Notes and Editorial Reviews
"Furtwangler and Edwin Fischer formed a long artistic partnership, and their glorious recording of Beethoven's Emperor Concerto bears witness to a remarkable meeting of musical minds. Furtwangler and Menuhin enjoyed a similar close rapport, and Menuhin's support for his older colleague was no small factor in Furtwangler's musical rehabilitation during the late 1940s after he had remained active in Nazi Germany. They recorded the Beethoven Concerto on two occasions, and this second version, made in 1953, shares with the Fischer/ Furtwãngler Emperor an extraordinary quality of spirituality and profundity. At once Furtwangler's conducting of the opening tutti has a magnificently arresting, weighty quality, and Menuhin's response,
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profound and rich in recreative imagination shows the two great artists in perfect accord. Their account of this movement is on the largest scale, yet they convey Beethoven's vision in a very humane, approachable fashion. The slow movement has a highly concentrated yet serene character, with Menuhin's rapt, singing tone achieving rare eloquence, and the finale is superbly balanced, with an affecting sense of a shared, joyful experience.
[In the Mendelssohn] Menuhin and Furtwangler float the first movement in an unhurriedly serene, elegantly shaped fashion. In the slow movement they achieve a touchingly tender, almost innocent quality and the finale, taken at a moderate tempo, has lightness and an appealingly eager, singleminded character. Two very different works are here illuminated in appropriately contrasting fashion by two great artists."
-- Gramophone [10/1989]
review of EMI 69799
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Works on This Recording
1.
Concerto for Violin in D major, Op. 61 by Ludwig van Beethoven
Performer:
Yehudi Menuhin (Violin)
Conductor:
Wilhelm Furtwängler
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philharmonia Orchestra
Period: Classical
Written: 1806; Vienna, Austria
Date of Recording: 04/1953
Venue: Kingsway Hall, London, England
Length: 44 Minutes 8 Secs.
2.
Concerto for Violin in E minor, Op. 64 by Felix Mendelssohn
Performer:
Yehudi Menuhin (Violin)
Conductor:
Wilhelm Furtwängler
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1844; Germany
Date of Recording: 05/1952
Venue: Jesus Christ Church, Berlin, Germany
Length: 27 Minutes 9 Secs.
Sound Samples
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D major, Op. 61 (1999 Digital Remaster): First movement: Allegro ma non troppo - Cadenza - Tempo I (Cadenza by Kreisler)
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D major, Op. 61 (1999 Digital Remaster): Second movement: Larghetto
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D major, Op. 61 (1999 Digital Remaster): Third movement: Rondo (Allegro) - Cadenza - Tempo I (Cadenza by Kreisler)
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in E minor, Op. 64 (1999 Digital Remaster): First movement: Allegro molto appassionato - Cadenza - Tempo I - Presto
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in E minor, Op. 64 (1999 Digital Remaster): Second movement: Andante - Allegretto non troppo
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in E minor, Op. 64 (1999 Digital Remaster): Third movement: Allegretto ma non troppo - Allegro molto vivace
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