Menuhin recordings

[Pulcinella]

I'm not overly impressed with YM's rendition of Bartok's VC2 on this month's BBC MM centenary celebration cover CD, and am unlikely to return to it.
A shame: surely there was something better in the archives?

[pastoralguy]

I'm not overly impressed with YM's rendition of Bartok's VC2 on this month's BBC MM centenary celebration cover CD, and am unlikely to return to it.
A shame: surely there was something better in the archives?

I usually download the BBCMM free from the Edinburgh City Library's site but I was going to buy this one for the cover disc. Perhaps I won't bother. What are the other works like, Pulcinella?

[Pulcinella]

I usually download the BBCMM free from the Edinburgh City Library's site but I was going to buy this one for the cover disc. Perhaps I won't bother. What are the other works like, Pulcinella?

Not really listened to yet.

CD was left playing but I was distracted elsewhere, so I should give them another proper airing.
Interesting in that composer Tcherepnin is also the accompanist, so at least the performance should be authentic.

I would hate to influence your decision to download or not, though, especially if this is free for you! You might like the Bartok. But I'm happier with Chung, Stern, or Szeryng, already all in my collection.

[Bryn]

... Chung, Stern, or Szeryng, already all in my collection.

What? No Pat Kop?!

[pastoralguy]

Not really listened to yet.

CD was left playing but I was distracted elsewhere, so I should give them another proper airing.
Interesting in that composer Tcherepnin is also the accompanist, so at least the performance should be authentic.

I would hate to influence your decision to download or not, though, especially if this is free for you! You might like the Bartok. But I'm happier with Chung, Stern, or Szeryng, already all in my collection.

Many thanks.

I'll probably buy it for the cd anyway. I'm not sure if the free access to the magazine covers the download as well but hearing Bartok no. 2 is probably worth hearing at least once. Bartok no.2 is one of my favourite pieces and I've many recordings of it. Gil Shaham's recent disc is fabulous!

[pastoralguy]

What? No Pat Kop?!

Another tremendous recording. Bare feet and all. (Perhaps that's where I went wrong all these years!)

[Pulcinella]

What? No Pat Kop?!

No: and I still haven't got her Prokofiev/Stravinsky coupling yet either!

[Barbirollians]

No: and I still haven't got her Prokofiev/Stravinsky coupling yet either!

If you want Menuhin in Bartok 2 - and one surely should - then this is the one to have I think - the 1946 premiere recording though IMO his Mercury version is equally fine and his later EMI account with Furtwangler must be heard - the later Dorati with EMI is less essential .

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bartok-Symphonie-Espagnole-Legendary-Performers/dp/B00000E6PB/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1457476199&sr=8-3&keywords=bartok+2+menuhin

[Bryn]

If you want Menuhin in Bartok 2 - and one surely should - then this is the one to have I think - the 1946 premiere recording though IMO his Mercury version is equally fine and his later EMI account with Furtwangler must be heard - the later Dorati with EMI is less essential .

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bartok-Symph...rtok+2+menuhin

Thanks,



Just ordered from amazon.fr marketplace "As New" for €7.99 + p&p.

[makropulos]

If you want Menuhin in Bartok 2 - and one surely should - then this is the one to have I think - the 1946 premiere recording though IMO his Mercury version is equally fine and his later EMI account with Furtwangler must be heard - the later Dorati with EMI is less essential .

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bartok-Symph...rtok+2+menuhin

This is drifting off-topic - apologies. Anyhow, I see that the BBC MM performance is the 1982 Prom with Herbig and the BBCSO - the last time YM played at the Proms. I remember that concert and, sadly, I'm not eager to hear it again.

The earlier YM performances are better - and I agree that the first (1946) one with Dorati/Dallas is probably best of the bunch. Knowing the version with Furtwängler, I'm not sure how essential it is - very great as Furtwängler was, he isn't on particularly good form here (especially not in the last movement), and the recording does the orchestra no favours either (they sound as if they're in a different postcode from Menuhin). The Dorati/Mercury version isn't bad, though Menuhin's tone is unattractive under pressure. The Menuhin/Dorati/EMI version is, as you say, less essential (I tend to avoid it altogether). There's also a live performance with Reiner and the Chicago SO which Menuhin's admirers will no doubt find interesting. Gertler/Ancerl, or Szeryng/Haitink are vastly preferable stereo versions to my ears than either the Mercury or EMI Menuhin records.

Which leads me to wonder why one "surely should" want to have Menuhin in this particular piece?

For a really historic recording of the piece - and in spite of the sound quality - I can't resist Zoltan Szekely and Mengelberg (the world prem, live).

[Barbirollians]

Menuhin' close relationship with the composer and as dedicatee of the solo violin sonata makes his interpretation highly important in the history of Bartok performance in my opinion and I am of the view that he lets the music speak for itself especially in 1946 in a way that escapes many other performers anxious to impose their own imprint on the music.

[Barbirollians]

Thanks,



Just ordered from amazon.fr marketplace "As New" for €7.99 + p&p.

A good set with some other interesting recordings.

[Pulcinella]

This is drifting off-topic - apologies. Anyhow, I see that the BBC MM performance is the 1982 Prom with Herbig and the BBCSO - the last time YM played at the Proms. I remember that concert and, sadly, I'm not eager to hear it again.

No longer, as the diversion on the Sea Drift thread has sensibly been moved to this new thread, thanks probably to a vigilant host.
Thanks, whoever it was; I had not intended to hijack the existing thread.

[Barbirollians]

As we have a thread on the centenary of the great Yehudi

My favourite Menuhin recordings are

1 His Beethoven concerto with Furtwangler both 1947 and 1953 and with Masur in 1981 despite the frailties ( the omission of the latter from these giant Menuhin boxes this year is very annoying when recordings he did not pass are being released .

2 Both Brahms concerto recordings with Furtwangler and then with Kempe and the BPO - the latter probably my go to performance

3 The Elgar concerto recordings from 1932 and 1965

4 The Spring and Kreutzer Sonatas with Hepzibah M

5 The complete set with Kempff - the odd scratchy moment but what music making !

6 The Paganini from the 1930s with Monteux - jaw dropping

7 The Menuhin in Japan from 1951 recordings just before his technique issues struck in the late 1950s

8 The classic Mendelssohn and Bruch coupling from 1959

9 Berlioz Harold in Italy with Davis - no starry playing here but completely at one with the conductor's conception

10 The BBC MM Brahms with Boult from 1942 plus the Chaconne .

[makropulos]

Menuhin' close relationship with the composer and as dedicatee of the solo violin sonata makes his interpretation highly important in the history of Bartok performance in my opinion and I am of the view that he lets the music speak for itself especially in 1946 in a way that escapes many other performers anxious to impose their own imprint on the music.

I completely agree that YM's commissioning of the solo violin sonata was a very important event in Bartók's generally ghastly final years - and Menuhin's interpretation of that piece is certainly significant (his first recording of it, at least, is one I very much want to hear).

But as far as the Second Violin Concerto is concerned, it was Szekely who asked Bartók to write it in the first place (and who gave the prem in Amsterdam), and the first US performance was given by Tossy Spivakovsky and Rodzinski in Cleveland in 1943. Bartók himself heard that (the first time he heard a live performance of the piece) and he wrote a letter to Szigeti expressing his delight at the way it sounded. Spivakovsky later played it with Monteux and others. Menuhin played it in Los Angeles (with Dorati) in August 1945 (not sure if that was the first time he had played it), and yes, he discussed the concerto with Bartók himself in 1943 in New York, and made the first recording - after Bartók's death.

So there are significant associations. I'm not arguing with that, but all I'm trying to say is that I'm not sure Menuhin's performances have any more authority than the likes of Szekely, Spivakovsky and André Gertler (another friend of the composer).