Menuhin Dvd

Conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler already enjoyed a worldwide legendary standing during his lifetime - he was considered the German conductor and performances were greeted with rapturous applause. Today, more than 50 years after his death, Wilhelm Furtwangler is still an icon and his work has become an integral part ofthe music scene.

Spectacular virtuoso playing, bravura passagework and show-stopping melodies are balanced with wistful lyricism and sublime tone painting in this irresistible program of perennial favorites, played with elan by the violinist Arabella Steinbacher. "Great violinists like Heifetz, Kresler, menuhin… played virtuosic pieces in their concerts," recalled Steinbacher in a recent interview. She lamented that such pieces are infrequently played owing to the perception that "…this kind of repertoire is 'not serious enough' which I find is really a pity and also not true."

Zwei Filme von Bruno Monsaingeon, die herausragenden Streicher-Persönlichkeiten des 20. Jahrhunderts gewidmet sind, bietet EMI in der jüngsten Staffel der DVD-Reihe „Classic Archive“ an, jeweils ergänzt durch weiteres seltenes Material aus den Archiven der INA und der BBC. Der einen von ihnen ist Yehudi Menuhin, der andere Paul Tortelier gewidmet.

Béla Bartók - The 2 Violin Concertos
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande / Arabella Steinbacher / Marek Janowski
SACD ISO (2.0/MCH): 3,06 GB | 24B/88,2kHz Stereo/MCH FLAC: 990 MB/2,33 GB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Pentatone # PTC 5186 350 | Country/Year: Europe 2010
Genre: Classical | Style: Early 20th Century

PentaTone’s magnificent multi-channel recording, engineered by the familiar Polyhymnia team of Job Maarse, Erdo Groot and Roger de Schot, avoids this trap and ensures that every section of the orchestral score is presented with outstanding clarity. The sound stage is wide with just the right amount of the ambience of the Victoria Hall, Geneva present to add an extra bloom to the overall sound. Arabella Steinbacher’s previous recordings of 20th century violin concertos have garnered worldwide praise and this latest one should further enhance the reputation of this young and exceptionally gifted musician. Very highly recommended.

A documentary film by Bruno Monsaingeon devoted to the 20th century's greatest violinists, The Art of Violin really cannot be faulted. The same, incidentally, can also be said of the similar volumes that cover the piano and singing, so there's never been a better time to collect a personal audio-visual archive of some wonderful historical performers. The added dimension provided by the painstakingly collected film material (here featuring no fewer than 20 outstanding soloists Jascha Heifetz, Fritz Kreisler, David Oistrakh, Yehudi Menuhin, Isaac Stern, and Eugene Ysaye) is of exceptional value when observing violin technique, and the diversity of approaches presented here in loving detail is in itself a subject for endless comparison.

While Glenn Gould was a pianist who performed the works of many composers, his name is inextricably linked to that of Johann Sebastian Bach. More than any other composer, Bach was Gould's speciality. From his first recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations in 1955 to his final recording, again of the Goldberg Variations in 1981, Gould recorded nearly all of Bach's keyboard music.

This 6-CD box set pays tribute to one of the greatest English conductors of our time, whom celebrates his 85th birthday this year. Knighted in 1980, Sir Colin Davis has conducted numerous world renowned orchestras including the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra, to which he was the principal conductor for over ten years.