Yehudi Menuhin and George Enescu = MENDELSSOHN: Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op. 64; DVORAK: Violin Concerto in A Minor, Op. 53; WIENIAWSKI: Legende in G Minor, Op. 17; BACH: Double Violin Concerto in D Minor, BWV 1043 – Dutton Vocalion

by | Oct 3, 2010 | Classical Reissue Reviews | 0 comments

Yehudi Menuhin and George Enescu = MENDELSSOHN: Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op. 64; DVORAK: Violin Concerto in A Minor, Op. 53; WIENIAWSKI: Legende in G Minor, Op. 17; BACH: Double Violin Concerto in D Minor, BWV 1043 -Yehudi Menuhin violin/ Colonne Concerts Orchestra/ Paris Conservatory Orchestra/George Enescu violin and conductor /Paris Symphony Orchestra/Pierre Monteux (Bach)

Dutton Vocalion CDVS 1916, 77:50 [Distr. by Harmonia mundi] ****:


Without any “frills” in terms of production quality, this Dutton historical reissue proffers seamless treasures from the legacy of young “wunderkind” Yehudi Menuhin (1916-1999), taken down 1932-1938, between his sixteenth and twenty-second years. In my interview with Menuhin in Atlanta–for an Elgar Concerto with Louis Lane–he praised Adolf Busch as a fine pedagogue, but reserved his fonder feelings for Georges Enescu (1881-1955), the Romanian composer and conductor who “set music on a special pedestal and shone a constant light on everything he touched.” Cellist Janos Starker confirmed Menuhin’s opinion, stating, “If you ask me who had the most influence and range as a musician, then I say Enescu!”

Certainly the long familiar Mendelssohn Concerto (2 May 1938) receives a plastic humanism from the collaboration with the Colonne Orchestra, here in a piece Menuhin would traverse many times with the likes of Dorati, Kurtz, and Furtwaengler. The distinctive Menuhin tone, all ardent vocalism, moves in suave periods of refined melody. The Andante movement alone warrants the price of admission, a testament as much to Enescu’s sympathies as a conductor, which go too long unheralded. For a chance to hear Menuhin and Enescu’s sympathies in more pronounced, melancholy Franco-Slavic color, try the Legende (2 May 1938) by Henri Wieniawski, whose opening woodwind riff always recalls the Saint-Saens Organ Symphony. The purity of the vocal line strikes us throughout as a most controlled rendition whose melodic arch never calls attention to the elegance of technical resources.

The rarity in this collection lies in the Dvorak Concerto (26 and 28 February 1936), a work Menuhin did not inscribe again later in his career. Typical of Enescu, all sorts of color effects strike us from the orchestral part, especially in dialogue with Menuhin’s expressively fiery violin. The rhythmic thrust of the first movement proves as erotically lulling as it is Bohemian in spirit. The fervor of the performance rivals anything we have from Prihoda or Vecsey, the only real competition of the period likely Kulenkampff with Eugen Jochum–unless we move on to the sterling inscription by Nathan Milstein and Steinberg some twenty years in the future. Enescu brings a colossal drive to the (truncated) tuttis, the recapitulation of the first movement suddenly breaking off for the transition to the Adagio. Wonderful oboe and horn work sets the stage for Menuhin’s entry of the long aria whose more dramatic evolution becomes martial without sacrificing its innate tender lyricism. The aerial approach to the last movement makes even its repetitions gracious and gypsy-glamorous. The broad tempos force us to bask and loll about in Dvorak’s infinite capacity for melodic and metric splendor. Lest I have painted too “civilized” a portrait of this performance, the last pages cut the rope–in Zorba’s phrase–and burn and sting as any strong musical tonic should.

Lastly, we have the Bach Double Concerto (4 June 1932) in which Master and pupil share the soli with their old comrade-in-arms, Pierre Monteux from Paris. Still stylish and unapologetically Romantic in spirit, the performance attests to a convergence of kindred souls, the like of which we shall but rarely hear in modern times.

— Gary Lemco

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