The Music

His life support system

Menuhin didn't just play the violin. Rather he seemed to regard music as a kind of prayer made audible, and mellifluous. Nothing in the world was so natural, or so pleasurable. Nothing was more indispensable.

His own abilities were deeply paradoxical: there was his immense faith in his musical gift; but he had a most beguiling sense of his own uncertainties and flaws.

He was against the notion that says you cannot make music unless you make it perfectly. He took the view that it is music that perfects the artist. Not the other way around. Music for Menuhin was not about success, it was a life-support system.

A discography

Menuhin made recordings from 1928 until the year of his death, and his contract with EMI (now administered by Warner Classics) is the longest in the history of the recording industry. His interpretations of the Elgar violin concerto conducted by the composer, and of the Beethoven and Brahms concerti under the baton of Furtwängler, have never been surpassed.

Since the 1960s, Menuhin also made extensive recordings as a conductor, which show the breadth of his musicianship and remain to be fully appreciated.

Compiled by Jean Michel Molkhou © - February 2003.
Updated and Discography as a Conductor added - October 2016.

Listed here in the Violinist discography, under “Miscellaneous” are recordings that Menuhin, a pioneer of “crossover” music, made with the jazz violinist Stéphane Grappelli and the sitarist Ravi Shankar.

Numerous compilations and box sets of Menuhin’s recordings may be found on the Warner Classics website.

Abbreviations
a - k
  • ACR: A Classical Record
  • ADS: ADS Records
  • AND: Andante
  • ANDR: Andromeda
  • ANG : Angel
  • ARCH: Archipel Records
  • AUD: Audite
  • BBC MM: BBC Music Magazine
  • BID: Biddulph
  • BRIL: Brilliant Classics
  • BWS : Bruno Walter Society
  • CAP : Capitol
  • CASC : Cascavelle
  • CSO: Chicago Symphony Orchestra
  • CURT: Curtain Calls
  • CUST : Custom Fidelity
  • DANA: Danacord
  • DEC: Decca
  • DG : Deutsche Grammophon
  • DIAP: Diapason Discothèque Idéale
  • DIN Dinemec
  • DOCU: Documents Membran
  • DOR: Doremi
  • DUT: Dutton
  • DYNA: Dynamic
  • EDIT: Editura Casa Radio
  • ELEC : Electrola
  • ERMI: Ermitage
  • EURO: EuroArts
  • FORG: Forgotten Records
  • FREQ : Frequenz
  • GREEN: Green Door
  • HARM: Harmonia Mundi
  • HELI: Helicon Records
  • HMV: His Master’s Voice
  • HUNG: Hungaroton
  • IGC : I Grandi Concerti
  • KING: King Records
l - z
  • LYS: Dante Lys
  • M & A: Music & Arts
  • MAL: Malibran -Music
  • MELO: Melo Classic
  • MEL : Melodia
  • MER : Mercury
  • MHS : Musical Heritage Society
  • MIN: Minuet
  • MLD: Melodram
  • MM : Musica Memoria
  • MOSS : Moss Music Group
  • NAX: Naxos
  • NUOV : Nuova Era
  • NW : New World Records
  • PRAG: Praga
  • PRO : Pro Arte Digital
  • RCO: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
  • RLP: Royal Long Players
  • ROC : Rococo
  • RTVE : RadioTelevision Española Musica
  • RVL : Revelation
  • SANDY: Sandy Hook
  • SERA : Seraphim
  • STR: Strings
  • STRAD : Stradivarius
  • SYMPH : Symphonicum Europae
  • TAHR : Tahra
  • TEST: Testament
  • TPL : The Piano Library (Fono Enterprise)
  • URN: Urania
  • VIC: Victor
  • WAR: Warner Classics
  • ZAGR: Zagrebacka filharmonija

The Yehudi Menuhin Discography as a Conductor excludes recordings in which Lord Menuhin conducts from the bow, already listed in his Violinist’s discography.