Menuhin, Yehudi (1948, 1949, 1951) (Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky - Leopold Auer - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)

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Violinist Yehudi Menuhin belongs to a select pantheon of musicians, not only for his phenomenal skills on his instrument, but also for his lifelong dedication to peace and diplomacy. This Audite album is significant for both of these features. It represents among the first recordings of an artist of Jewish descent recording in postwar Germany, something for which Menuhin was criticized by some of his friends and colleagues. Careful listeners will also notice another feature of historical significance on this disc: the use of Leopold Auer's edition of the Tchaikovsky. Auer, to whom the Tchaikovsky was supposed to be dedicated, had intended to submit a great many edits to the composer but failed to do so before his death. The present version, performed by most of Auer's students, removes several bars from the first movement and almost two full sections from the finale. Menuhin's playing with the RIAS Symphony Orchestra is passionate yet controlled, technically brilliant, and beautifully balanced between solo and tutti passages. The program continues with a performance of Mozart's D major Concerto, K. 218, which demonstrates Menuhin's extreme versatility. While to modern ears his performance may still sound a bit "Romanticized," Menuhin largely led the way in a Mozart approach that was clean and transparent, much so than many of his contemporaries at the time. The disc concludes with the Chaconne from Bach's D minor Partita. Menuhin's playing here is deeply impassioned, which sometimes gets the better of him as some of the chordal sections come across as a bit harsh. Still, his stellar command of the technical demands of this work claim nothing but admiration and respect from listeners.

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