Mozart Menuhin

This concert film captures legendary violinist Yehudi Menuhin performing concertos by such luminaries as Mozart, Beethoven, and Bruch.

This 50-CD set features Sir Yehudi Menuhin's most celebrated EMI recordings, made during his extraordinary 70-year exclusive recording relationship with the company. Includes works by composers such as Bach, Berg, Beethoven, Bartók, Brahms, Dvoøák, Enescu, Handel, Lalo, Mozart, Paganini, Sibelius, Vivaldi, and more!
Also includes a bonus interview CD, entitled Yehudi Menuhin: Highlights and Recollections of a Legendary Life.

Admirers of Sir Yehudi Menuhin will be pleased to have this compilation of his early stereo recordings of the major violin concertos. I have always enjoyed his version of the Bach Double Concerto with Christian Ferras; it rightly dominated the catalogue throughout the 1960s, and the spirited baroque vitality of the performance, plus a beautifully judged central Largo, give great satisfaction. Moreover, it demonstrates what a good sound balance Peter Andry and Neville Boyling could achieve in London's Kingsway Hall in 1959.

Many notable Mozart conductors have become broader in their tempos and more detail-obsessed as they aged. Walter, Beecham, Böhm, Klemperer, and even Sir Colin Davis have all fallen under the spell of the music's perfection to the point where they could hardly bear to let it alone. On the other side of the equation are equally great conductors such as Szell, Reiner, Casals, and Toscanini, whose vision intensified instead of mellowing. It is to the latter group that Menuhin belongs, and these superb performances call to mind Toscanini at his best, in the tensile strength of the melodic line, subtle rubato, and miraculously clear articulation.

Although neglected by some, Giovanni Battista Viotti was an international violin superstar at the turn of the nineteenth century, travelling throughout Europe and holding high offices in the most prestigious musical institutions. This recording by Yehudi Menuhin presents Viotti’s most famous violin concertos, notably the sixteenth in a version arranged by Mozart himself (who added brass parts). It also includes the digital premiere of a lovely duet featuring Gioconda De Vito.

For Mozart, wind instruments had their own voices, full of warmth and tenderness, as much as singers did, and his concertos are animated with an operatic sense of drama. His own experience as a violinist allowed him to write five concertos for the instrument that are full of sparky virtuosity, here conveyed with sovereign authority by Henryk Szeryng. This collection (originally released as part of the legendary Philips Classics Mozart Edition) is full of truly authoritative performances featuring internationally acclaimed artists.

The Complete Recordings with Hephzibah Menuhin traces Menuhin's close and inspiring relationship with his pianist sister - a distinguished artist in her own right - through studio and live performances, CD premieres, and first-time releases.

The most famous violin concertos ever written are well represented in this 10-CD set of Menuhin's finest performances-but so are many less-familiar works that Menuhin resurrected. Beginning with The Four Seasons by Vivaldi; Violin Concerto in E by Bach, and many more pieces by both composers, the set moves on to Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in C Major Haydn; Violin Concertos. Nos. 4 & 5 Mozart; Violin Concerto in D Beethoven; Violin Concerto in A Minor Dvorak; Violin Concerto in D Brahms; Violin Concerto in B Minor Elgar, and more!