Overdue tribute to Hephzibah Menuhin, pianist

[Lance]

Warner Classics has just come out with a 9-CD/2DVD set, "Hephzibah Menuhin: Homage" [52703]. She was violinist Yehudi Menuhin's older sister and they both adored each other. Together, they performed all over the world and made a number of recordings together. This set is not all inclusive of their duo output. The set has been lovingly put together by Bruno Monsaingeon who also wrote the booklet notes where we learn a great deal about Hephzibah. In Hebrew, Hephzibah [1920-1981] means "awaited with joy, bringer of light," and that it certainly did for the Menuhin family.

When Hephzibah married for the first time, her husband was from Australia and it was there she made her home as a near "traditional" wife, largely letting her dreams go by the wayside though music was always in the back of her head and she, fortunately, returned to it. This set has many tracks with her as Yehudi's piano partner. However, the set also contains many items that have never been issued before that feature Hephzibah as only a piano soloist or with orchestra.

Previously unreleased items on these CDs:
• Mozart: Concerto No. 10 for Three Pianos in E-flat Major, K. 365
_____with Jeremy Menuhin, piano
• Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 31
• Mozart: Sonata for Two Pianos K. 448 with Louis Kentner, piano
• Brahms: Liebeslieder Waltzes, Op. 5 with April Cantelo, soprano;
_____Janet Baker, mezzo; Richard Lewis, tenor; Donald Bell, bass;
_____and Louis Kentner, piano
• Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Minor
_____with Victoria Symphony Orchestra, Fernando Previtali, condutor
• Debussy: Violin Sonata with Yehudi Menuhin, violin
• Enescu: Violin Sonata No. 3 with Yehudi Menuhin, violin
• Juan José Castro: Piano Concerto
_____with Victoria Symphony Orchestra, Juan José Castro, conductor


The balance of the CDs include some radio interviews and other works that were commercially recorded by the "Siamese Duo" as they called themselves.


The two DVDs contain some excerpted works, interviews with all the Menuhin siblings, and these complete works: Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 7 in F Major, K. 242 with Hephzibah, Yaltah and Jeremy Menuhin, pianists, with Yehudi leading the London PO; Schubert: Piano Trio No. 1 in B-flat Major, Op. 99 with Hephzibah; Yehudi, violin; Maurice Gendron, cello; Chausson: Concert with Hephzibah, Sydney String Quartet; Yehudi, violin; Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 27 in B-flat Major, K. 595 with RPO, Rudolf Kempe, conductor; Chopin: 2 Etudes (recorded live 1976, Paris). And there is lots more on these two DVDs.

[barney]

Somebody put out several boxes of Yehudi Menuhin a few years ago.(Checks: Warner Classics in 2016.) There was lots of Hephzibah in that.
True story: in her early teens, my younger sister, named Sarah, decided she was Hephzibah, and demanded to be called that for quite a while.

[maestrob]

What a delightful story about your sister, Barney!

Lance, this sounds absolutely fascinating. I have nothing in my library that focuses on Hepzibah Menuhin's playing, and will aim to acquire this set posthaste. I'm especially interested in the Brahms Liebeslieder Walzer, as I've sung those myself in concert (both sets). That was at the Nicholas Roerich Museum up on West 107th Street, where his many extraordinary original sets for Stravinsky's 3 famous early ballets are wonderfully preserved and displayed for anyone who would like to visit and view them in their entirety.

The museum also publishes a rather impressive book with beautifully photographed images and a full history of this great Russian artist.

Is this the set you're talking about, or is this something new? I don't see any other boxes on amazon at the moment besides this one from Warner:

[Lance]

Hi Brian, that's NOT the set to which I was referring. You can check Hephzibah on Amazon/USA and they are currently selling the brown-looking set at a reasonable price. I identified the many items that were not included in the 20-CD set issued by Warner in their mega-box, or individual sets such as the one you pictured.

[Lance]

A further thought, Brian/maestrob ... if you have the 91-CD Luxury Edition put out by Warner Classics [55050], which is an LP-sized boxed set, the 20-CD set of all the recordings Hephzibah made with Yehudi are included and they go back to the days of 78rpms right up to almost the time of her passing at age 60 from cancer. That box is also sold separately from the Luxury Edition (which is now well priced for this unique set, has since dropped its price from when I got it in 2016). You might have to be a fanatic to want the massive Yehudi set, but even then, I believe there are some things that are NOT included in the Luxury Edition that are available on other issues for both Yehudi and Hephzibah. Since I did not manifest the big Luxury set (call it laziness), I had to do some research. Nonetheless, the new Hephzibah "Homage" edition contains all those items I listed that do not appear on the 20-CD edition in the Luxury set. Hope I have been clear.

[maestrob]

A further thought, Brian/maestrob ... if you have the 91-CD Luxury Edition put out by Warner Classics [55050], which is an LP-sized boxed set, the 20-CD set of all the recordings Hephzibah made with Yehudi are included and they go back to the days of 78rpms right up to almost the time of her passing at age 60 from cancer. That box is also sold separately from the Luxury Edition (which is now well priced for this unique set, has since dropped its price from when I got it in 2016). You might have to be a fanatic to want the massive Yehudi set, but even then, I believe there are some things that are NOT included in the Luxury Edition that are available on other issues for both Yehudi and Hephzibah. Since I did not manifest the big Luxury set (call it laziness), I had to do some research. Nonetheless, the new Hephzibah "Homage" edition contains all those items I listed that do not appear on the 20-CD edition in the Luxury set. Hope I have been clear.

Yes you have, Lance, thank you. I'll have to do some digging myself, but I do plan on getting at least one of the boxes we've been talking about here, perhaps the one you originally posted about, which I finally located today: