I kept the new CD of Arabella Steinbacher playing the Brahms violin concerto for a few weeks before listening to it, partly because I was somewhat surfeited with the work, and partly because I was disappointed with Steinbacher's languid performance of the first movement of the Beethoven violin concerto. But this evening I plucked up courage and played the CD and was surprised and happy to enjoy the performance immensely. This was a public performance in Vienna in December 2007 (Steinbacher's Vienna début). The tempi for all three movements were fine (no repetition of Isabelle Faust's inexplicable race against time in the finale). More importantly, Miss Steinbacher kept my interest throughout the 42.5 minutes of the concerto, with varied tone, attack, bowing, dynamics and rubato. None of the “stream of golden sound” too favoured by many of the Russian-Israeli-American violin school that soon invokes drowsiness. This was a warm, romantic view of a warm, romantic concerto and felt right.

Any “buts”? Only a couple. Steinbacher was playing a Strad from 1716; to me, it sounded somewhat undernourished in the upper echelons. Old Antonio Stradivarius churned out the instruments (over 500 still survive today, some 300 years later, so heaven only knows how many his workshop shovelled through during his lifetime). Ms Steinbacher might be advised to try out the 1741 del Gesù of the leader of the Wiener Symphoniker, or the modern German violin of Christian Tetzlaff, or the modern French violin of Tedi Papavrami.

And I don't see why we need quite so many photos of the attractive Arabella on the sleeve and in the notes. Surely the main market for recordings of the Brahms violin concerto cannot be testosterone-charged young men? Maybe Orfeo's market intelligence is a bit askew. Miss Steinbacher deserves to be presented and promoted on her merits as a major violinist.