Violinists and students of string playing will relish this opportunity to examine the work of a supremely accomplished artist. If you’ve ad­ mired from afar the strength and purity of Ida Haendel’s tone‚ the beauty of her legato playing‚ the precision and sureness of her left­hand technique‚ you can see‚ on these television broadcasts‚ exactly how it’s done. It’s great to watch‚ but listening isn’t such an unmixed pleasure. The sound quality is rather poor – slightly fuzzy and sometimes distorted‚ and the Brahms isn’t wholly successful as a performance. After a heavy‚ somewhat sleepy opening tutti‚ Haendel gives a spacious‚ vigorous account of the first movement‚ but one that is‚ in places‚ lacking in passion and a sense of flow. Although many of the lyrical moments‚ notably the return of the opening theme after the cadenza‚ are played most beautifully‚ there are other places that lack the necessary delicacy and sense of the music’s poetry. The finale creates a similarly mixed impression – all the technical challenges are surmounted perfectly‚ but there’s a feeling of heaviness in place of the gypsy flair that’s needed‚ and not much change of tone or mood when we get to the softer central episode. The Adagio is another matter‚ a top­drawer interpretation‚ with Haendel revelling in the way Brahms constantly renews and extends his melodic ideas. And there’s certainly plenty of gypsy flair in the Carmen Fantasy. Whereas the Brahms is presented very formally‚ as though it’s a concert‚ here Haendel‚ in a splendid red dress‚ is placed‚ as though on stage‚ at the back of the orchestra. All Sarasate’s scintillating violinistic embroidery is beautifully in place‚ but Haendel goes beyond this‚ using her violin to interpret the character of Carmen in all its wildness.