你好 Hi! Maybe I’ll regret saying this, but right now this is my favorite Brahms concerto recording. It’s certainly one of the best violin performances I’ve ever heard, either live or on record. Brahms always seems to bring out the best in players. So what can the combination of a master violinist like Oistrakh and a great conductor like Klemperer add? The answer: plenty. For one thing they give the music a riveting soulfulness that in no way detracts from Brahms’ Beethovenesque/ heroic stance and so comes closer to that unique, autumnal mix of what is the essential Brahms – at least for me.

What’s in my player: Brahms: Violin Concerto in D., Op. 77 – David Oistrakh, Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Francaise – Otto Klemperer, cond., EMI – 7243 74724 2

Together Klemperer and Oistrakh have hammered together such an awesome interpretation that I find myself forgetting to listen for the violin part or for the orchestra, but simply hearing the music for itself. This level of musicianship has got to make this one of the treasures of recorded music. Everywhere there is the kind of depth of agreement between soloist and conductor that you hardly ever hear in an orchestra hall these days. At times they almost seem to be improvising, although what they’ve achieved could never be found just by chance. Their playing has the feel of the final exposition of some closely guarded secret – understated and underplayed in places, yet with an eloquence that gradually works its way to the ears and brain of the listener. These two have come closest to Brahms’s absolute center, his unique voice.

And if you think the Brahms is extraordinary, just wait until you hear the sublime Mozart Sinfonia concertante in E that's included on this CD reissue. Oistrakh plays viola with his son Igor on the violin, a classic double act and the dramatic pitting of ego against ego. Whatever, this is the kind of perfection in music making every artist seeks and rarely finds. Unbeatable!