Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performer: Yehudi Menuhin
Orchestra: BBC Symphony Orchestra, London Mozart Players
Conductor: Sir Malcolm Sargent, Alfred Wallenstein, Harry Blech
Number of Discs: 2
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Ica classics
Catalogue: ICAC5153
Release: 2018
Size: 620 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
CD 01
Violin Concerto No. 1 in B-Flat Major, K. 207
01. I. Allegro moderato (Cadenza by Yehudi Menuhin)
02. II. Adagio (Cadenza by Yehudi Menuhin)
03. III. Presto
Violin Concerto No. 2 in D Major, K. 211
04. I. Allegro moderato (Cadenza by Yehudi Menuhin)
05. II. Andante (Cadenza by Yehudi Menuhin)
06. III. Rondo – Allegro
Violin Concerto No. 3 in G Major, K. 216
07. I. Allegro (Cadenza by S. Franko)
08. II. Adagio (Cadenza by S. Franko)
09. III. Rondo – Allegro
CD 02
Violin Concerto No. 4 in D Major, K. 218
01. I. Allegro (Cadenza by Yehudi Menuhin)
02. II. Andante cantabile (Cadenza by Yehudi Menuhin)
03. III. Rondo – Andante grazioso
Violin Concerto No. 7 in D Major, K. 271a
04. I. Allegro maestoso (Cadenza by G. Enescu)
05. II. Andante (Cadenza by G. Enescu)
06. III. Rondo – Allegro
This release has been sourced from the Richard Itter archive of ‘live’ recordings. 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’.
