Listened with great admiration to the Todesverkündigung from Act II of Die Walküre. What music! It is truly remarkable how, as the text and the mood swing through friendliness, anxiety, anger, sorrow, affection -- so the music mirrors the action. I have now been listening to this 1957 recording for fifty years (Solti, Flagstad, Svanholm, VPO). And it is still as moving and as seminal as ever. It was a lucky day when I bought the original mono LPs (which included Act III of Die Walküre).

Back home after a cold, wet English Bank Holiday weekend in Cornwall. Welcomed by Sandrine Piau singing Vivaldi and Handel. Perhaps my musical vision is tunnelling, but I now really feel at home in music composed between around 1705 and 1745. With Bach, Handel and Vivaldi there is a freshness, and a feeling of music flexing its muscles and bursting its bonds. Exiled to a desert island, I sense more and more that it is the vocal music of Bach and Handel that would be selected to accompany me.

The Japanese, thank goodness, refuse to be fashionable when it comes to classical music, so I was able to obtain the 1960 recording of the Bach Brandenburgs from Otto Klemperer and the Philharmonia (from HMV in Tokyo, an EMI-Japan release). The recording seems to be banned in pretty well every other country, a reason for being deeply aggrieved at the dictatorship of the Harpsichord Band.
What does one want from a recording of the Brandenburgs? a) clarity of texture -- we need to hear all the parts b) balance of sound c) top-of-the-range playing in both solos and tuttis d) a sense of overall structure e) a sense of depth and perspective in the recording.
Well, so far I have only listened to Brandenburgs 1-3 of this set. But, so far, the Klemperer set has all of these qualities. I am delightfully amazed. Perhaps at last -- after much hunting, trial and error, it has to be said -- I have found my ideal set of Bach's Brandenburg concerti. And not a plucking harpsichord in sight (except for the fifth Brandenburg).

Inspired by a review, I took off the shelf the CD of Leopold Stokowski's last London concert (May 1974, with the Philharmonia). Vaughan William's Tallis Fantasy, Ravel's Rapsodie Espagnole and last, but here certainly not least, Brahms' fourth symphony. The orchestral playing is truly superb throughout, and Stokowski's conducting without a blemish (at the age of 92). The Brahms brings heartfelt cheers from the audience (which even wishes to applaud after the end of the first movement -- quite understandably). The is a CD I must put on more often (the concert opens with Klemperer's Merry Waltz, in tribute to Otto who had died a few months previously).

At last I have enjoyed the Brahms Concerto for Violin & Cello! It is usually played as a Major Romantic Bravura Concerto for two instruments, and I find the whole thing overblown -- and usually with poor balance. But yesterday evening I put on the new recording from Pentatone featuring Julia Fischer and Daniel Müller-Schott (conductor Jakov Kreizberg) and was pleasantly surprised. It is played -- and recorded -- as a chamber music piece for violin, cello and orchestra. The balance is excellent and the music makes its points through the interventions of all three protagonists. The two soloists from Munich do good. I have yet to hear the companion piece on the CD .. Fischer playing the Brahms Violin Concerto.

Listened to Katharine Gowers' new CD (Somm) of 14 salon pieces. She is an extraordinarily accurate violinist, with a nice sense of style. It is difficult, however, to play 14 short pieces and hold attention unless one has a broader sense of colour, articulation, style and characterisation than Miss Gowers possesses. A sameness creeps in. But, taken individually, the pieces are well played and one marvels at the accuracy of the intonation -- particularly during double stopping.

Downloading broadcasts from the Internet is revolutionising music collection. I now have a pretty considerable body of off-air recordings and, thank goodness; if one waits for most new violinists etc to be recorded "officially" we'd all become quite old. This week I captured the complete Beethoven violin & piano sonatas by Christian Tetzlaff and Alexander Lonquich, followed by a truly excellent recital by Alina Ibragimova and Cédric Tiberghien (Tzigane, Debussy sonata, and Ravel sonata). I have so far only sampled the Tetzlaff, but it looks good. The Alina recital I listened to yesterday and am full of admiration; she is not only an excellent musician, but also a formidable violinist. This is a nice little CD to add to my collection.

Alas, a long pause in adding to my diary. Life a bit complicated. However, gastronomically I had one of the 4-5 best meals of my life in Senigallia last Thursday evening: a menu de dégustation of around seven courses at Al Cuoco di Bordo. All fish or shellfish. Truly delicious, with everything local, even the excellent wine.

I then spent yesterday evening quite entranced with two and a half hours of Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno (Handel). My favourite line up of Emmanuelle Haïm, Natalie Dessay, and friends. What music! A new hit every six minutes. Probably one of my top 10 CDs of all time.

I continue my acquisition of the newer releases in EMI's Great Recordings of the Century series, since the transfers are now seriously excellent, taken from the original masters. Latest purchase is the Busch Quartet in Schubert's Death and the Maiden (1936) and G major quartets (1938). What playing! It is just: right. And I think the last Schubert quartet (G major) is among the greatest music ever written. It's all there: laughter, tears, anger, sorrow, resignation, defiance .. This is now one of my Top Five CDs; probabaly have it buried with me.

Janine Jansen in Bruch and Mendelssohn

Old warhorses come back to life! I never thought I'd enjoy an evening listening again to such hackneyed works as Bruch's G minor violin concerto, and Mendelssohn's violin concerto. But in the hands of Janine Jansen on her new CD the works came over as fresh and spirited, and were both most enjoyable to listen to. Jansen's playing pleases me greatly; she is lithe, spirited and almost improvisatory. Her tone doesn't suffer from the high cholesterol dosage of many of her competitors.
Really, with the recent CDs of James Ehnes (Korngold, Barber and Walton), Julia Fischer (Glazunov, Khachaturian and Prokofiev), Leila Josefowicz (Shostakovich), Sergei Khachatryan (Shostakovich and Sibelius) and now Janine Jansen (Bruch and Mendelssohn) we live in great violinistic times. And, of course, there are others ...

I really thought my days of enjoying a performance of Beethoven's violin concerto were well and truly over; it has become just too familiar. But a performance by Igor Bezrodny (1963) had me listening to it twice. He plays too slowly in the opening movement, for my taste, and the work comes over as a high romantic composition from around 1850 rather than something from not much more than a decade after the death of Mozart. But Bezrodny (rather like Lisa Batiashvili) makes you accept his leisurely, lyrical view. The return of the main theme after the cadenza (played pianissimo) is exactly as I have always thought it should be. And what incredible, relaxed violin playing (a bit like Milstein). Goes into my top five Beethoven violin concertos.

Historical French Violinists

Someone sent me a CD "French Violinists" (homemade concoction) with various salon pieces played by Yvonne Astruc, René Benedetti, Jules Boucherit, Gabriel Bouillon, Miguel Candela, William Cantrelle , Jean Champeil, Roland Charmy, Renée Chemet, Yvonne Curti, Jeanne Gautier, Henri Merckel, Ginette Neveu, Denise Soriano, Jacques Thibaud. Sheer delight! Obviously the standard of playing varies but, what is important, is the way things vary. Nothing is predictable. A huge range of styles, colour, attack and sound palette. Obviously, in the days before tape and tape splicing one rarely achieved the pinpoint accuracy that is now prevalent in recordings. But I really enjoyed the variety on this CD; not the sort of variety of sound and approach you would achieve with, say, a compilation of Hilary Hahn, James Ehnes, Julia Fischer, et al.

Marvelled yet again at Cortot, Thibaud and Casals in Schubert (1926) and Beethoven (1928) as I took delivery of a new EMI GROC transfer. The sound is perfectly acceptable! And the playing is, arguably, what chamber music should be about: talented friends enjoying playing and enjoying the music. In 2126 music lovers will still be marvelling.

Eat a kilo of moules marinière for dinner. Excellent beasts, except sauce was compromised because my sister June phoned just as I was cooking the shallots and garlic, and both burned. Moules marinière à la sauce brulée.

New Year's Eve was given over to Bruckner's Ninth Symphony. The 1944 performance by Furtwängler and the Berlin Philharmonic is little short of miraculous, both in performance and in sound. A good way to end 2006 that hasn't been a great year.

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.