Pablo Casals still stand as Number One choice for these works. There is a zest and humanity in Casals' playing that defies comparison with anyone else. Like the playing of Fritz Kreisler, Casals is simply hors concours.
One can happily forget "historically informed", or "authentic". This is simply Bach played by a supreme instrumentalist who loved these works.

This blog is becoming a bit of a Pristine Audio fan club site. However, the new Pristine transfer of these six suites puts any previous reincarnations to shame. It sounds as if Pablo is playing away in the corner of my lounge. No other versions of these suites are required.

One of the world's great dishes: squid comme chez moi. Around 1 kilo of fresh squid. Olive oil. Flat-leaf parsley. Garlic. Black pepper. Salt. Cayenne pepper. Freshly squeezed lemon juice. A suitable pan. A good rosé wine to go with it. Good bread. Not cheap. Not instant. But absolutely delicious. As a dessert: a plate of good Normandy cheeses.

Wilhelm Furtwängler and the Berlin Philharmonic playing Beethoven's fifth symphony (1944, fill-up on Pristine Audio CD with the violin concerto played by Röhn). The first LP I ever bought at the tender age of 14 was Erich Kleiber conducting the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Beethoven's fifth symphony. I don't like the work! I found the Furtwängler performance inflated, grandiose and banal. Maybe it would sound better with an orchestra of 12 players. But, for whatever reason, like so much of Beethoven's orchestral music -- apart from isolated movements -- it is no longer my cup of tea.

Since its arrival in 1955, the first Shostakovich violin concerto has established itself as the most often played in concert and most often recorded violin concerto of the last 50 years; if one excludes the Sibelius concerto, it may even be the most played and recorded of the last 100 years. It seems to me that every version that comes along I herald yet again as “the best”. I have 40 recordings of the work; and no less than 10 have my rare “AAA” rating. A strange state of affairs.

Well, it was nine AAAs; but the latest recording to thunder through my letter box – Lisa Batiashvili with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen on DG – makes it ten, and Batiashvili joins Julia Fischer, Leila Josefowicz, Sergei Khachatryan, Alexei Michlin (for the violin playing), Stoika Milanova, Vadim Repin (several versions) and Maxim Vengerov at the crowded top of the tree.

I have been a loyal Batiashvili fan for the past ten or eleven years. Her sound and playing are highly distinctive (a rare thing with modern violinists). Difficult to describe, but there has always been a nobility about her playing, with an extremely well executed vibrato, a way of concentrating on every note and every phrase, and a contralto sound that often alternates between clarinet and oboe. Her actual sound often reminds me of Gioconda de Vito. Her performance here of the Shostakovich first concerto deserves classic status, helped greatly by a first-rate recording, good recording balance and first-class partnership with the orchestra and conductor. The noble violin rides above the storm.

The CD has some attractive and out-of-the way fill-ups, and the two pieces for violin and piano with Hélène Grimaud remind us how much better things are when duos are played with real pianists, and not with Emanuel Bay look-alikes.