The Elgar Violin Concerto

I recently splurged on the Elgar Violin Concerto. It is in a handsome CD with Vaughn Williams' Lark Ascending as its companion. The virtuoso being tested is Hilary Hahn and, of course, the playing is first rate. This is for Deutsche Grammophon, a copmany that insists on putting out recordings of the highest caliber. Incorrigibles. In any event, there is a small problem with the CD, but it is a little hard to explain. It's not Hilary's fault, nor DG, nor even the fault of the LSO or Sir Colin Davis. Impeccable (without sin).

Sadly, the fault lies with Elgar. More accurately, with his concerto. I just don't like it. It doesn't sound good to me. Perhaps with time...?

I haven't listened to the Vaughn Williams yet - that's how pressed for time I've been.

Of course, I have also found that a while back I bought a couple of CDs and one of them was left unopened: Jascha Heifetz playing William Walton's Violin Concerto and the Elgar again. This is a Naxos disc. They also put out excellent work and you can't fault Heifetz. I'll have to give it a listen and, who knows, maybe I'll like it.

Sadly, though I think Naxos is the best thing to happen to classical music in a great long while, their space at my local Borders has shrunk dramatically. I asked about this a week ago and the clerk shrugged. It's not just Naxos - the entire classical section shrank. And, get this, Josh Groban singing Christmas carols took up most of the space. No joke. I checked the label in back of one of the Cds - 195 copies. Ah well.