Missing the bigger picture

Johannes Brahms:
Violin Concerto

J.S. Bach:
Allegro Assai and Largo from Sonata No. 3 for Solo Violin

“People flock here almost every day … it is music that has saved the day.”

- Sir Yehudi Menuhin speaking from the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, East Germany, September 1982.

In the same city where the Brahms concerto was premièred (January 1879) and Bach spent much of his life, it is fitting that this EMI Music Video should feature those composers, championed here by Yehudi Menuhin and the Gewandhaus Orchestra, conducted by Kurt Masur.

Sadly, while there is much to admire, the passion, harmonic subtleties and multilayered contrasts fail to emerge, leaving a performance that is all gloss and no substance.

Menuhin seems more focused on the camera than the inner workings of the repertoire’s most rewarding violin concerto. The Allegro non troppo never really gels and although filled with impressive double stops and well executed trills, it is marred by slippery portamenti, excessive rhythmic licence (the extended two-16ths-and-an-8th sequence quickly becomes unwanted triplets) and a preponderance of horizontal phrasing where the barlines should be dismissed and the forward flow engaged.

Masur offers little support and, save and except for the final measure, is unable to connect the soloist to the orchestra, with low-string pizzicati and winds just behind his colleague’s entries or exits. Very untogether.

The famed opening oboe line of the Adagio is delivered with extra cream and finesse, but Menuhin can’t find enough bow to sustain his contribution with the same authority. Then, like the uncertainty of a first date, the interplay between the violin and the orchestra lacks any notion of spontaneity.

With no time to reflect on the bliss of finding its way back to F major and saying “adieu,” the finale is thrust rather than released into our ears. Here, with more scrubbing than is desirable and a few unexpected results from the excursions to the stratosphere, Menuhin and Masur both seem content with just getting through.

For its part, the orchestra responds valiantly and the gentlemen of the first violin section should receive bouquets of their own for consistently hitting their targets near the high end of their e strings. Bravo!

Director Bruno Monsaingeon captures some fascinating shots of Menuhin’s amazing hands at work, and for that reason alone this video is worth acquiring. Unfortunately, the camera placement provides more views of Masur’s legs than were needed and the extreme close-ups of Menuhin go on far too long. Many of the superimposed images with the woodwinds work beautifully (notably the “hands-to-hands” of the flute), but the clarinet link doesn’t dissolve quickly enough, reducing a fine shot to an awkward one. And the sudden cut to the hall's installed organ pipes when the band hit its fortissimo in the first movement produces an unintended laugh rather than an “aha!” Framing the intensity of soloist at play is a much better use of that spectacular instrument.

Despite a few pops and hiss the sound is remarkably good, particularly in the Bach encores where Menuhin’s violin sounds magnificent even as the Allegro skitters away from him while the Largo provides the most satisfying moments of the hour.

Director	Bruno Monsaingeon
Producer	Lexi Godfrey
Music Producer	John Fraser

Cross-references: Sarah Chang plays Brahms; Book Review: Rolfe's The Uncommon Friendship of Yaltah Menuhin and Willa Cather