This evening was Akiko Suwanai evening. She really is a very fine violinist -- perhaps the current violinist I would take to a desert island with me. Impeccable technique, of course, but also a passionate and highly intelligent player. I listened to her in three Wieniawski pieces, in Rachmaninov's Vocalise, in Walton's violin concerto, and in Prokofiev's second concerto (the latter two with Sakari Oramo).

Confirmed my view that I don't really like the Walton concerto (the Britten concerto of the same year is turning out to be very much superior). Walton is clever, with great craftmanship. But it's not a work of passion, feeling or expression. A bit like a violinistic Façade.

Started the evening with Sibelius (first symphony in 1952 with Anthony Collins, with my father in the LSO's double bass section). Also took in the fifth symphony (Colin Davis). But the evening belonged to Akiko.

Thoroughly enjoyable performance of Britten's violin concerto from Theo Olof and John Barbirolli (1948, and first recording of the work before it was revised in 1950). For some peculiar reason, Britten seems to have vetoed its issue, so it didn't hit the streets until over 50 years later. An excellent performance (and a perfectly decent recording rescued from 78 rpm test pressing by EMI). Olof was a considerable violinist. Another mystery; why did he not achieve worldwide fame?

Not a good Sunday evening. I listened to Leila Josefowicz playing the Bach B minor sonata (with piano) and found it somewhat skimmed over. The performance of Bach's violin works appears to be undergoing something of a crisis, as classical violinists abandon one school of practice and haven't yet found another that does justice to this music. Too fast, too superficial, no love. From the Josefowicz disc (off-air of a Wigmore Hall concert in April of this year) I found myself preferring John Adams' Road Movies piece.
Then on to Herbert von Karajan in 1949 with Brahms' German Requiem. I don't think I have ever really liked this piece (except for the alle Fleisch movement). And I didn't like it much here, either, though Elisabeth Schwarzkopf sings beautifully during her small amount of music. Most of the stuff is choral, however.
Then Shostakovich's fifth symphony (Rostropovich conducting the LSO in a recent off-air recording). I love so much of Shostakovich's music. But I really struggle with the symphonies. I think that I like him best in more intimate music -- the second piano trio, the piano quintet, the string quartets, the first violin concerto. I didn't enjoy the fifth symphony and suspect it will now remain on the shelf for a good long time.

After my recent disappointment with Nina Beilina, it was good to be able to wax lyrical about a new (2004) Arte Nova solo CD from Mirijam Contzen. Contzen's playing holds the interest, with a truly excellent dynamic range, a lightness of bowing and a quite extraordinary accuracy of intonation that shows itself in some exemplary double stopping. She plays Bach (E major sonata), Bartok solo sonata, and the fourth Ysaye sonata. In Bach, the Beilina disc showed some of the drawbacks of the "Russian" school, with its high coefficient of solidity and sonority. Contzen is a product of Tibor Varga, and her sensitivity and tonal variety show one of the strengths of the "Central European" school. An excellent CD (and cheap, too!)

Listened to Nina Beilina playing Bach (public performances from 1989). She was Russian -- Moscow Conservatory -- but now seems to be based in New York. Russians appear rarely to be successful in Bach (Milstein was one exception). Beilina sounds goods and plays accurately, of course. But for 63 minutes everything appears to be played mezzoforte; I have rarely heard so little in the way of varied dynamics. Not a CD I shall be spinning often. The largo of the D minor concerto for two violins is taken as andante con moto, and this is a pity. In general, "historically informed performance" style has ruined so much Bach playing by mainstream violinists who sacrifice classical violin playing without gaining some of the advantages of the baroque violin. Disc came to me from the US in exchange for a copy of my much-in-demand Boris Goldstein CD of the three Brahms violin & piano sonatas.

A thoroughly enjoyable recital by the exhilarating Magdalena Kozena (Radio 3, Wigmore Hall) made a good pair of CDs (86 minutes). I am not normally a fan of particular singers, but I will always make an exception for Kozena. She has a lovely voice but, more importantly, her singing sounds both intelligent and natural. Her recital embraced Kozeluch, Schumann, Moussorgsky, Janacek, Debussy, Novak and Mahler. Well worth recording and listening to.

I am becoming increasingly fond of the violin concerto by Benjamin Britten. I really cannot understand why it is not played or recorded more often. The 2004 off-air performance by Janine Jansen (BBC Orchestra, Gianandrea Nosada) seems to me exemplary: suptle, melodic, passionate and played with zest and conviction. It's a complex concerto and needs concentrated and frequent hearings. But it repays the effort. As the saying goes: it is rarely off my turntable at the moment. I also have a 1961 recording by Bronislaw Gimpel that I must hear again. But it didn't seem to leave much impression the first time I heard it. Jansen, however, is something else.

As a long time follower of James Ehnes, it was good to find a new recording from him that I really enjoyed. Usually, he has impressed with his incredible and effortless technique, but there has often been something missing, for me. His new Smetana / Dvorak / Janacek CD is superb, however. The music moves; no lovingly stretched out sections that bog things down. Ehnes has an excellent and appropriately wide dynamic range for this music, and there are plenty of nuances of colour. The phrasing is usually excellent, though I might query the fourth of the Dvorak Four Romantic Pieces. Although his playing of these four pieces doesn't quite pip Akiko Suwanai, his version is right up there with hers. And his Janacek sonata is also good.

Kippers, koftas and Château de Belle-Coste rosé. Not bad. Then Camilla Wicks in Wieniawski, Ravel and Kreisler, plus Oistrakh and Haitink in the Prokofiev first violin concerto, a CD rescued from the anonymous morgue. Listened to the new off-air recording of Vadim Repin playing the Tchaikovsky violin concerto (yet again -- LSO, Rostropovich). A typical good recording. Listened to Albert Spalding in 1948 playing -- carefully -- Bach, Corelli, Chausson, etc. Neat, careful, immaculate. I can't help feeling that Spalding's main claim to fame was that he was the first American to be able to play the violin. Good fruit season -- rasberries, pineapple, apricots, peaches. My pile of "to be listened to" CDs is shaming me. Time for a little brutality.

Listened yesterday evening to Benjamin Britten's violin concerto and was most surprised to find myself really enjoying it. I already have one recording (Bronislaw Gimpel) but don't remember being impressed. However, the off-air performance by Janine Jansen really caught my attention. After one (remembered) hearing, I certainly rate it above the Walton concerto. Good to find a new concerto! And unlike so many 20th century concertos, at 30 minutes it does not outstay its welcome nor stretch its material too far. I look forward to a second hearing this evening.

A truly three star performance of the Shostakovich first violin concerto from Vadim Repin, with the Orchestre National de France under Kurt Masur (broadcast from Paris, 8 April 2004). CD thanks to Akiko.

In this concerto, he just gets better and better. This is only the third I have of him playing the work, but everything has been re-thought, honed and perfected while leaving plenty of room for improvisation and spontaneity. A marvellous performance (well appreciated by the audience). Masur must not be forgotten; he gives a solid Central European bass-line to the music, all aided by an exemplary recording. This really does put in question the value of "official" studio recordings of such things. Bravo, Vadim Repin !

My dislike of slow performances has been much trumpeted. But there are exceptions: Richter in the first movement of Schubert's B flat major sonata; Furtwängler in Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony; Elisabeth Batiashvili in the Beethoven Violin Concerto. And now a new recruit to the exceptions: Michael Erxleben in Shostakovich's first violin concerto (sent by Sidoze).

Erxleben takes 47 minutes over the concerto - 21 minutes over the Passacaglia and cadenza! Normally this would be death. But he has the requisite control and concentration to bring it off, and to keep you with him. His sound is quite extraordinary, and somewhat unique; it sounds as if he is playing a large viola. Added to which, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra under Claus Peter Flor plays well and all is immaculately recorded. A real serendipitous find -- I only asked Sidoze to send it so I could jeer at the length of the slow movement.

The Shostakovich first violin concerto is very lucky on record. And I still have yet another version from Vadim Repin to listen to (from Japan).

Settled down yesterday evening to enjoy a 2-CD set of a Vadim Repin concert given in Paris this February (CDs courtesy of Japanese friend). Repin is still a truly excellent violinist (third Grieg sonata) but the recital is, as usual, spoiled by the banging Itamar Golan. I remember disliking him at a Vengerov recital in London, and on a couple of Vengerov CDs. The man just bangs the piano and is too loud. What possessed Repin to give him the job I cannot imagine; Boris Berezovsky must have been indisposed.
Same package contained Repin performing the Mendelssohn concerto (Brugges, April 2004) with the Philharmonia under Christoph von Dohnanyi. Some exciting fiddle playing, especially in the first movement, but it sounds a bit too under-rehearsed to become a great classic. One can fault Repin on his choice of piano partner, but never on his tempi; to my mind, Repin is one of the few modern players who does not fall into the so-slowwwlly trap.

Plus ça change ... I have found myself listening with great pleasure to Furtwängler (Beethoven symphonies in the early 1950s on CPO) and Klemperer (Hamburg concerts of Mozart, Beethoven and Bruckner from 1955 and 1966). After all the conductors have come and gone, Wilhelm Furwängler and Otto Klemperer are left standing taller than ever. I even enjoy Klemperer's Mozart recordings; his typical wind-forward orchestral balance, and his concentration on tempo, balance and phrasing have come to mean that his performances come over as timeless classics. It is extremely fortunate that both recorded in Germany and in Europe, and late enough so that not too many allowances need to be made for inferior sound. Klemperer's Bruckner seventh, to which I listened yesterday evening (Hamburg, 1966) seems to me much better than his studio version with the Philharmonia. But, there again, I am coming to the conclusion after fifty years of listening that almost all live recordings are to be preferred to studio versions.

By a very happy chance, I bought the debut CD of Ayako Uehara, the first Japanese, and the first woman, to win the Tchaikovsky prize in Moscow (2002). Quite simply: she convinces. She has technique to spare (sometimes she sounds like Horowitz on steroids) but, more importantly, she has that all-important way of making whatever she plays sound just right. You cannot imagine things otherwise. The music she plays is not that enthralling (seven short Tchaikovsky pieces, plus the Op 37 piano sonata). But her playing is quite entrancing. One of those lucky, spontaneous purchases.
I also listened to the 1941 recording by Gioconda de Vito of the Brahms violin concerto (Berlin, with Paul van Kempen conducting). What an amazing viola-like sound she had! The performance is superb -- much better technically than her poor effort with Furtwängler in Turin -- but I find the finale a bit sedate.

A very useful CD from a contact in Argentina; Gioconda de Vito playing the Brahms concerto (1941) and Vasa Prihoda playing the Dvorak concerto (1943). Both with Paul van Kempen conducting in Berlin. The sound of the Dvorak is really extraordinarily good. This is reputed to be the best of the Prihoda versions, and I certainly liked it. His accuracy when playing was extraordinary; spot-on intonation at all times. Haven't yet heard the de Vito. I also enjoyed the new Colin Davis / LSO release of Sibelius's sixth symphony; definitely my favourite symphony, of the Sibelius seven. The performance is fine, but maybe a bit impersonal. I miss the old 1955 Karajan version with the Philharmonia. And although the 2003 sound from the Barbican is perfectly acceptable, it is not too great an advance on Walter Legge's 1955 recording for Karajan !

Concert in Portsmouth yesterday evening. Vladimir Ashkenazy conducted the Philharmonia (Mendelssohn Hebrides Overture, plus Scottish Symphony). Sarah Chang played the Dvorak violin concerto. Chang played with much brio and much passion, and deadly accuracy. I didn't think her violin sounded that great (perhaps she was trying out a spare one?) The E and G strings sounded OK, but the middle range lacked power and sounded a bit rasping on occasions. And the orchestra was allowed to play too loudly, so Chang had to turn up the dial just to be heard, even in quieter passages.
I thought the orchestra was too big for the hall; they just didn't need all those violins, cellos and six double basses, especially for the Mendelssohn ! And I really would have liked the first and second violins to have been divided; as balanced by Ashkenazy, we only really heard the first violins and the cellos. Everything else, stuck away behind, just didn't get a look in. Woodwind was usually swamped. I don't think Ashkenazy is a very good conductor.

Hurrah for Katrin Scholz ! I first discovered her by serendipitous accident, picking up her CD of Spanish Dance while browsing in Bath Compact Discs (bought entirely on the fact that the CD contained lots of Sarasate). That CD gave me a lot of pleasure, as has the second that arrived this week: Martinu (second concerto) and Saint-Saens (third concerto). Good back-up is from Hamburger Symphoniker under Sebastian Lang-Lessing. I can't say that Martinu's concerto doesn't really deserve its neglect; it is thematically very weak and something of a pastiche. But Stolz does the best that can be done for it. I like the way she is a violinist who doesn't linger -- albeit she and Lang-Lessing do drag out the chorale theme in the finale of the Saint-Saens, to the detriment of structure and attention. But Stolz plays with considerable virtuosity throughout; in particular, she has a curious way of emphasising the rhythm when she is playing (something that stood her in good stead in Spanish Dance). I shall buy more Stolz, if I can. She doesn't record much. However, she and Gleusteen do underline the fact that it really isn't necessary to hunt for "star" names when it comes to buying good performances. Of course, star names are "brands" that assure quality; or not. One is often better off buying Gleusteen, Batiashvili -- or Katrin Stolz.