Grieg Piano concerto

When a piece of music becomes a warhorse, it's all too easy to overlook just how good it can be in the right hands. So, via this morning's CD Review, Sviatoslav Richter with Lovro von Matačić conducting the Monte Carlo SO in Grieg's Piano Concerto.

It's not the version David Owen Norris selected — Richter with Kondrashin and the Moscow State SO — but it's still worth a listen.

Paradisi's Toccata

I've spent this afternoon settled down with Alan Bradley's Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, which turns out to be the epitome of my idea of light reading — a crime, a cosy setting, and cultural references thrown out like confetti. Here's the precocious young narrator, Flavia de Luce, on Paradisi's Toccata from his Sonata in A:

The toccata was my favourite composition; to my mind the greatest musical accomplishment in the entire history of the world, but I knew that if Ophelia [Flavia's sister] found that out, she would never play the piece again.

When I was closer to the house, I stopped in the field and listened to the perfect flow of the notes, not to presto — just the way I liked it. I thought of the time I heard Eileen Joyce play Toccata on the BBC Home Service. Father had it switched on, not really listening, as he fiddled with his stamp collection. The notes had found their way through the corridors and galleries of Buckshaw, floated up the spiral staircase and into my bedroom. By the time I realised what was being played, raced down the stairs and burst into Father's study, the music had ended.

And while Flavia's claim that it is the greatest piece of music ever is pure hyperbole, there's no denying it has a certain charm. And the comment about the tempo? A side-swipe at Rosalyn Tureck's prestissimo performance, perhaps?