As is becoming traditional for me during the Christmas period, it was again Bach's Mass in B minor. This just has to be the greatest of all musical works! And in the performance conducted by Klemperer I now find everything I want: balance, beauty of playing and of singing, clarity of texture, grandeur of overall concept. Two and a quarter hours of sheer bliss.

James Ehnes in Korngold and Walton

Very admiring of a new CD (received this morning) with James Ehnes. The Korngold, Barber and Walton violin concertos. Listened to Korngold and Walton both, of course, Heifetz warhorses. Ehnes is truly excellent; violin playing, and intelligent musicianship, that cannot really be faulted in these two works. To cap it all, the recording (Vancouver Symphony Orchestra under Bramwell Tovey, Onyx recording) really makes me believe that recording technology has improved since the 1960s and that, after twenty years of digital recording, good engineers can at last capture violin tone accurately. A major new CD for the collection.

Most impressed with Claude and Pamela Frank in the complete Beethoven violin & piano sonatas this weekend (Music & Arts). First-class piano playing, first-class violin playing, an ideal balance between the two instruments, and partnership music-making with no dominance and no competition. I cannot think why Pamela Frank hasn't had greater success.

Typical music, this evening. I started with the first CD in the 10-CD box of Leonid Kogan's Russian performances. Kogan was one of the greatest violinists of the 20th century though, much like Arthur Grumiaux, he occasions little hyperbole. Then on with Handel: his opera Radamisto. The singing is glorious, with Joyce DiDonato, Patrizia Ciofi and -- a new discovery -- Maite Beaumont. One cannot help feeling that much of the opera was written on autopilot, and Handel brings fewer "hits" out of the hat than often. Still, an enjoyable way to pass three hours of an evening.

A very big Huzzah! for Sergey Khachatryan playing the Shostakovich first violin concerto (with the Orchestre National de France under Kurt Masur). This concerto has known many fine performers, starting with Oistrakh and Kogan and including, recently, Vengerov, Repin, Sarah Chang and -- especially -- Leila Josefowicz. But, I suspect, Khachatryan is the greatest recorded performance yet. The fluency of his playing recalls Milstein; the purity of his double stops recall Vasa Prihoda. At 20 years old, he plays with an accuracy and a passion that sweep all before him. A really notable new recording; makes buying multiple, multiple versions of the same work somehow worthwhile.

Day completed by my greatest ox tongue yet; I fell asleep while it was cooking, so it boiled for a full six hours before I woke. But no matter; it absorbed the various herbs even better and it is now an ox tongue to die for. Ox tongue and Sergey Khachatryan; what a weekend!

Back after a long absence. Just to record how much I continue to enjoy the playing of Janine Jansen. Recorded her off-air in the Brahms third sonata and Dvorak F minor romance (with hard-hitting Itamar Golan a bit less overbearing than usual). An editing gaff meant I lost the accompanying Grieg second sonata. One has to admire the energy Jansen puts into her playing; she always sounds on the edge, ever relaxed and laid-back. Good to listen to. And, of course, she plays incredibly well and sounds good, too.

Bad back and leg (sciatica) mean I have had to spend much time lounging on my couch. A good opportunity to reduce the listening and re-listening backlogs! Highly impressed again yesterday evening with Furtwängler and the Berlin Philharmonic in Bruckner's 9th Symphony (1944). Suddenly, listening to -- or even keeping -- alternative versions really does seem pointless. And, for the time (62 years ago) the sound is perfectly accceptable, and only in the big climaxes is one aware of the constriction that was necessary. This recording is certainly one of the major classics of the 20th century. And hearing a Mahler movement (first movement of the 6th Symphony) on BBC radio on Saturday morning reminded me that I really am not partial to Mahler. Bruckner inhabits a more exhalted world!

  

For Bach, you need a) the composer in good form b) singers who are accurate and have attractive voices c) instrumentalits who are accurate and sound good d) a conductor or director with a sense of the music, tempi and balance and e) a warm, intimate acoustic. All of these are found on the Ricercar Consort disc I have mentioned before (Philippe Pierlot conducting Katherine Fuge, Carlos Mena, Jan Kobow and Stephan MacLeod). In particular, Katherine Fuge has a highly pleasing soprano voice. A gold CD.

Before this, I marvelled again at Furtwängler conducting the Berlin Philharmonic in Bruckner's 9th Symphony (Berlin, 1944). With the Red Army only a few months away from the Berlin suburbs, the mood is understandably grim. But what music! And what playing! And what conducting! And what a marvellous recording! Another gold CD.

During the afternoon, I twice listened to Guillaume Lekeu's unfinished string quartet. The first six minutes are fine, but each time I fell asleep after that, so a more considered verdict with have to wait.

Picture shows the ox tongue turned out by me this morning. Should go well with more Bruckner.

I was a bit harsh with Roberta Invernizzi in my previous Handel comment. I spent much of the weekend re-listening to her in the four cantatas on the CD, and enjoyed everything very much indeed. Yes, she does sound more mezzo than young-voiced soprano. But the music is great, the playing is great, and the singing pleases immensely. Handel brightens up any weekend! I'll be waiting for the next discs from this ensemble (La Risonanza).

Large new box of CDs from MDT today, mostly vocal. Interesting evening with Handel's Tra le fiamme sung by a) Nuria Rial and b) Roberta Invernizzi. Nuria (Catalan) is with Philippe Pierlot and the Ricerca Consort (Mirare) and Roberta (Italian) with La Risonanza and Fabio Bonizzoni.

Nuria Rial wins, easily. The sound is more focused, and the singer sounds young and agile. A quick look at Google shows that Invernizzi is 40 years old and, sadly, she sounds a bit matronly (touch of the Gladys Ripley). Good, but overshadowed by the Mirare disc. This is my second Ricerca Consort CD, bought entirely on trust. It is a winner and I'm in the market for yet more! In addition, it has an attractive mixed programme of concertos and cantatas by Bach and by Handel. The Mirare recording is bright and natural; the Glossa (Bonizzoni) a bit distant and murky. No contest, alas.

Wonder of wonders. Or never say never. Despite my prejudices against church choral music (and most choral music in general) I enjoyed the Officium Defunctorum of Tomás Luis de Victoria when I heard it last month with one of my sisters in Chichester cathedral. Harry Christophers and The Sixteen were broadcast doing the same work at the Ludlow Festival, so I captured it on CD. Glorious music! Fancy 16 unaccompanied voices singing a requiem mass of 1605 being fascinating music. Never say never. I especially enjoy the passages in plainsong.

Not often I listen to a major piece of music twice in a day with great enjoyment. But I really loved my two listenings of Leila Josefowicz in the first violin concerto of Shostakovich (with Birmingham SO, Sakari Oramo, January 2006). Outside the Russians such as Repin and Vengerov, too many Western violinists fail to plumb the heights and depths of this marvellous music, and I was disappointed in Hilary Hahn's failure to make of the Passacaglia anything other than a mournful slow movement. Josefowicz plays with passion and intelligence. This has become one of my (rare) three star recordings. I'll have to take more notice of Josefowicz in future; she is obviously a babe-violinist plus.

Listened with great pleasure to Nathan Milstein playing unaccompanied Bach (Salzburg, August 1957). Apart from Bach's music, and Milstein's playing, pleasure comes from the fact that Milstein knows how to keep the music moving, and he also doesn't automatically make every repeat. Slowing things down (particularly in the slow movements) spoiled for me the incredible playing of such diverse violinists as Julia Fischer and Bronislaw Gimpel. And when you add making all repeats to slowing down, these works can often drag on for a long time (especially the first Partita). Bravo Nathan for, even now, holding my attention for 60 minutes non-stop.
Finished off my listening with Lise de la Salle playing Bach. The impression of spontaneity and improvisation that she gives is quite remarkable. I really look forward to more recordings from her.

Lots of praise for Philippe Graffin. His recording of the Elgar Violin Concerto (Liverpool Philharmonic, Vernon Handley) is up there with the best in this lucky-on-record concerto. I must do a retrospective of my Graffin recordings. He doesn't get the exposure of Hilary Hahn, Maxim Vengerov, Joshua Bell et al. But he is easily their equal.

A nice thing about buying CDs serendipitously is that occasionally one gets a pleasant surprise. And a good thing about Naxos is that low prices encourage experimentation. I picked up the Elgar CD of 21 year old Dutch violinist Simone Lamsma without any particular expectations. But her playing in this music is a real pleasure. I am not particularly fond of Elgar's sonata for violin & piano (23 minutes without any real inspiration in sight) but I loved Lamsma's playing so much I forgave Elgar. And in the eleven salon pieces that complete the CD, Lamsma shows a real feeling for style, and excellent variation in dynamics and tone colour, and an intelligent appreciation of the need to keep things moving. Even an old warhorse such as La Capricieuse comes up freshly painted.
Yet another really talented young violinist. I'll watch out for her.

Really fallen in love with Sandrine Piau's new CD of Vivaldi cantatas. Old Mr Four Seasons is not normally my cup of tea, but the two cantatas (Laudate pueri, and In furore iustissimae irae) are 100% delight. And what a singer! She takes her place in my current personal pantheon with Carolyn Sampson and Natalie Dessay.

Idyllic concert yesterday in a small church in a lovely Cotsworld village. The violinist played an all-bravura programme that pleased the audience immensely (Vitali, Debussy, Sarasate and Kreisler). And how good to find someone with the courage to present a politically and musically incorrect programme! He was a crowd pleaser and drew warm and enthusiastic applause. Too many fluffs for my liking, however, and too many intonation problems. Double stops brought out his real weaknesses in intonation; Heifetz would prescribe six months of playing scales. Still, the setting, the violinist's enthusiasm, and the programme made the occasion an enjoyable one.

Yesterday evening I actually listened with pleasure to Busoni's second sonata for violin & piano (all 38 minutes of it). First time I've stayed awake and have enjoyed the journey. It was probably helped by the fact that the violinist was Leonidas Kavakos (pianist Denes Varjon). Recorded via streaming audio from the BBC website (concert in Wigmore Hall in mid-June 2006).

I have always been an admirer of Kavakos. In some ways, he often comes over as a 21st century equivalent of Adolf Busch, or Szigeti. He focuses your attention on the music rather than on his playing, which is perhaps one reason I enjoyed the Busoni at last. Also a similar experience with Leila Josefowicz and her new recording that includes the Shostakovich sonata for violin & piano. This sonata's sparse textures have usually seemed somewhat barren to me (as played by Oistrakh and Richter, no less). But it comes off in Josefowicz's hands. The coupling, the first Shostakovich violin concerto, needs another audition, though I did admire the orchestra under Sakari Oramo. To complete an excellent evening, a truly delicious crab (from Fishworks in Bath).

It's an unusual experience to find myself listening to the Beethoven violin concerto with continuing pleasure. To all intents and purposes, it's one of those works I have simply heard too often. However, the new Music & Arts discovery of the 1942 public performance (Carnegie Hall) of the Beethoven with Adolf and Fritz Busch (New York Philharmonic-Symphony) really is a new instant classic. I've always liked the 1942 studio performance by the same team, but this live performance from a few days earlier is far superior (more relaxed and more integrated).
As usual, Busch impresses and entrances by his sheer musicianship rather than by any spectacular feats of fiddling. When Busch is playing, you just listen to the music, and there are no distractions. This must be in the top five recordings of this somewhat difficult concerto over the past 80 years. No mean achievement!