Description
This release has been sourced from the Richard Itter archive of ‘live’ recordings. The collection is very important for collectors because it has never been released before onto the market. Following the archive’s launch in October 2017 with releases featuring Beecham, Böhm, Cantelli, Karajan, du Pré, Klemperer and Rostropovich, it has received universal praise from both the classical media and record collectors for the excellent sound and performances.
The celebrated violinist Yehudi Menuhin (1916–1999) was very familiar with the Mozart Concertos, and played all seven including the spurious No.6 concerto. These ‘live’ performances reflect Menuhin’s Mozart playing during a single month in 1956 where he performed all the composer’s major works with orchestra (missing here are No.5, K.219 and the ‘Sixth Concerto’ supposedly by Johann Friedrich Eck).
Menuhin brings great insight and experience to every concerto and his intonation which became a concern in later life is spot on with these performances. In the Penguin Guide’s review of the Mozart Concertos on EMI, recorded in the early 1960s, we hear: ‘One is always conscious that this is phrasing from a master musician…these performances give an engaging sense of musicians making intimate music together for the joy of it’.
MusicWeb International reviewed the studio recordings as follows: “Menuhin’s Mozart Concertos (from the early 60’s) are elegant and expressive, with some wonderful sweetness of playing…”
This is the first time that these ‘live’ performances have been released and they are therefore of enormous interest to collectors and completists of this great violinist.
Works
Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 1 in B flat major K207
Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 2 in D major, K211
Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major, K216
Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 4 in D major, K218
Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 7 in D major, KV 271a
Conductors
Sargent, Sir Malcolm
Groups & Artists
BBC Symphony Orchestra
London Mozart Players
Menuhin, Yehudi
