AUDIENCE SPELLBOUND

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21716, 3 February 1934, Page 9 (Supplement)

AUDIENCE SPELLBOUND

BOY VIOLINISTS GENIUS FEELING AND TECHNIQUE Young Yehudi Menuhin repeated at a concert last month his now customary feat of crowding tho Albert Hall. He must be the only boy who has done it time after time, and is able to do it whenever he comes this way, writes an English critic. His London appearances are few and far between, for the wise oversight which in any year secures to him months of rest from public appearances, limits tho number of his concerts everywhere. This timo ho returned grown out of the sinall-boy stage, in which he was so uncannily a great violinist, and was now seen as a youth between 16 and 17, with the light of genius unmistakably upon himself, and with his playing grown into tho firmness and authority of performance possible only to the matured artist. At the concert, thousands of peolc sat under him profoundly impressed by the breadth, no less than the grace, of his playing, charmed by the singing sweetness of his tone, amazed by his virtuosity, and mystified by the imaginative range and reach of an interpretative power that would be remarkable in any artist; such is possible only to few, even of those who play from the depths of minds and hearts enriched by the experiences of a lifetime. Heard from this mere boy, it is beyond explanation. Menuhin is without doubt, an inspired boy, gifted with such mental, emotional and imaginative qualities as leave his hearers dumbfounded by what they hear from him. At this concert he played—with his pianist—Beethoven's C* minor sonata, Bach's C major sonata for violin alope, some Sarasate, Hubay, etc., and the tremendous D major concerto of Paganini, a work seldom played in its entirety, and filled with technical difficulties of the hair-raising kind. Menuhin's prodigious display here of violin acrobatics staggered his audience, and, indeed, it is doubtful if there is another violinist living who could have delivered this music so brilliantly and with such apparent ease in the midst of marvellous feats of agility. The thousands there burst into a mighty cheer as the boy ended this formidable piece of music, while at the end the customary Menuhin-recital enthusiasm kept him playing extra after extra. A world tour promised for 1935 will no doubt bring this phenomenal artist to Australia and New Zealand.