YOUNG VIOLINIST

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22149, 1 July 1935, Page 11

YOUNG VIOLINIST

YEHUDI MENUHIN ARRIVES TOUR OF NEW ZEALAND INTERPRETATION OF CLASSICS The young American violinist Yehudi Menuhin, who, in the eyes of the musical world, has changed during the last few years from an infant prodic.v into an established artist of mature brilliance, arrived at Auckland by the Mariposa on Saturday to commence a short concert tour of the Dominion. Menuhin is only just approaching the twenties and his seriousness as an artist is allied with boyish cheerfulness and enthusiasm. He travels with his mother, father and two sisters. The works of the great classical composers, Bach, Beethoven and Mozart, are the young violinist's chief delight and he plays them only after a careful study of original texts, of which he possesses a large and valuable collection. He will play in New Zealand a concerto by Mozart which was discovered only last year. It was written by Mozart at the age of 10 and dedicated by him to Princess Adelaide, daughter of Louis XVI. When the revolution came, the princess' maid took the manuscript with her to Trieste and it remained in the maid's family until a search of old papers restored it to the world. Modern Composers' Works

But Menuhin does not despise the moderns. He plays a sonata by Georges Enesco, the Rumanian composer, which, in his view, is as great as any of the works of the classical period. It was performed by Menuhin in New York for the first time last year, but has not yet been played in London. Another modern composer for whom Menuhin has a high regard is Szymanowski. a Pole, whose music is generally written in impressionistic style. Menuhin was asked if he thought of turning his talent toward composition. "My place is to interpret," he said, adding that, rather than to create, he preferred to recreate the spirit and mood in which men wrote to defy the passage of time. One gathered that the young violinist has no great liking for broadcasting. When he was asked if he would broadcast in the Dominion, he smiled. "I think I shall play loud enough." he said. Demands lor Ooncerts Menuhin receives offers for from 350 to 400 engagements annually, but his concerts are limited to 40 a year. His parents are fully conscious of the benefits that can arise from travel at his age and, in conseauence, his appearances are not confined to Paris. New York and London. Menuhin's programme is planned tentatively up to 1940 and there are projected visits to Japan, Hussia and South America. The young violinist practises assiduously, generally for three or four hours a day, but on the day after a concert he never touches his violin. In addition to interpreting music, he is passionately fond of listening to it and in this direction lies the only disappointment of his present tour. Australia was unable to provide him with the symphony concerts to which he has been accustomed to listen in the great world centres and, although he has played before crowded audiences, he confesses to being starved for music.

It was learned on Saturday that Menuhin's hands, which ate almost invariably gloved, nre not insured. His father explained that music was everything in Yehudi's life and if anythinc were to happen to his hands, destroying his ability to play, the tragedy would be Buch that a fortune would be no compensation. "Yehudi's playing is a gift from God," his father said. "We try to look on it always in that light." After his New Zealand tour, the young violinist will have a short holiday, probably at National Park or Mount Cook, and will then leave for Australia on his way to South Africa.