EMI Classics Gemini (2-CDs) 2 17617 2, 69:52; 79:22 **** :
In 1958-1959 Yehudi Menuhin (1916-1999), approached by EMI to re-record the Bach violin concertos he had inscribed in the early 1930s with Georges Enesco and Pierre Monteux, undertook performances of solo and Brandenburg Concertos with an orchestra especially created for him and trained by Robert Masters. Overseen by engineer Neville Boyling, Menuhin had wonderful musical forces with whom to work, as well as the scholarship that would make his Handel Water Music a distinctive addition to anyone’s baroque music collection.
Having witnessed an all-Bach concert at the Barbican Centre with Menuhin in the 1980s–Erbarme dich, Suite No. 4, Magnificat–I can attest to the endearing combination of reverence and exultation that marked Menuhin’s Bach performances. Still able to negotiate Bach’s violin filigree in his own playing, Menuhin provides the violino piccolo for the opening F Major Concerto. He lends his throaty support to the viola parts–with Patrick Ireland–in the B-flat Brandenburg No. 6. With Janet Craxton, oboe and Christopher Taylor, recorder, Menuhin supports the high trumpet antics (courtesy, a vivacious Denis Clift) for the concertino sections of the F Major, No. 2. More musically fascinating is Menuhin’s choice to add a Bach trio sonata (ed. Benjamin Britten) to fill in the central movement of the No. 3 in G Major, a solemn adagio of deep, church sensibility.
The realizations, a happy synthesis of original-manuscript thinking (recorders and harpsichord) and modern instruments, remain consistently gay and high-spirited, a deep, resonant drone marking the viols (Ambrose Gauntlet and Dennis Nesbitt, viola da gamba) in the Sixth Brandenburg, an almost “tragic” serenity. The continuo realization by George Malcolm, both for the B-flat and the virtuosic D Major (No. 5) Concertos prove captivating, the transitions between musical periods seamless. For those who favor the “antique” flavor of the concertos’ ethos, the use of recorders should more than satisfy their yen for aerial, delicate sonorities. Of course, anyone familiar with the brilliant, short-lived art of violinist Christian Ferras (1933-1982) will relish his and Menuhin’s plaintive, interwoven duo for the D Minor Concerto, especially its Adagio movement, a true labor of love. Menuhin plies the E Major with hearty caresses, his uniquely “vocal” tone unmistakable in its power to melt our stony routine.
A grand set of familiar music, but Bach played devotionally and in bright, wonderful, sonic splendor by masters of their trade. It brings back a wealth of good memories.
–Gary Lemco
