Menuhin plays Bach Violin Sonata No. 1 in G minor - Part 2/4

[XRockVstarI499]

who played this with him?

[troglodyt1]

@XRockVstarI499 lol. noone!!!

[XRockVstarI499]

@troglodyt1 really? or is my ear playing games? i think i heard 2 violins in there ~.~

[troglodyt1]

@XRockVstarI499 You hear more than one voice, because it's a fugue (from the sound of it one a 4 voices). But it is only one violin. From what I've heard, these fugues are supossed to be among the most difficult pieces for solo violin. To hear it being played with so much clarity and expressiveness is rare.

[polszik]

@XRockVstarI499 Bach transform violin in polyphonic instrument by writing a fugue for solo violin. There's to several violins but there's several voices in the music. We are accustomed to ear violin as a monodic instrument with the romantic traditionnal way of playing.

[shineelover16]

perfection indeed.

[TheBWAAA59]

bah c'est Menuhin quoi...

[bboystarchild]

beautiful..even though violinist each have a certain style and tecnique music comes from the heart. Just to grab an instruement and make music with another to fuse two ideas. That is true music.

[dwayne515]

did Menuhin compose any pieces?, i would love to hear his compositions!

[mariusfelix]

@dwayne515 No, he didn't. But good, that you ask....composers are underrated nowadays...

[parachutes2005]

A somewhat different interpretation as compared to most of the recordings of this piece by other violin greats. Menuhin, maybe because he was very young, brings a lot of passion and cutting edge to this performance. And his interpretation of the passage between 3:04 and 3:33 is very individualistic and my favourite among all. Those who doubt his technique are requested to kindly upload their own videos showing their own techniques on the violin.

[harpyams]

it was a common eighteenth century practise to write the key of d minor with no flats and g minor with 1 flat. i dunno why. i'm guessing that it's because, just using this piece as an example, bach messes around with the major/minor modality so much that he'd have to write more e naturals than e flats, and keys had only been standardised during the renaissance.

*strokes beard*

[jmastaflash1000]

@harpyams thank you. unlike donesixfour, you could actually answer it.

[jmastaflash1000]

why does the key signature have only one flat if it's in g minor?

[donesixfour]

@jmastaflash1000 because.

[Dnomasorneiluj]

chef-d'œuvre.

[pepamicro]

What happens at 0:36 is simply magical..... take it from 0:29 to hear the effect. Those little birds right after the rough playing. Ah, Bach!

[goodcommentguy]

Someone was so blown away that they were tearing up and accidentally clicked the dislike button. Nonetheless, this interpretation was played with so much passion that the music seems to be alive. Instead of notes on music, this is pure skill mixed with years of experience, manifesting itself as one of the best recording ever made. Spectacular.

[b0ttomzone]

I have to say, I think it's pretty cool that Bach actually conceived a fugue for solo stringed instrument.

[fryfry377]

3:05 I love how timid he's being in this whole section. Usually I hear it played up, but it's nice to hear it backed away from the action.

[lenaszamoca]

It was beautiful...

[trombulan]

wooow,man i know that perfection has no limits but this interpretation is out of any kind of critics!

[gayhax]

this is absolutely brilliant

and that Cannot be denied

anyone who dares post any sort of criticism is a fool

[wanimusician]

his interpretation is actually very nice. I like it. But it is a bit too fast for me. If he played with the same interpretation but at a slower tempo, I think it will be so beautiful that I can cry listening to it :)

[blubbifrosch]

too fast!!! Listen to Henryk Szeryng...

[Lapez13]

@blubbifrosch thank you so much for this comment - I've spent the last half hour trying to figure out how to spell Szeryng's name so I could find him!

[GenocidegingerInc]

@blubbifrosch Pretty poor comparison. As amazing as both violinists are, Menuhin is truly a legend, while slightly faster than Szeryng, Menuhin puts incredible phrasing into this piece.

[operalament]

he has always been one of my favorites, he has always moved me in a way that heifetz with all his computer like perfection never could. menhuin simply brings an intangible to his playing. thanks

[Bachismydiety]

@: shiveringflower@backdooruser I absolutely agree with you. The small faults in Menuhin's playing are only human , if anything it adds to the charm. Nevertheless his playing is always full of life, character and emotion, in the end this is what music is all about! While it is great to achieve technical perfection, on its own serves little purpose.

[Bachismydiety]

SORRY, I meant @: KSudbury

[KSudbury]

Menuhin is proof that technical exactitude is not necessarily what brilliant play is all about. There is something more here--an ability to live in the music itself. Musicians of this calibre are rare.

[nancymmv]

te amo

[PaulinaMazurkiewicz]

I don't like this interpretation, Szeryng is better :)

[paopaomanalansan]

Did Menuhin play two violins at the same time of recording??

[backdooruser]

no, it is double stopping and pure genius.

[shiveringflower]

@backdooruser Some of it is triple stopped,with some broken quadruple stops towards the end.Triple and quadruple stops are easier on a baroque set up.BUT, the flatter bridge and baroque bow are not the whole story.There is an autograph score which shows quadruple stops (in some of the movements of differing Sonatas and Partitas) with fingerings directing that the lowest and highest notes are both to be played with the 1st finger-clearly indicating that the chord should be played arpeggio.

[domisofa]

BELLO NO HAY PALABRAS!!!

[c1HuK]

I like it, but listen to Henryk Szeryng, he plays it much better...

[1023george]

@c1HuK That could be just because of the sound quality- this is an older version. I like both anyway- great piece.

[AmelieWuensche]

fantastic!!! would like to see this in video... amazing :)

[compmeist]

I love how he doesn't let the chords deter the counterpoint and flow of the music

[TheRickmate]

Very good!

[thelawya]

Now I will love practicing arrpeggios

[1023george]

@thelawya I dont know how anyone could ever 'love' practicing arpeggios!

[crazy77town]

was yehudi in a hurry when he was recording this?? why so fast and anxious? this is BACH, pure baroque...

[falstocat]

I'd like to hear your performance. :X

[crazy77town]

well, I wouldn't even dare to compare myself to all of those giants of the 20th century in general! the result would be just a matter of logic...

however, you should definitely listen to szeryng's edition in order to open up your horizons, you will find a completely different world...

the pure baroque

[puffo3500]

Menuhin and few violinst are the best in the world.I think he is perfect.

[Felix892]

wowza.

[TheJordiii]

VERY WONDERFULL

[Cyrloud]

WONDERFULL

[Jagguar20]

Great stuff. JS Bach; Legend of legends!!

[reinux]

i normally don't like it when people change bach, but he does this thing at 0:54 where he changes the second D in the top voice to a C#, which creates a chromatic run that goes D, C#, C, (B), Bb, A.

i don't know if bach would have approved, but i certainly like it.

sorry for the jargon rant.

[WachaDrop]

wow I have no idea what you're talking about and I've been playing the guitar for two years, just goes to show how much more there is for me to learn. Thanks for showing me that.

[Newtacious]

please tell me you were reading the score!

if you noticed that without it, i'm going to feel like real idiot!

[reinux]

i wish i could read along fast enough to notice it that way.

i'm really, really slow to read music, so i usually don't have much of a choice but to memorize things before i play them.

[Tonys714]

Why does everyone think Bach was so stuck up? I'm sure he would love new ideas being incorporated into his music.

[reinux]

i just think his sensibility in harmony is better than the lot of us, so changing note pitches is pretty risky. most of the time, any changes that people make are sort of interesting on the surface but tend to distract from subtle overarching harmonic ideas, which is where much of bach's big ambitious ideas are.

on the other hand, i see nothing wrong with changing instrumentation or dynamics in bach's music, and i'm sure bach himself wouldn't mind either.

[cici19820505]

i like this song.

[Jinanibob]

I think he was only 18 or something when he recorded the partitas. There's sooo much passion into what he's playing! Technical perfection is sacrificed here for some raw Bach action.

[bbiguy]

your immature for saying it like you did, just because you didnt like him playing.

[milstein91]

I'm just giving my opinion and that isn't beeing immature.

[thewoman92m]

but you could have worded it better.

you can't really say that he didn't play it as well as Szeryng. he has a different style and someone that i'm guessing can't play it as well as menuhin or at all for that matter has no right to say something so derogatory. :)

[festershred]

menuhin was very young when he played this , in my opinion in their primes menuhin was much better than szeyng

[elmae999]

thanks for these new audio, great!

[ApsisApocynthion]

Excellent. Menuhin was the first to introduce me to Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D-Major (I think thats the key). Anyway, great video.