Admirers of Sir Yehudi Menuhin will be pleased to have this compilation of his early stereo recordings of the major violin concertos (omitting the Tchaikovsky, which was never a Menuhin speciality). I have always enjoyed his version of the Bach Double Concerto with Christian Ferras; it rightly dominated the catalogue throughout the 1960s, and the spirited baroque vitality of the performance, plus a beautifully judged central Largo, give great satisfaction. Moreover, it demonstrates what a good sound balance Peter Andry and Neville Boyling could achieve in London's Kingsway Hall in 1959.
The Brahms is even better. The ambience of the Grunewald Kirche, Berlin conveys a fine body of tone to the Berlin Philharmonic and is flattering to the soloist. The performance is quite marvellous, demonstrating Menuhin's nobility of line at its most impressive: the reading has breadth, humanity and spontaneity. The Mozart concertos are freshly straightforward and animated, never indulgent, though I would not enthuse about the Franko cadenzas in K216. The Beethoven reading is not quite so memorable as Menuhin's earlier 1954 mono account with Furtwangler, and the recording is less flattering to his timbre, which sounds thin. However, this is undoubtedly the finest of his three stereo versions of this work. The Bruch and Mendelssohn were again balanced by Neville Boyling: the Bruch in Kingsway Hall in 1956, the Mendelssohn in Abbey Road Studio No. 1 in 1958. Both project vividly. Menuhin is in first-class form and Kurtz sparkles to match his soloist in the finale of the latter work. On CD the recording, always very brightly lit on LP, seems excessively brilliant and I found the forwardly balanced solo line tiring on the ear.'