Finally, I see a Video Footage of Young Yehudi Menuhin

[Original Post at my Blog | My Blog]

I've been hearing or reading how “young” Menuhin (1916-1999) is a wonderkid of his generation. But I've never really find his video footages. Well, maybe I wasn't looking hard enough.

Until I encounter a DVD titled “The Art of Violin”. There's him, playing a fragment of the 1st movement of Mendelssohn's violin concerto, performed in Hollywood in 1947.


The “Young” Menuhin
What's so special about this “young” Menuhin? Well, young may not be the most exact word. It should be: “prior to being ravaged by a serious injury”.

That injury nearly caused him to forsake violin for the rest of his life. That is, until he underwent a yoga treatment in India — that's how he started his collaborations with Ravi Shankar.

Some said that his injury is (partially) attributed to overstressing his body for performances. Performances that he believed as an act of reconciliation between the Jews and the Germans, done straight after the WW-2. This stirred some controversies, considering both the timing and that Menuhin himself is a (American) Jew.


The Art of Violin
And now, back to the DVD. I'm still going through the 1st part (out of 3). You'll see modern musicians (e.g., Perlman, Hillary Hann) discuss how each of the so-called greatest 20th century violinists are unique in their playing & musicality. Menuhin apart, there're Kreisler, Heifetz, Stern, Francescatti, Ricci, Rabin, and many more.

Listening to their explanations puts me in awe, for they just have the rich and beautiful vocabularies to describe the subtleties among those legends.

Now, before I mislead anybody into thinking how clever I'm, let me be the first to confess that I don't understand at all what they are talking about!

[I saw some parts of the DVD uploaded to youtube, but haven't had the time to check them]