Listened to the two new James Ehnes CDs I brought back from Paris. Why did I buy them? I don't usually enjoy Ehnes, who is a very fine violinist indeed, but can be a little unimaginative.
Well, the CD of James Ehnes playing Kreisler was thoroughly enjoyable. Somehow, faced with just playing the fiddle superbly in lighter music, Ehnes takes wing. A super performance of the Tartini-Kreisler Devil's Trill. Ehnes sounds as if he is enjoying himself.
The CD of Bruch (second violin concerto, and Scottish Fantasy) introduces a conundrum. The second violin concerto is really rather a dull work. Ehnes plays the Scottish Fantasy beautifully. But anyone who remembers Heifetz in this piece will realise that Ehnes is heavily influenced by Heifetz. Phrasing, bowing, fingering, expressive gestures and tempi all sound so similar as to be downright imitation rather than "influenced by". Only in the finale does Ehnes depart from His Master's Voice, with a slower tempo. A bit puzzling. I enjoyed the performance greatly; but it really was Heifetz in good modern sound!

Evening of duo sonatas. Hanna Kotkova in the Janacek sonata didn’t please me too much. A bit limp, and the balance favours the piano, with her playing away in the background. Turned to Akiko Suwanai and Boris Berezovsky in the Janacek (and in the Dvorak Four Pieces); and what a difference! Ended up with Vadim Repin and the omnipresent Boris Berezovsky in the Strauss sonata. A magnificent performance; quite as good as the classic Heifetz performance (and that is saying a lot). It has to be said that Berezovsky contributes as much to the Suwanai and Repin discs as do the violinists themselves.

Overwhelmed, as often in the past 40 years or so, by Delius’s Sea Drift (Beecham, Bruce Boyce, 1954). This is a piece, and a performance, that have so often left me deeply moved. Beecham knew instinctively the need to keep music such as Delius’s moving. Left me feeling quite moist of eye.
Preceded Sea Drift with more Beecham: Grieg’s incidental music to Peer Gynt (sparked by a telephone query from my daughter Tabitha). The period 1880 to 1910 was so rich in music! Grieg and much of Delius; and also Strauss, Brahms, Mahler, Bruckner, Wagner, Debussy, Elgar, Chausson … This may even be my favourite musical period (despite all my Bach listening over Christmas).
Resisted the temptation to follow the Grieg and Delius with Chausson’s Poèmes de l’Amour et de la Mer, or with Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde and Elgar’s cello concerto. But they will surely follow …

Christmas Eve saw a great meal of pâté de foie gras, langoustines, cheese and dessert, all washed down with champagne, the incredible Australian Nobel One dessert wine, and a good pinot noir d’Alsace. The langoustines (from William’s Kitchen) were excellent – Tabitha and I consumed 2 kilos of them between us.
Music over Christmas was overwhelmingly Bach. I was surprised just how much I still enjoyed Karl Richter’s 1958 Matthew Passion – and how much I enjoyed Fischer-Dieskau’s singing therein (for a change). Just goes to show one can never generalise. In fact I suspect this may still be my favourite recording of the Matthew Passion; one I have known for over forty years.
Then, on to Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. I have seriously underestimated this in the past. It is, in fact, a cycle of six high-grade cantatas. I knew the first two from an old DGG recording I had in the 1950s, and the final four cantatas sort of passed me by ever after. My loss! And also, in this reversal of ancient prejudices, I greatly enjoyed John Eliot Gardiner’s performance of the Oratorio. He usually comes over as the Toscanini of the baroque orchestra. But in this recording (mid 1980s) one cannot really fault him and he doesn’t “hector” the music as he is wont to do in Bach.

An oddly assorted violin trio enabled me to sort out some of my likes and dislikes (aka prejudices).
I responded with coolness to Jerrold Rubenstein and Dalia Ouziel (1997) playing the three Brahms sonatas. I enjoyed Emil Telmanyi and Georg Vasarhelyi (Berlin, 1939) in the first two Brahms sonatas. And, very surprised, I thoroughly enjoyed Joan Berkhemer and Kyoko Hashimoto in the Mendelssohn F major sonata.
Why? Rubenstein played beautifully; too beautifully, and usually too slowly. Telmanyi, very much in the early last century Central European tradition, took 8:31 and 7:05 respectively over the first movements of the first two Brahms sonatas, and this felt about right. Rubenstein took 11:19 and 8:57 respectively, and this dragged.
Every violinist should understand why there are not too many sonatas and concertos for solo clarinets, oboes or flutes; it’s not that these three woodwind instruments don’t sound beautiful. It’s just that beautiful sound begins to pall after five minutes or so. The best violinists vary the colour and dynamics constantly (Heifetz was a master of this). Beautiful-sound violinists such as Mischa Elman broke up the stream of sound with varied bowing and a lot of right arm articulation. Alas, Rubenstein (ex Julliard) has a lovely Joseph Guarneri violin with a particularly beautiful rich sound on the lower strings. And don’t we know it! In the end, the beautiful slow, rich sound with the seamless son filé from the immaculately smooth bowing arm have the same effect as eating an entire kilo of high-grade pâté de foie gras. Frank Almond in the same three sonatas eventually had a similar effect on me.
Which is why Joan Berkhemer was like a refreshing glass of sparkling water. He (I think Joan, like Ana, is male name in Dutch, for some odd reason) plays the violin with zest and spirit. And it’s infectious. I am not a Mendelssohn fan, but enjoyed the contrast with the over-precious Rubenstein. Berkhemer sounded like a violinist; Rubenstein reminded me of a clarinettist.
Telmanyi in Brahms is no model; but he kept things moving and was consistently interesting. I’ll go back to his two performances (not surprisingly, his playing reminded me of Jeno Léner and the Budapest of the late nineteenth century).
Insight or prejudice? I don’t know. Just keep me away from violinists who play consistently beautifully!

Well, after well nigh 45 years, Paul Kletzki’s performance of Mahler 4th Symphony (1957 with the Philharmonia and Emmy Loose) has been dethroned in my affections. By the 1967 public performance in Prague (3 January) by John Barbirolli and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, with Heather Harper in the finale.
Beside the 1957 Philharmonia, the BBC orchestra sounds a bit rustic. But it’s suave, northern playing versus rustic southern playing, and Barbirolli and the BBC orchestra win hands down. To my mind, Barbirolli masters the ebb and flow of the music magnificently. The structure holds together and nothing seems too long – especially not the 20 minute adagio. After so long a time, it is increasingly rare that a “newcomer” ousts an old favourite. The Barbirolli was broadcast on 19 December 2002 and, I must say, the sound transfers beautifully to CD. A new confirmed favourite. Probably unlikely to be supplanted in my affections from now on? I even prefer Heather Harper to Emmy Loose. There’s a volte face!

A lot of pleasure yesterday evening from my new (EMI Great Recordings of the Century) 2-CD set of Klemperer conducting the Philharmonia in Wagner bits and pieces (1960-61). Wagner fitted my mood very well, and the Tannhäuser Overture makes good listening. The sound is fine, and well balanced. Interesting to note how the stock of Klemperer (and Furtwängler, Weingartner and Mengelberg) keeps rising -- and that of Toscanini, for example, drifts downwards. Partly to do with the awful sound Toscanini used to like. But partly due, one feels, to his brutal way with so much music. Whatever: the two Klemperer CDs will give me as much pleasure as does the similar 2-CD set of Furtwängler conducting Wagner bits.

Somewhat disturbed evening, and nothing I listened to seemed to “speak” to me. But around 10.15 I found (by accident when looking for something else) the DG re-issue of Clara Haskil and Ferenc Fricsay in the mid-1950s playing Mozart (mono). Put on the piano concerto No.27 (K 595) and was immediately entranced, both by Mozart and by Haskil. It sounded as if Mozart himself were playing, and the music certainly “spoke”. At such times, Mozart truly joins the great triumvirate (with Bach and Beethoven). And what a good recording! No apologies needed for 1955 mono sound. The disc also contains the 19th concerto (K 459) so I must dip into that when I get back next week.
There is, after all, a point in having a back collection of CDs about which one has forgotten!

I little thought I would listen to Tchaikovsky’s violin concerto four times on two consecutive evenings – and still really enjoy it the fourth time round! A great tribute to Vadim Repin’s playing on the new Philips release (with Valery Gergiev and the Kirov Orchestra). As a violinist, Repin is nothing like Heifetz (who is?) But he has a similar way of making you listen to what he is playing, by continually varying his bowing, playing and dynamics. You listen to Repin when he plays. The next phrase is never predictable.
I now have five recordings of Repin playing this work (from 1985, 1989, 1994, 2001 – and the present disc recorded in 2002. I sense that Repin is more ready to meditate in this latest version; the old excitement is still there, but it is contrasted with added repose where needed. The violinist opening of the work is near ideal in the present performance, and I greatly admired the beginning of the slow movement, played with touching simplicity, and piano.
The coupling is the Myakovsky violin concerto. A thoroughly pleasant work that Repin plays masterfully and with obvious affection. All in all, a worthwhile new CD. Having a Russian orchestra playing with him in these Russian works obviously helps the feeling of rightness that Repin brings to the music.

Valery Gergiev and Rimsky-Korsakov's Sheherezade

Yesterday evening I was bowled over by Valery Gergiev and the Kirov Orchestra playing Rimsky-Korsakov's Sheherezade (new CD from Philip). It is wonderful to hear again an orchestra that sounds different. Not just the Cincinnati-Orchestre de Paris-LSO-Frankfurt Rundfunk sound we are used to. The Kirov orchestra sounds Russian. Dark, gloomy and vodka-sodden. The solo violinist is incredible (Sergei Levitin). And Gergiev conducts -- makes you think of grim old Mravinsky wielding his deadly baton. A refreshing change from the bland stuff we usually get. I was attracted to the CD because two critics thought it the best thing since Furtwängler conducted Tristan & Isolde, and two other critics thought it the worst thing since Andre Rieu conducted Beethoven's 9th Symphony. A recording creating such strong reactions must be good!

Well, I was wrong, yet again. Hilary Hahn playing the Elgar violin concerto (Bavarian Radio SO, Colin Davis) turned out to be extremely impressive. Of course, her accuracy was incredible and her sound always immaculately beautiful. But she was also on Elgar’s wavelength. A bit of tasteful wallowing in the first movement, but the slow movement kept a good forward momentum and the finale was taken fast. The Elgar concerto has been lucky with its recording (with only Igor Oistrakh and the second Zukerman recording really falling over). Hilary Hahn, however, was well up with the front leaders, at the age of 23. Not as mercurial as Albert Sammons; but rewarding in her own right. My pre-judgments were wrong. And the Elgar suited her much better than did the Shostakovich first concerto. Colin Davis was also a good partner in this concerto, experienced Elgarian as he is. A good addition to my list of favoured recordings of this work.

Further investigation of George Lloyd. Revisited his eighth symphony, and also bought a CD of his two violin concertos (played by Cristina Anghelescu). Lloyd was an odd fish all round. Bits of Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Rachmaninov (in the eighth symphony), Delius, Sibelius … and some film music, at times. Musically highly incorrect, and a long way (thank goodness) from Luigi Nono or Stockhausen. No wonder the William Glock crowd at the BBC made sure George Lloyd was firmly banned.
I don’t think I’ll ever become a George Lloyd fan. But his music makes pleasant listening.

Greatly to my surprise, I enjoyed listening to George Lloyds’s 8th Symphony (a Lyrita LP by Philharmonia under George Downes recorded 1981). The symphony was written in 1961 and is strangely impressive. Why have I never heard one note of George Lloyd before? Mixture of Vaughan Williams, Sibelius and numerous other influences. I had to transfer the LP to a CD for someone in California, which is how I came to meet the piece. I must investigate more of George Lloyd’s work
Ended the evening by dipping into Disc 1 of the 5 CD set of George Cziffra playing Liszt (that I picked up in FNAC in Strasbourg last week for only 20 Euros). Great stuff, the first two Hungarian Rhapsodies. And Cziffra in the 1950s played much as one imagines Liszt must have played.

I sat open-mouthed at Viktor Tretyakov yesterday evening. His "later" Paganini first violin concerto is quite staggering for a public performance (or even for any performance). In the end, though, Tretyakov -- for all his incredible exploits -- is not my favourite violinist. He sounds like a true Soviet People's Artist on steroids. Brilliance, technique, stamina, stunning virtuosity. But he does not communicate any particular love of the music he is playing. Makes you think back to other People's Artists such as Milstein, Heifetz, Oistrakh, Kreisler et al who often communicated so much more than stunning virtuosity. Even Kogan, whom Tretyakov resembles, played forte and piano, and often played with great tenderness.
A modern equivalent of Tretyakov is probably James Ehnes, whose (very good) Brahms concerto I recorded recently features irreproachable violin playing. But ...

A very fin de siècle evening, with Soile Isokoski (with Marek Jonowski) singing Stauss’s Vier letzte Lieder, and the 1972 Manchester recording of Jascha Horenstein conducting Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde ( Alfreda Hodgson, John Mitchinson, BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra).
There is something wonderful about this Horenstein Mahler recording, one of eight recordings of the work I have, and the only one I really like to listen to now – with maybe Klemperer or Haitink now and again. Horenstein didn’t have a world class orchestra, nor big-name soloists. But there is a passion and integrity about this performance from all 110 performers that makes it pretty unique. Everyone is giving of his or her best: and it shows.
Soile Isokoski in the Strauss songs is also superb, but it’s a pity her diction isn’t better. With John Mitchinson in the Mahler, you can hear every word he sings.

Recorded Leonidas Kavakos off-air in Paganini (with BBC Scottish Orchestra under Carlo Rizzi; Edinburgh Festival, August 2002). An excellent performance of the second Paganini violin concerto, plus "i palpiti" (with orchestra). Kavakos is a fine violinist; musical, risk-taking and technical highly proficient. It's good to see a modern violinist frequently performing virtuoso music, rather than churning out yet another Mozart, Beethoven or Bruch concerto. I am glad I have long been a Kavakos fan! His playing is quite a tonic.

A lot of pleasure yesterday evening from listening to Christian Ferras and Pierre Barbizet playing the sonata by Lekeu. The sonata -- the first two movements, anyway -- is excellent. Sort-of fits in with Elgar. The playing by Ferras and Barbizet is magnificent.

On 15 September in University of Kentucky Music School heard a recital by Greek pianist Vassilis Varvaresos who is around 16-17 years old. His Prokofiev sixth sonata was remarkable, and he played a very fine Islamey. The Beethoven "Moonlight" I found too slow and reverential, ditto the two Chopin pieces. However, the two Ravel pieces -- Jeux d'eau and Alborada de Gracioso -- were well done. Nothing wrong with enjoying a real virtuoso recital! The audience was a bit amateur: lots of coughing, leaving at the interval, leaving towards the end, as people fitted Varvaresos into their busy Sunday schedules.
As usual these days, did not buy any CDs in America (except a Django Reinhardt disc to play in the Xantia).