Yehudi Menuhin

Speaker 10:00

Hello, I'm Kirsty Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Disc's Archive. For rights reasons we've had to shorten the music. The programme was originally broadcast in nineteen seventy seven, and the presenter was Roy Plumley.

Presenter0:32

On our desert island this week is the violinist and conductor Yehudi Menouin.

Presenter0:37

Throughout your career I believe you found it helpful to give yourself a sabbatical occasionally, to rethink things and recharge the batteries. In fact, I believe you're having one at the moment. Yes, but I won't.

Yehudi Menuhin0:47

I wish what you said were true. This is in fact the first sabbatical year since I was about twenty years old.

Yehudi Menuhin0:56

This is only your second. Yes, it's only my second.

Presenter0:56

This is only your sec?

Yehudi Menuhin1:00

So I'm rather ashamed of that, but I'm planning the next within two years.

Presenter1:04

Yeah.

Yehudi Menuhin1:05

Yeah.

Presenter1:05

Good idea. Of course, a desert island isn't a bad place for a rethinking sabbatical. Perfectly true.

Yehudi Menuhin1:10

I shall look forward to that. Only you haven't allowed me nearly enough discs to fill the the longed-for leisure. Only eight, I'm afraid. Very cruel, very cruel you are. What is the first one? Poskovsky's Strauss, the the um Kaiserwaltze. That's something I've loved since I was a boy. I love Strauss waltzes and only recently have I conducted the Berlin Philharmonic in a programme, and in fact my last evening in Bath when After ten years I gave up the festival. It was a lovely evening. Everyone dressed appropriately in period dress in the assembly rooms, and I led the orchestra much as Boskovsky does, and we gave them a Strauss evening.

Presenter2:49

The Kaiser Waltzer Willy Bozkovsky conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.

Presenter2:55

Now, your parents are rushed.

Yehudi Menuhin2:56

Russian, but they met in Palestine, I believe. They first met in Palestine and then quite accidentally remet in New York City. You were born in New York? Yes.

Yehudi Menuhin3:08

You asked for a violin more or less as soon as you heard one. As soon as I heard one, I wanted a violin, yes. But you were given a toy one, I believe. Yes, most unsatisfactory.

Yehudi Menuhin3:17

Did you take to it immediately? Could you produce music from it at once? Not at all. I was disgusted with the violin and with myself, and it took a little while until I could even crank up a vibrato. I had a lot of trouble with getting the vibrato, which of course I was very anxious to get because my dream of a violin sound is and was the human voice. In fact, I notice on this choice that I have perhaps subconsciously not included any solo violin on it at all, but a number of vocalists.

Yehudi Menuhin3:52

What is your second record?

Yehudi Menuhin3:54

My second record is the Schubert, Great Schubert's C Major Symphony, the Slow Movement of Furtwengler's interpretation. Why do you choose it?

Yehudi Menuhin4:04

Well, I think he had a feeling for the spaciousness, the unhurried, typically Schubert walking gait, and because I adore Schubert.

Presenter5:07

The beginning of the slow movement of Schubert's Ninth Symphony, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Furtwengler.

Presenter5:14

Now, it was soon apparent that you had exceptional talent, which meant daily practising instead of going out to play with the other children. Did you sometimes resent it?

Yehudi Menuhin5:25

No. At the time I was quite happy to put in the investment and I enjoyed the results. I'm grateful to my parents for having

Yehudi Menuhin5:34

Kept me seriously at the violin.

Presenter5:37

Yeah.

Yehudi Menuhin5:37

Yeah.

Presenter5:37

And then, when you were only ten, it was time to study in Europe. The whole family came with you, I believe. The whole family

Yehudi Menuhin5:43

family, we were enabled to do that by a very generous San Franciscan benefactor, mister Sidney Ehrman, who died about two years ago at the age of one hundred and two. When did you first come to this country?

Yehudi Menuhin5:56

In uh nineteen twenty nine, I was then thirteen,

Yehudi Menuhin6:00

And um my first concerts in London were the recital at the Albert Hall of a Sunday afternoon, and a concert at the Queen's Hall with Fritz Busch when I played the Brahms concerto.

Presenter6:12

You made your first record when you were only twelve, I think. There's a a recording of yours which has been played over and over again on this programme, the Elgar Concerto, which you recorded with Elgar himself when you were about fifteen, I think. Is that right?

Yehudi Menuhin6:27

Uh yes, uh sixteen, I believe. The very first time was a Summer's Day in nineteen thirty two, and um we felt like being out of doors. But despite the sunny day, I was in the room with um Ivan Newton at the piano waiting to play the concerto for Elgar. I had just prepared it within the previous month.

Yehudi Menuhin6:51

and was rather nervous about it.

Yehudi Menuhin6:54

Elgar came, this fine grandfatherly figure, very benign, the first living composer I'd met here was a gentleman, and I'd never thought of gentlemen as as composers. But of course I've I've changed my mind since then.

Yehudi Menuhin7:11

And um we started playing, and after a very few minutes he interrupted.

Yehudi Menuhin7:16

and said he had no doubts about the recording, everything would go beautifully, he had full confidence, it was a beautiful sunny afternoon, he was off to the races. That's where he wanted to go, leaving me, of course, quite somewhat disconcerted, again realizing that perhaps I hadn't quite sufficiently anticipated the gentleman instead of the composer. But he turned out to be not only both, but a wonderful friend, almost a grandfather in feeling, and a wonderful conductor. Two days later we were in the Abbey Road studios, where I still record.

Yehudi Menuhin7:52

And for two days I was in utter bliss, playing this great work to the sound of an orchestration I had never played to before certainly the richest orchestration.

Yehudi Menuhin8:03

of any great classical concerto.

Yehudi Menuhin8:07

Let's have your third record. What will that be? The third record is one very close to my heart, for many reasons, and it is from the Tsauberflutter, the Magic Flute. It's the Aria Ich Fuls by Jungard Zeyfried.

Yehudi Menuhin8:22

Why is it so special for you?

Yehudi Menuhin8:25

because of the music and of the singer. Uh I'm very fond of Seyfried, as most people are, and she has a particularly

Yehudi Menuhin8:36

not only musical, but an innocent spontaneous quality. But it is of course extremely schooled, extremely elegant, and uh the interpretation is of a purity

Yehudi Menuhin8:49

which is almost uh indescribable.

Presenter9:52

Irm God Seyfried as Pamina in The Magic Flute.

Presenter9:57

By the time you were twenty you had mastered all the main concertos and sonatas and the repertoire.

Presenter10:03

And you'd worked with most of the great conductors. Now it was an age of giants Bruno, Walter, Toscanini, Beecham. As a youngster, did you find any of these conductors overpowering?

Yehudi Menuhin10:15

No, curiously enough I didn't. In fact, Bruno Walter was perhaps, along with Barbirolli, the most wonderful accompanist that uh that I've ever known. And of course so was Onesco, because even though he was my great master for the violin and violin literature, I did most of my orchestral recordings at the time with him.

Yehudi Menuhin10:36

Uh I didn't find them overpowering, even Toscanini.

Yehudi Menuhin10:41

who came the closest to being.

Yehudi Menuhin10:43

might have been overpowering.

Yehudi Menuhin10:45

I I held my own there and uh

Presenter10:49

Didn't quite capitulate.

Presenter10:51

You've known so many.

Presenter10:53

Fine composers, too, many of whom have written works especially for you.

Yehudi Menuhin10:57

Yes, I was very, very fortunate. Bloch wrote a piece for me when I was seven years old, and in fact, before he died, wrote two solo sonatas for me. And then perhaps the greatest of composers who have composed for me was Bartok, who wrote his penultimate work, the solo sonata, for me in 1944, I believe it was. But it's not only for that reason that I am choosing as my next record the ultimate work of Bartok, one that he did not complete, but which was completed by Thibaut Shirley, a very intimate friend and under a man who understood the style of Bartok so well that he orchestrated it most authentically. It is a heart-rending, soul-searching work, and I think it is one of the great works for the viola, and I wish more people would play it.

Presenter12:47

The opening of the Bartock Viola Concerto, your own recording with the new Philharmonial Orchestra conducted by Antal Dorati.

Presenter12:56

You have an affection for festivals. You mentioned the Bath Festival. In fact, you ran that for ten years. For ten years, yes, ten delightful years, I must say. And the Windsor Festival? For about four years. And you have another one in

Yehudi Menuhin13:10

Uh

Presenter13:10

Switzerland.

Yehudi Menuhin13:11

The Swiss one is the oldest. I began it before Bath and celebrated last year its twentieth anniversary.

Presenter13:18

How important to you is is your conducting? Is it as important as your solo work?

Presenter13:24

Well, I enjoy

Yehudi Menuhin13:24

it as much. Particularly I did enjoy my uh festivals as it was during those years that I

Yehudi Menuhin13:32

was taught something about the art of conducting from my dear orchestra. It was really they who trained me. So whatever d faults I may have is entirely their

Presenter13:42

Uh

Yehudi Menuhin13:42

Therefore.

Presenter13:42

Yeah.

Yehudi Menuhin13:43

Yeah.

Presenter13:43

Uh You've just written your autobiography.

Presenter13:46

Unfinished Journey. What conclusions do you draw, having spent so long in looking back on your life?

Presenter13:52

Yeah.

Yehudi Menuhin13:52

Well, actually, I don't think I'd draw many conclusions. I'm afraid to crystallize, to establish some authoritative sounding dictum, for fear that it may very well be proven wrong within the next few minutes. The the only impression I have, as I thought back upon my life, is that it has had relatively few digressions which were not related organically to initial curiosities, uh loves, uh impulses. It has a certain shape.

Yehudi Menuhin14:27

A fairly consequent line.

Presenter14:30

Uh

Yehudi Menuhin14:30

Let's have record number five. The um opus one hundred and thirty, Beethoven Quartet, B flat major, the caffatina.

Yehudi Menuhin14:41

One of man's highest achievements is the string quartet, and certainly no higher than Beethoven's later works. This is a particularly soothing, warm and wholesome piece written by this extraordinary deaf man who heard more beautiful music than any of us can ever imagine.

Presenter15:55

The Cavattina from one of the late Beethoven quartets, number thirteen in B flat, opus one hundred and thirty, played by the Budapest Quartet.

Presenter16:05

mister Manuen, how many instruments do you have yourself?

Yehudi Menuhin16:08

Uh

Presenter16:09

I have quite a

Yehudi Menuhin16:09

Quite a few. I have some of my earliest ones, a beautiful seven-eighth Grancino that my mother bought for me in New York in nineteen twenty four when I was eighteen

Presenter16:20

Eight years old. It must be virtually impossible to part with an instrument that you've played on for a long time.

Yehudi Menuhin16:26

I don't part with an instrument voluntarily, but I loan them. There are now at least four instruments of mine that young colleagues of mine are using.

Presenter16:37

What makes them so precious, the early ones? Is it that the craftsmanship or the mellowing of the wood? Well, it's a craft.

Yehudi Menuhin16:44

craftsmanship certainly. It's the fact that it was a great art, that one cannot imitate an art. There are a few very fine violin maker artists, creators to day, although I have yet to see a modern violin which can equal in beauty of varnish.

Yehudi Menuhin17:04

let alone beauty of sound, the greatest of the old instruments.

Yehudi Menuhin17:09

Record number six. Record number six is the last great chorus of the Saint Matthew Passion of Bach. This is, for me, one of the great moments of my life. The first time I heard the Saint Matthew Passion was in Amsterdam, conducted by Mengelberg, and

Yehudi Menuhin17:29

I was overwhelmed. I've never been more overwhelmed by a work of music than I was with the St. Matthew Passion.

Presenter18:22

The end of the last chorus from Bach's Saint Matthew Passion, conducted by Mengelberg.

Presenter18:29

Now in a practical sense,

Presenter18:31

You're on this desert island. You've always had to protect your hands, haven't we? Would you be able to make a hut? Have you any skill at that sort of thing? None at all

Yehudi Menuhin18:39

Not at all. I'm ashamed to say. But I wouldn't mind learning. I think it would be a rather useful thing to be able to do. Ever done any fishing or cultural

Presenter18:49

Motivating or

Yehudi Menuhin18:49

Yes, I nearly caught a salmon once. Yeah.

Presenter18:53

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

Presenter18:54

Would you try to get away from your island?

Yehudi Menuhin18:57

It depends how comfortable you make me. Not naturally I'm not holding you responsible for it, but it's at your invitation that I'm going there.

Yehudi Menuhin19:05

And if it really is pleasant and my wife is along above all and um maybe I can smuggle in another one or two records and some scores.

Presenter19:13

Well you'd have to smuggle in your wife for a start because we keep watch on that sort of thing.

Yehudi Menuhin19:13

We would have this.

Yehudi Menuhin19:18

Oh, well then I'll ha I have a se I'll have a second thought about it.

Presenter19:20

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yehudi Menuhin19:22

Yeah.

Presenter19:22

Record number seven, we've got to.

Yehudi Menuhin19:24

Uh

Yehudi Menuhin19:25

The Illumination by Benjamin Britton, sung by Peter Peirce. This is one of the great pieces, I feel, of all time. It is a masterpiece, and one to which I am deeply devoted.

Yehudi Menuhin19:40

having conducted it myself several times, and because I love both Ben and Peter.

Speaker 220:00

Lisius

Presenter20:44

The Departure, the last song in Les Illuminations, sung by Peter Peirce.

Presenter20:50

Now your last record, what's that to be?

Yehudi Menuhin20:53

That is perhaps the most heart rending piece I know. It's the very last aria of Dido from the opera by Purcell. It is music of the heart, and moves the heart as as no other music does.

Presenter22:06

Kirsten Flagstar singing Dido's Lament from Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. If you could take just one disc of your eight, which would it be?

Yehudi Menuhin22:15

I think I would have to choose between Ich Fühlz of Mozart and The Lament of Dido by Purcell. And if, as I'm usually optimistic,

Yehudi Menuhin22:27

If I expect to live on the island a few years longer, I think I would be safer with Ichfuls, because the l the lament is too too heart rending, too final. And you are allowed one luxury to take with you. Yes, you have been so ruthless in not even considering my wife as another um how should I say, companion. I would then take certainly a whole album.

Yehudi Menuhin22:54

of many photographs.

Presenter22:56

It's in the one album. Of my wife. Right. And one book apart from that little list, The Bible, Shakespeare and Big Encyclopedias.

Yehudi Menuhin23:06

I can't remember the name of the poem, but it's one of the love poems of John Donne. I'd love to take.

Presenter23:12

The book of his poems. The collected works of John Don. Yes. Thank you, Yehudi Menhuen, for letting us hear your Desert Island Discs.

Yehudi Menuhin23:21

Thank you.

Presenter23:21

Thank you so much for inviting me. Thank you.

Yehudi Menuhin23:23

Goodbye.

Speaker 123:33

You've been listening to a podcast from the Desert Island Discs Archive. For more podcasts, please visit bbc.co.uk slash radio four.