MMM | Yehudi Menuhin and Herbert von Karajan

25 JUNE 2023: 1966 saw a coming together of two iconic artists: Herbert von Karajan and Yehudi Menuhin.

Yehudi Menuhin is regarded as the wunderkind violinist of the last century. He was celebrated and revered as much as Mozart in his day, whose Violin Concerto No. 5 Menuhin interprets for this concert recording.
After many years of performing and traveling, the outbreak of World War II marked a turning point for Menuhin, whose audience now became allied troops and those wounded in the fighting. At a performance in the liberated Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, the sheltered former boy prodigy was confronted with unimaginable horrors. But Menuhin did not despair and instead chose to dedicate his life and music to reconciliation and peace. Just two years after the end of the war, he was the first Jewish musician to return to Germany and perform with the Berlin Philharmonic.

Herbert von Karajan took an altogether different path, pursuing a life that was characterised by the search for perfection and musical greatness. Karajan’s career began in earnest during Germany’s Nazi era. Later, he would become one of the most influential and important conductors of the post-war period.

This recording from 1966, masterfully directed by award-winning feature film director Henri-Georges Clouzot, shows how their contrasting biographies serve only to accentuate this spellbinding musical moment.
International stars, including Anne-Sophie Mutter, Daniel Hope and Hillary Hahn as well as Sunnyi Melles, August Zirner and Bruno Monsaigeon tell of their captivation with this unique recording of the sole collaboration between the two music legends.

Duration 43 min / 52 min
Author Grete Liffers
Producer Claus Wischmann
Executive Producer Christopher Janssen
Production Company sounding images, ZDF/ARTE, 2023
English title of music work Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Violin Concerto No. 5 in A major