Concert Magic: The first-ever concert filmed for movie audiences (1948)
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Jakob Gimpel - piano

0:00 Introduction to the programme
1:10 Franz Liszt - Etude de concert No.3 “Un sospiro”

In 1948, “Concert Magic” was filmed in Hollywood making it the first-ever concert filmed for movie audiences. Yehudi Menuhin and other internationally renowned interpreters played classical and romantic works and created a worldwide success for the director Paul Gordon.

At 32 years old, Menuhin, the featured performer was at the height of his career. In addition, many short films were made to fill the space between the traditional "double features". They were also often used as encores when enthusiastic audiences demanded them and feature works by composers whom no one knew Menuhin performed. Among these encores is an especially valuable rarity, the violin concerto of Felix Mendelssohn. The length prevented it from inclusion in the film. This footage shows Menuhin’s very first recorded performance of the violin concerto under Antal Dorati. Even music specialists are unaware of the existence of this previously unreleased material.

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