Yehudi Menuhin: The Great Violin Concertos

I must be so ignorant! These all sound so wonderful to me. Especially the Brahms which some reviewers say is unlistenable! And the Mozart is as close to heaven as you could hope to be.Some of these are much loved pieces I hadn't heard since childhood; yet the Beethoven, Bruch and Mendelssohn all sound fresh and brilliant. To me !And the Bach with modern unfashionable strings should make any grown man weep with pleasure ; as good as when I first heard it on the Pye Black Box rather a few years ago. What a pleasure to hear Bach played in such an unfashionable way!

These recordings, mostly dating from the late 50s, catch Menuhin at a low point in his technical decline. Reviewers here haven't touched on the oft-told story of how this famous child prodigy lost his technique almost entirely in early adulthood and had to struggle back painfully (through enormous discipline, spiritual practice, and relearning the instrument from scratch) until he was a semblance of his former self. Beneath the out-of-tune playing and awkwardly slow passage work remained a great musician. But of all instruments, the violin is almost impossible to listen to when intonation is sour.It is frequently sour on these CDs. The Beethoven in particular sounds faulty. Yet the early stereo versions of the Bruch concerto with Walter Susskind and the Mendelssohn with Efram Krutz are great examples of Menuhin's undiminished artistry, which transcended technique. The 1957 Brahms concerto, accompanied by Rudolf Kempe and the Berlin Phil. in quiet, civilized fashion, allows Menuhin to expand musically, and he has moments of lyrical beauty that are deeply touching. But all the fast passages are marred by intonation problems and smudged fingering, and his technique isn't adequate to the first movement cadenza. Every performance is worth a listen, but I would be cautious about a colleciton of sometimes painful memories. Menuhin recovered enough to play well in the Beethoven concerto for Otto Klemperer later on, and of course there are a series of classic post-war recordings in good, clear mono with Furtwangler that spiritually soar while also holding their own technically.

Lots of people say Menuhin was finished before he started, all his best work was done before he was 15, etc. During his entire life, this guy was a great violinist, period, and this CD set proves it. A couple of these tracks could melt your CD player...The amazing thing about Yehudi Menuhin was the sounds he could pull from that instrument. It's like the violin is alive. Comparing Menuhin to other great violinists is missing the point. It's like comparing, say, Keith Richards to Paco deLucia. Some would say that's an insult to deLucia, and yet I've bought A LOT more albums with Richards playing guitar. Artistry and the musical message come before technique. And Menuhin absolutely delivers.

I am soooooooo disappointed because I had heard Menuhin perform live. He made his violin sound alive, like a person singing. He was truly fabulous. This CD somehow did not convey the magic of his music. Maybe it's the sound quality?

As advertised.

What can you say? It's Yehudi at his finest.

excellent

I have to admit that in this recording Yehudi is not as sharp as he is in earlier ones, but the fine-tuned expressiveness has not been lost. I would buy this cd simply for the Bruch Violin Concerto, if nothing else, which is a dangerous undertaking to listen to at all, as one is liable to forget to breathe. The Brahms is definitely worth finding a different recording of, however, the 1949 EMI classics is much better. The most important thing to remember about this album, however, is that Menuhin has never been, and never claimed to be, the best technical player ever. It is his unique interpretation and earnestness that people really fall in love with, and that, he still has.

An absolutely marvellous disc of Menuhin at is best.

Warum Sir Yehudi Menuhin einen derart legendären Ruf als Geiger hat, ist mir nicht wirklich nachvollziehbar. Sein Spiel ist öfters kratzig - und nicht wirklich der vollendete Genuss. Von seinen Aufnahmen als Solist neben einem Dirigenten hat mich keine vollends begeistert. Seine wesentliche Wirkung dürfte in seiner Spiritualität und Fähigkeit zu grenzüberschreitenden Begegnungen gewesen sein. (So hieß er Furtwängler nach dem Untergang des Nazi-Regimes wieder in der internationalen Musikwelt willkommen.)Großartiges hingegen leistete Sir Menuhin, wenn er als dirigierender Solist zB. mit dem Bath-Festival-Orchester tätig war. Hier schuf er ein großes Repertoire von einzigartigen Einspielungen vieler Werke von Bach, Händel (und die Violinkonzerte von Mozart). Durch ihn klingt das Orchester wie ein Freundeskreis, der die Werke mit einzigartiger kammermusikalische Intimtät aufführt. (Diese Seite Menuhin's wird auf der ersten CD kurz aufgezeigt.)Die Wiedergabe der "großen" Konzerte finde ich eher durchschnittlich - sowohl vom Solisten, als auch von den Orchesterleistungen her.Ich rate viel mehr zu den Boxen mit den Bach, Händel und Mozart-Einspielungen.Von den "großen Violinkonzerten" gibt es wohl viele wesentlich beeindruckendere Aufnahmen.