An unusual evening Monday in that I spent the time listening to ... Yehudi Menuhin, and some of his recordings from the 1930s: Mendelssohn violin concerto, Dvorak violin concerto, Wieniawski's Légende, the Bach double concerto (all with Enescu) and then the Elgar concerto from 1932.

Menuhin's approach to all the music was highly personal, and there is a freshness and enthusiasm in his playing that is most appealing. There are better performances of Elgar's violin concerto per se, but Menuhin's personal approach is fascinating. And during the 1930s he could really play well with a sound and style that are immediately distinctive.

The sound in the Naxos transfer for the Elgar is pretty miraculous given the 1932 date of the original recording. The other pieces were Dutton transfers and suffered to some extent from over-filtering with no ambient warmth -- a frequent problem with Dutton transfers. The Menuhin / Enescu 1938 performance of the Mendelssohn was the first recording I ever possessed (on 78 rpm discs played on a wind-up gramophone). Re-hearing the work with Menuhin's bow arm articulation and freshness of approach was an enjoyable experience; this really is a classic recording.