Search - Bartok, Menuhin, Dorati :: Violin Concerto 2

Completely idiomatic

Baker Peeples | Santa Cruz, CA United States | 03/13/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I saw a video of yehudi menuhin discussing his violinistic roots and his admiration for his instrument in varied types of musical genres. (He played with stephane grappelli, ravi shankar, and duke ellington.) Here, I think he is at his finest, for he himself said he particularly identified with the "gypsy" style of playing, and more specifically, the romanian type. This makes him a completely idiomatic interpreter of bartok's music. The composer wrote the solo violin sonata for him and i believe menuhin helped him with the 2nd concerto...
As for the performance, i believe this was the first ever recording of it, and it helps that antal dorati, a bartok exponent, is the conductor with a fine orchestra in the dallas symphony. I have heard the later two that menuhin also made with dorati, and though all are exemplary and show incredible range of emotion and expression, i think this one is the best-played, for menuhin was really on top of it technically here, as opposed to later when his bow arm started to fail him. the first movement, here, is particularly powerful for that reason as menuhin takes off once he announces the opening theme...the variation movement is simply amazing in its range of character that menuhin evokes, particularly in the more meditative episodes. the last movement is a tour de force for the soloist and the orchestra, and both meuhin and dorati live up to the challenge.
The lalo symphonie espagnole is also infused with the same gypsy feeling of which menuhin was so fond, though it eschews the intermezzo movement, but its no big loss. Salut d'amor is wonderfully played and heartfelt as well.
Buy this disc immediately, esp. since i believe it is out of print. Also check out the other menuhin recordings of this piece...there may be more immaculately clean recordings of this piece, and many more in better sound, but as far as artistry is cocnerned, this is unbeatable."