Three hours of unreleased conversations with Yehudi Menuhin, one of the 20th century's most prodigious violinists. Bruno Monsaingeon pays the greatest tribute to the man who was his teacher and friend for over 25 years.
During the month of June 1994, the TV director Bruno Monsaingeon spent a few days in Yehudi Menuhin's house in Mykonos. Menuhin was 78 years old and in the course of his conversations with Monsaingeon, he looked back on his impressive career and the musical world of the whole 20th century. The initial goal of these interviews was to release one beautiful documentary that Monsaingeon named Yehudi Menuhin, The Violin of the Century.
But the two hours of video edited for this exceptional portrait could not satisfy Bruno Monsaingeon forever. However, he felt he had to carry out a sort of "duty of remembrance" towards the man he considered an artistic genius and a great humanist. Thus, 20 years later, Monsaingeon worked again on the rushes for the Violin of the Century, a collection of true historical milestones that had never been released until now. These videos bringing back to life one of the world's most beloved musicians of the past century.
The Conversations with Menuhin are not only a bonus for the Violin of the Century. They are the leftovers of a feast, and those leftovers are as enormous as the feast itself, says Monsaingeon. In these Conversations, Monsaingeon delivers milestones that could not fit the scenario retained for the previous film, but that could not remain forgotten either. Yehudi Menuhin evokes his violin debuts and his first competition, his encounter with George Enesco (his teacher in Paris), his support to Wilhelm Furtwängler, his musical partnerships with Arturo Toscanini, Bruno Walter and Paul Paray, his friendship with David Oistrakh, his visit to Pablo Casals in Spain and his relationship with Hollywood and many other experiences! But thanks to the mutual trust between Menuhin and Monsaingeon, the violinist also tells about his private life and family, his experience of the war... We learn marvellous anecdotes that allow us to understand very well how generous and open-minded Yehudi Menuhin was.
Released for the first time in DVD in November 2014, these Conversations with Yehudi Menuhin are available on the internet on medici.tv only.
