Thursday, September 06, 2012

Yehudi Menuhin, Rudolph Barshai
"Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante, Haydn: Concerto in C major" (Vinyl)

Menuhin, one of the most prolific recorded violinists of the 20th century, pairs up with famed Russian violist for a recording of one of Mozart's great concerto works.
I finally listened to this because I'm learning the work; it seemed as good a time as any to see as many different performances as possible.
The truth is this isn't one of my favorites. Menuhin's playing has always bothered me.  Somewhere between his tone production and his vibrato there lays a sliver of annoyance that I've never really been able to shake.
The performance between these two musicians is fairly unmentionable, I'm afraid.  There is a casual, not-very-rehearsed air to their performance which is fine for a festival performance, but for committing to a record, not so much...

No comments: