Excellent concert in Portsmouth last week. James Ehnes played the first Shostakovich violin concerto (Marin Alsop) then Alsop conducted Elgar's second symphony.
Technically, there has probably never been a finer performance of the Shostakovich. Ehnes really is a master violinist. In particular, the scherzo and the burleska sounded quite superb. Perhaps the notturno and the passagalia could have done with a little less head and a little more heart. But it was a very fine performance. I do, however, prefer the Sarah Chang / Simon Rattle performance; Chang also has an impressive technique, but she also has more heart, which this concerto certainly needs.
Alsop's conducting of the Elgar impressed me; speeds were swift and the music had plenty of backbone (which Elgar -- like Delius -- really needs in performance). It was all a glorious 55 minutes of Edwardian colour and didn't sound a minute too long. The audience really enjoyed it (and also listened to Ehnes's pianissimo passages and pauses in the Shostakovich concerto in rapt silence).

My first (all alone) Tom Yum soup (Thai bouillabaisse). Excellent! The 800 gms of baby squid were hard work, but it was all worthwhile. I forsee this becoming one of my staple dishes (as long as the supplies of fresh squid, mussels, scallops and clams hold up). Paste supplier secured via the Internet (Wing Supplies, a Chinese outfit).
Otherwise, it was Bach today; 77 minutes of contrapuntal arrangements played by Fretwork (consort of viols). Sadly, apart from my sister Iris, I cannot think of anyone who could possibly share my love of this esoteric, cerebral music. If ever I am exiled to Mars, I shall take with me a) the complete works of Bach b) the complete works of Handel and c) many, many cases of Crémant de Loire.

Very much Back to Bach, the last few days. Specifically, I bought Volume 19 in John Eliot Gardiner's Soli Deo Gloria series of Bach cantatas. Somewhat hesitantly, I admit, since I have never really enjoyed JEG in Bach or Handel in the past; too hectoring, to my taste.
But, with the two hours on these two CDs, all is forgiven. The music is Bach at his best (although somewhat lacrimose, in the wrong mood). The playing and singing are exemplary. And the recording is how such things should be, but rarely are. All in all, a rave success. As someone with over 170 Bach cantata recordings on his shelves, I am not easily impressed. But I certainly am, this time round. And Gardiner seems to have improved with age.

Janet Baker and John Barbirolli in Mahler; a happy coupling. I have had enormous pleasure from the "Great Recording of the Century" reissue of the Kindertotenlieder, the Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, and the Fünf Rückert Lieder. A really beautiful CD; three stars all the way (despite the slow tempi in the Kindertotenlieder). I am not an uncritical admirer of Mahler. But this is music to live with.

My curiousity aroused by a review, I bought a CD of Joyce Hatto. Her playing of Schubert's B flat major sonata D 960 really is something. Reminds me of the phrase "velvet paw". I am not usually conscious of a pianist's touch, but I certainly am here. Since she has made 116 CDs (it is said) I may have a lot of listening to do. The Schubert CD I bought also contained a sampler, so this will be interesting.

For the first time in ages, I actually enjoyed listening to a Beethoven symphony: the Pastoral, played by Klemperer in Vienna (1951 - Vox original). I really like Klemperer in Beethoven, with the forward woodwind and the divided first and second violins. He sounds "right". The 1951 recording is not, of course, of the highest fi. But it is perfectly adequate, except in loud climaxes that become a bit dim (in this transfer).

Yesterday evening, I really enjoyed listening to Korngold: the Much Ado about Nothing suite, and Gesang der Heliane (David Frühwirth) and Suite for Two Violins, Cello & Piano (led by Benjamin Schmid). Somehow, Korngold attuned perfectly with my mood. His bitter-sweet harmonies are so fin de siècle!

It also confirmed my growing suspicion that "big names" don't always mean best, or most appropriate, performances. This all-Austrian cast seemed to take to Korngold like ducks to water. Admittedly, major figures such as Kreisler, Heifetz, Furtwängler, Richter can make quite a difference in music that suits them. But I'm not too sure now about the second and third division players. Difficult to imagine Korngold being played more idiomatically than by Früwirth and Schmid – even when Seidel and Heifetz are taken into account.

I had forgotten about Joseph Szigeti. A new Biddulph re-issue of him playing baroque works in the 1950s (plus a Bach third solo sonata from 1949) made me realise why he was always classed as a great player. Not, perhaps, a great violinist; but certainly a very great musician and one whose playing remains in the mind after more flashy performances have long been forgotten. I must start a Szigeti listening retrospective.

Bad day, for usual reasons: work, wine and woman (without the wine). Sought catharsis, as often, in Russian music (Rachmaninov's second symphony – Pletnev) and this was so soothing (?) that I followed it with Furtwängler conducting orchestral excerpts from Götterdämmerung (1950, Lucerne). [Why doesn't Google/Blogger permit an "o" with an umlaut? I had to import this one from another file] All through headphones at high volume. Lovely! My spaghetti al sugo ed ai funghi was as good as usual. But life is stressful. Perhaps tomorrow evening it will be Tchaikovsky's Pathétique (no doubt Pletnev, again).

Great success with transfers to three CDs; the first transfers I have done for a long time. Old Alfredo comes up well in Saint-Saens and Bruch, as do Heifetz and Piatigorsky in Dvorak and Stravinsky. And there is also the Hotter 1954 recording of the Schwanengesang. Most welcome of all is a reincarnation after nearly 50 years of the Todesverkündigung with Flagstad. Welcome back! The hum and surface filters in Waverepair really work well. Excellent transfers, and a few more LPs can bite the dust at long last.

The year 2005 ended peacefully, with Sviatoslav Richter playing late Beethoven sonatas. Richter is my kind of artist; his concentration is phenomenal, and nothing he plays is done simply for effect or to draw attention to himself.

Christmas listening has been dominated by Bach's Mass in B minor. With this, I seem to have come full circle, having started life in the 1950s with Karajan, then going via Joshua Rifkin in the 1980s to Parrot, Kuijken, etc. The performance that entranced me this Christmas was the 1966 one by .. Otto Klemperer. Magisterial, monumental, "old-fashioned"; but quite addictive listening. I probably wouldn't take to Klemperer playing, say, the cantatas. But the Mass sounded right.

Akiko Suwanai in the Bach concertos also made me think (A minor, E major, double, and violin & oboe). Played like this, the music really does not need soloists of the stature of Suwanai or Mullova. A bit like taking a Ferrari to drive the children to school 3 kms away. The disc does, however, contain my four favourite Bach concertos.

Concert yesterday evening (Bournemouth) with Yan Pascal Tortelier conducting the BSO (Vaughan Williams fourth symphony -- very good).

Hagai Shaham played the Tchaikovsky violin concerto. A work I've heard before ... many times. I've never rated Hagai particularly highly before, but he went for broke in the Tchaikovsky, and it really worked. No seeking out the mysterious depths, or highlighting intellectual profundities. He just swept into, and through, the music like a mini tornado. British audiences never, never applaud between movements. But the audience (with me in the vanguard) broke into spontaneous applause after the first movement, and it really would have been criminal not to.

In my view, the only way to play this barnstorming, echt-romantic concerto. Hagai has gone right up in my rating system.

Re-listened to the solo violin CD from Baiba Skride. Despite David Gomberg's less than enthusiastic reaction to her Baltimore concert, I now find the CD highly impressive. First of all, she can really handle a violin and bow! Secondly, she uses an impressive range of dynamics and knows how to play softly when the music needs it. Her Ysaye first sonata is excellent, and this is possibly the first time I have really enjoyed the Bartok solo sonata (to my surprise). Skride's shading of the dynamics brings out fully the melancholy at the heart of this music.
The Bach (second partita) is well played from the violin point-of-view but, like so many violinists from the East, it is not at the same level of interpretation as the Ysaye or the Bartok. Too interventionist; Bach doesn't need all this care and carressing. The sarabande comes over as adagio molto con espressione; a long way from a dance movement. If Skride has a drawback, it is the (familiar) one of wallowing in slower music and concentrating too hard on always sounding beautiful.
Anyway, I am certainly in the market for more Baiba Skride. As long as it is not, yet again, the concerti of Sibelius, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, Bruch or Prokofiev.

I haven't paid much attention to Philippe Graffin in the past, but his new CD really is extremely well-played, enjoyable, and well-planned. Enescu's Impressions d'enfance, Ravel's Sonate posthume and Tzigane, Debussy's sonata plus four arrangements. Excellent partner is Claire Désert (who plays the lutheral in the Tzigane).
What is nice is that Graffin does not strive for effect, or to impress. He just plays the music with skill and enjoyment. Even the oh-so hackneyed Tzigane is enjoyable. His sweet tone reminds me of Arthur Grumiaux. A good CD.

Another Sunday with Handel; this time three hours of Ramadisto with my current favoured combination of Patrizia Ciofi and Joyce DiDonato. What a pleasant way to spend three hours! Handel never fails (at least when this kind of music is sung like this and recorded so well). Happy afternoon !

Nice to find a new favourite work. I have been listening often to Albéric Magnard's sonata for violin and piano (played by Augustin Dumay and Jean-Philippe Collard). Weighing in at 43 minutes, it's not a work that yields its fascination quickly or easily. But it certainly repays repeated hearings (unlike, say, the wretched Berg Violin Concerto!) The more I hear it, the more I discover and enjoy.
The performance by Dumay and Collard strikes me as pretty well ideal; it can't be an easy work to play, since to keep interest flowing over the 43 minutes requires a wide range of subtle sound gradations and of colouring.

Two hours yesterday evening spent listening to Mela Tenenbaum playing 40 short pieces. Ms Tenenbaum plays adroitly, swiftly and highly efficiently. The 40 pieces could almost all have come from Elman or Heifetz recitals in the 1930s. But why did violinists such as Kreisler, Elman, Heifetz and Szigeti play them so much better? I suspect the answer is: love. Either they really loved the music they were playing (think of Kreisler), or they really loved the violin (think of Kogan digging deep into Paganini's Cantabile and obviously relishing the sound of his violin; Ms Tenenbaum dispatches the same piece swiftly, beautifully and efficiently).
Remarkably efficient playing from Ms Tenenbaum. But not much love or charm. Sounds a bit as if someone told her: "We'll pay you $100 a-piece for 40 pieces. And don't hang about, Mela; time is money".