PASC036:
Violin Concerto No. 7 in D, K.271a - Mozart
MP3
price
Yehudi
Menuhin, violin
Paris Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Georges Enesco Recorded:
1932
Released as HMV 78s, D.B. 1735-1738
Matrix
numbers: 32: 2972-78; also stamped: 2L374-380
Takes: All first take recordings
Cadenza: Georges Enesco
Download ID: 170990, 402138
Duration
26'01"
Play
sample movement:
Yehudi
Menuhin
The
sharper students of the music of Mozart reading this page might
already be preparing themselves to fire off e-mails of correction. "Surely,"
they would write, "Mozart wrote five Violin Concertos - how can
you be possibly offering his seventh?"
(Mind
you, as a former music student myself I'd say that as a breed they're
rarely to be trusted on matters of precision, especially where counting
is concerned!)
There is
certainly a strong case to be made here - yet back in 1932 the received
wisdom was that this was indeed one of seven Mozart Concertos for Violin
and Orchestra, and that is precisely how it was presented by HMV in this
recording by the then 16-year-old Menuhin.
I don't
propose to go into the full story of this concerto - suffice to say that
the general opinion these days is that if Mozart did have a hand in the
writing of it, he may not have been the only one. I would however direct
the curious-minded to an excellent and informative article by Dennis Pajot
which can be read online at the Mozart Forum website here.
From a
technical point this recording suffered from what I'm beginning to think
was the sound qualities (or rather, the lack of them!) of a particular
microphone in all-too-common use in the 1930's. I've heard it elsewhere
on music I've restored for Pristine Audio - most clearly in the 1932 Schnabel
Emperor Concerto and the 1935 Liszt Faust Symphony recordings - and it
takes some rectifying!
Alas the
sound will always remain a little primitive, although it is now is a hugely-improved
condition such that one can quickly adjust to it and thus enjoy the performance
of a particularly rare and little-known piece that might just be by Mozart
- in the hands of one of the most brilliant violin players of all time!
