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Music Lane It's all about the music, dude! Sit down, relax and listen to some tunes. |
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Music Lane It's all about the music, dude! Sit down, relax and listen to some tunes. |
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In Reply to: Bowled over by Menuhin... posted by Tom Bourg on November 7, 2000 at 17:06:25:
The decline of Menuhin's powers is well known and he himself wisely curtailed his violin career fairly early, but I'm not sure I'd agree with Big B to avoid everything after 1960. I have plenty of his recordings made around then and while his tempi are generally quite measured there's no lack of refinement or tonal beauty to his playing. His fiddling was never really of a virtuosic cast anyway, even during his years as a prodigy. Then it was not so much his technical facility as his artistic maturity that amazed everyone. There was a conductor (I forget who) who at first refused to play the Beethoven concerto with the 12 year old YM on the basis that he would no sooner watch a 12 year old play Hamlet. But after hearing YM rehearse the work he changed his mind. I also think YM's first recording was of the Bach solo violin partitas, another work most violinists leave until they have matured considerably.The Elgar concerto with the composer is a famous recording and you can get it on EMI or Naxos. YM recalled how he had arranged an afternoon to rehearse the work with Elgar. Elgar listened to YM play a few brief passages, made a few comments, and then proceeded to spend the rest of the day at the races. This was pretty disconcerting to the 16 year old soloist, but apparently they worked well together.
Another famous Menuhin recording is the Beethoven concerto with Furtwaengler made just after the war. YM (whose given name, incidentally, means Jew in Hebrew) immediately renewed his association with German artists after the war, drawing much condemnation and even death threats from some Jewish people.
Another aspect of Menuhin's art worth mentioning is his interest in folk and non-western musics (well before crossover became fashionable). He had gypsy ancestry and this drew him to the folk-influenced music of Bartok, from whom he commissioned a solo violin sonata, and to improvisatory music like jazz. He collaborated with the jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli and with the Indian sitar virtuoso, Ravi Shankar (of Beatles fame).
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- Re: Bowled over by Menuhin... - yok 20:50:00 11/07/00 (0)
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