Brahms, Johannes/Beethoven, Ludwig van: Yehudi Menuhin plays... (BBC Legends Audio CD)

Yehudi Menuhin, violin
Maurice Gendron, cello
Hephzibah Menuhin, piano


This was a memorable concert taken from the 1964 Bath Festival, and for collectors it is very important because none of these artists, including Yehudi Menuhin whose discography is vast, ever recorded Beethoven’s Triple Concerto.

The Beethoven Triple Concerto relied on players familiar with chamber music, and this is what it gets here, because Yehudi Menuhi, with the great French cellist Maurice Gendron (1920-1990) and Menuhin’s sister, Hephzibah (1920-1981), formed a Trio which lasted for 25 years

The Brahms Double Concerto produces an exciting performance with Menuhin in particular in good form strongly supported by Gendron and the LSO under the dynamic direction of Istvan Kertesz, whose appointment as the LSO’s chief conductor was made the following year in 1965. Kertesz did not record these works commercially.

“Three masters in concert, producing a compelling version of the Bridge trio.”
(Gramophone)

“This is a remarkable performance…intense, subtle and beautifully shaped…Their account of the great slow movement is one of the most moving, atmospheric and musically revealing on record.”
(BBC Music Magazine)

"[Menuhin's] emotional savvy in this grand, valedictory work is beyond dispute.. The plunding chords in conclusion, with their clarion sense of valediction, bring the house down."
(Gary Lemco, Audiophile Audition)

"This disc preserves for posterity a remarkable moment in music... The emotional tenor of the performance is on an exalted plane... The tender affection between musicians is apparent in every bar of music... The musical verve, intensity and maturity of conception had been immaculate all evening."
(Gary Lemco, Audiophile Audition)