Hephzibah Menuhin

Yehudi Menuhin in coversation with Humprey Burton - A Violonist in Hollywood (1/2)

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• published: 16 Aug 2014
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In the summer of 1947, filmmaker Paul Gordon meets the violinist Yehudi Menuhin at a dinner in Zurich. Menuhin tells of his concert tours in the cities of the world and Gordon wants to know why he's not playing in smaller cities, where millions of people live who also love music. "The year has only 365 days," Menuhin's simple answer. So Paul Gordon had the idea of making a film, not a scripted film "but a concert on celluloid, on film!" After initial skepticism, Menuhin accepts. The filming of "Concert Magic", the first concert film in Hollywood history, begins in December 1947, for Yehudi Menuhin a privately very disturbing time: His first marriage had failed and he just had married his second wife Diana. The documentary "Menuhin in Hollywood" tells the story of the "Concert Magic" that had its premiere in October 1948 at the Stage Door Theatre in San Francisco. 50 years later, Menuhin meets with his biographer Humphrey Burton in Warsaw to get together and watch those legendary film recordings, of which he had seen not a single second up to that time. Yehudi Menuhin himself was particularly interested in his recording of the Violin Concerto by Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, that due to its length could not be taken into account in "Concert Magic". Even experts did not know for a long time that Menuhin had recorded the concert in front of the camera. Visibly moved, the century violinist comments these and other rarities. The focus of the film is on previously unreleased footage from the legendary Hollywood music film, “Concert Magic” from the year 1947. In interviews and conversations with his biographer Humphrey Burton Yehudi Menuhin recalls the origin of the film, the war and post-war era in America and Germany. Special attention is paid to his commitment to the victims of World War II. These include great artists forced into American exile such as fellow musician Béla Bartók. During the Second World War Yehudi Menuhin helped to raise the spirits of war victims and refugee children with numerous concerts. He supported artists in American exile, performed for an audience of freed prisoners of the concentration camp Bergen-Belsen, and in war ravaged Berlin he played demonstratively under the baton of Wilhelm Furtwängler. Looking back at the mid-1940's it is clear to see with what passion Menuhin linked his goals of musical excellence with a dedication to social causes. He used music to plead for justice and reconciliation often against strong resistance. A film by Günter Atteln Produced by: EuroArts, RBB/ARTE