0:00:02 > 0:00:04Who are trying now for a guess?
0:00:05 > 0:00:07Yehudi Menuhin.
0:00:07 > 0:00:08LAUGHTER
0:00:08 > 0:00:09What does he do?
0:00:10 > 0:00:13He's a musician, isn't he?
0:00:13 > 0:00:15What's he play?
0:00:15 > 0:00:16You know nothing, you.
0:00:16 > 0:00:19What does he play?
0:00:21 > 0:00:25And you say you want me to bring my...banjo?
0:00:25 > 0:00:27LAUGHTER
0:00:29 > 0:00:31# There's the name on every tongue... #
0:00:31 > 0:00:34Yehudi Menuhin was the 20th-century's greatest violinist.
0:00:34 > 0:00:39As famous as any Hollywood star, so famous they wrote songs about him.
0:00:39 > 0:00:41# Who's Yehudi
0:00:41 > 0:00:43# Who's Yehudi... #
0:00:43 > 0:00:45Yehudi's music spoke for him,
0:00:45 > 0:00:48but the man behind the violin was harder to know.
0:00:49 > 0:00:52# Just who's Yehudi... #
0:00:52 > 0:00:55A child prodigy unmatched by any of his contemporaries,
0:00:55 > 0:00:59he achieved more by his teens than most artists do in a lifetime.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02Endlessly crossing continents and cultures,
0:01:02 > 0:01:05he took classical music out of the concert hall,
0:01:05 > 0:01:07because he believed that music was for everyone
0:01:07 > 0:01:09and had the power to change lives.
0:01:09 > 0:01:11# Trying to find out who's Yehudi
0:01:11 > 0:01:13# Who's Yehudi
0:01:13 > 0:01:15# Who's Yehudi... #
0:01:15 > 0:01:18He wanted to give more to the world than just music.
0:01:18 > 0:01:21A restless, inquiring soul, he became a tireless figure,
0:01:21 > 0:01:25fighting for the humanitarian issues he passionately believed in.
0:01:25 > 0:01:28SHE FREESTYLES
0:01:30 > 0:01:34But Yehudi's cocooned and curious childhood
0:01:34 > 0:01:36marked him emotionally for life.
0:01:38 > 0:01:41He was a man of paradox whose intensity of playing was
0:01:41 > 0:01:43adored by millions.
0:01:44 > 0:01:47But who found it hard to connect to those closest to him.
0:01:48 > 0:01:50# Who's Yehudi
0:01:52 > 0:01:53# There's Yehudi! #
0:02:01 > 0:02:04I was 15 and a student at the Royal College of Music
0:02:04 > 0:02:06when Yehudi first saw me play.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09Incredibly, he asked me to come and study with him.
0:02:09 > 0:02:12Of course, much of what we talked about was music.
0:02:12 > 0:02:15We worked through some pieces of Bach and Beethoven,
0:02:15 > 0:02:18and I certainly came away a better fiddle player.
0:02:18 > 0:02:22But I also came away with the sense that to be a truly great musician,
0:02:22 > 0:02:25it's about much more than just music.
0:02:25 > 0:02:28SCALES ON VIOLIN
0:02:35 > 0:02:39Yehudi Menuhin's performances as a child dazzled both the public
0:02:39 > 0:02:41and the classical music world.
0:02:44 > 0:02:47I don't think that kind of talent
0:02:47 > 0:02:50and that kind of emotional maturity,
0:02:50 > 0:02:54is something that many children have.
0:02:54 > 0:02:57I just don't think it's normal.
0:02:57 > 0:02:59I honestly think it's a God-given gift.
0:03:03 > 0:03:08He was so concentrated on that one aspect, that one thing.
0:03:08 > 0:03:09Music, violin.
0:03:09 > 0:03:13And...that gave him huge confidence.
0:03:17 > 0:03:20Even within the rarefied world of child prodigies,
0:03:20 > 0:03:22Yehudi's talent was exceptional.
0:03:23 > 0:03:27Sometimes, when you hear prodigies, it's technically amazing,
0:03:27 > 0:03:31but, understandably, quite naive, musically.
0:03:31 > 0:03:36I think what Yehudi had was the sense that you really felt
0:03:36 > 0:03:39a personality behind the music.
0:03:39 > 0:03:41FRENETIC PLAYING
0:03:45 > 0:03:48I think it's the genius of Menuhin, when he was young, that he
0:03:48 > 0:03:51could communicate and connect with an audience.
0:03:51 > 0:03:52It's definitely Menuhin.
0:03:52 > 0:03:56He had his own sound, his own soul, through the music.
0:03:58 > 0:04:00COMPLEX MELODY
0:04:04 > 0:04:09Yehudi was born in 1916 in New York and raised in California.
0:04:09 > 0:04:13His parents, Moshe and Marutha, were Russian-Jewish immigrants.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16TRADITIONAL MUSIC
0:04:16 > 0:04:19To tell you about Marutha is to remember her with...
0:04:19 > 0:04:21shock and awe.
0:04:22 > 0:04:27She was the Tiger mother writ magnificently large.
0:04:27 > 0:04:31And I think she drove and controlled
0:04:31 > 0:04:35and directed Yehudi with a force which he never forgot.
0:04:37 > 0:04:39Moshe was a worrier,
0:04:39 > 0:04:42and he was probably a very sweet man.
0:04:42 > 0:04:46But I saw him as an irritating little man!
0:04:48 > 0:04:51Marutha and Yehudi were very alike.
0:04:51 > 0:04:54They were both passionate.
0:04:54 > 0:04:56Even in looks, they were alike.
0:04:58 > 0:05:01His music-loving parents enjoyed classical concerts
0:05:01 > 0:05:04in San Francisco, and took their toddler with them.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07It was an experience Yehudi never forgot.
0:05:08 > 0:05:11I learnt to wait for those moments
0:05:11 > 0:05:13when the sweet sound of the violin
0:05:13 > 0:05:15floated up to the gallery,
0:05:15 > 0:05:19thrilling, caressing and more entrancing than any other.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24When Yehudi was about four,
0:05:24 > 0:05:27some friend of Marutha's and Moshe's
0:05:27 > 0:05:29thought they were doing the right thing by giving him
0:05:29 > 0:05:32a tin violin with tin strings.
0:05:32 > 0:05:36And when he actually plucked these terrible strings,
0:05:36 > 0:05:39he threw it on the floor and stamped on it.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42He trampled on it, he jumped on it.
0:05:42 > 0:05:44"You cheated me. You fooled me.
0:05:44 > 0:05:47"It doesn't play, it doesn't sing." That was the word he used.
0:05:47 > 0:05:49He always used the word "sing".
0:05:49 > 0:05:52So, the first time in his life we noticed
0:05:52 > 0:05:56that he has a wild, violent temperament.
0:05:56 > 0:06:00Yehudi parents realised just how serious he was about music,
0:06:00 > 0:06:03and when Marutha's mother gave the family 1,000,
0:06:03 > 0:06:08half went on a car and the rest on a violin for Yehudi.
0:06:08 > 0:06:12It was the start of music taking over Yehudi's life,
0:06:12 > 0:06:14and that of his family.
0:06:14 > 0:06:17He and his two youngest sisters, Hephizibah and Yaltah,
0:06:17 > 0:06:18were educated at home.
0:06:19 > 0:06:21And that enabled their parents
0:06:21 > 0:06:24to focus on Yehudi's musical development.
0:06:24 > 0:06:27Yehudi was doing what he loved doing,
0:06:27 > 0:06:30and he did it extraordinarily well.
0:06:30 > 0:06:32But, otherwise, got put to bed,
0:06:32 > 0:06:35did his lessons, didn't go to school.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38I think he probably missed out a lot.
0:06:38 > 0:06:40Not having the contact with other children.
0:06:43 > 0:06:46Marutha wanted Yehudi to be taught by the best,
0:06:46 > 0:06:49and, in San Francisco, that was the leader of the city's
0:06:49 > 0:06:52Symphony Orchestra, Louis Persinger.
0:06:53 > 0:06:57What he gave me as a musician was insight into music.
0:06:57 > 0:07:00Where another teacher would have denied me the great works
0:07:00 > 0:07:04until I had attained whatever height was deemed coefficient with depth,
0:07:04 > 0:07:07Persinger let his ears be his arbiter.
0:07:09 > 0:07:13Yehudi's brilliance, Persinger declared, came from a deep,
0:07:13 > 0:07:16mysterious and miraculous well.
0:07:19 > 0:07:21Under Persinger's guidance,
0:07:21 > 0:07:23Yehudi's progress was phenomenal.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26He made his professional debut at the age of seven,
0:07:26 > 0:07:30and by ten he was playing in front of audiences of thousands.
0:07:30 > 0:07:32VIOLIN SOLO
0:07:36 > 0:07:38One moment, little boy.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41Next minute, picks up violin and...
0:07:41 > 0:07:43an experienced, older man, even,
0:07:43 > 0:07:45might come through the music.
0:07:45 > 0:07:48So, I would imagine that, for audiences in the 1920s,
0:07:48 > 0:07:52this must have been quite startling and quite unusual.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55His slide was pretty unique. If you think most violinists,
0:07:55 > 0:07:58let's say, in the Jascha Heifetz style,
0:07:58 > 0:08:01when they would slide - certainly at the first part of the 20th century -
0:08:01 > 0:08:06they would slide into the note. So, for example, they would play...
0:08:06 > 0:08:08Something like that. Menuhin would never do that.
0:08:08 > 0:08:10He would play from above.
0:08:12 > 0:08:16But he would take it sometimes apart so that the slide would become...
0:08:17 > 0:08:19And then he would slide up and down,
0:08:19 > 0:08:22so you would have a sound that would become something like...
0:08:28 > 0:08:31And it would leave a kind of a tail on the notes,
0:08:31 > 0:08:35and that gave it, already, a very different expression.
0:08:35 > 0:08:37And it became deeply personal.
0:08:37 > 0:08:42There was no other violinist, really, that would play like that.
0:08:42 > 0:08:45Yehudi's fame spread, and the concert that made him
0:08:45 > 0:08:50a national sensation was on November 25th, 1927,
0:08:50 > 0:08:53when he made his debut at New York's Carnegie Hall.
0:08:55 > 0:08:59Booked to play Mozart, the precocious Yehudi refused.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02He wanted to play one of the most challenging concertos in the repertoire.
0:09:02 > 0:09:05Not to show off, but because, he said,
0:09:05 > 0:09:08he wanted to have fun with the music.
0:09:08 > 0:09:13The Beethoven violin concerto is probably the one that most
0:09:13 > 0:09:17people would be judged by in terms of their maturity.
0:09:17 > 0:09:22It isn't a showy, flashy piece of music at all.
0:09:22 > 0:09:28But it demands great musical maturity and expertise.
0:09:28 > 0:09:31And, also, a wonderful sound.
0:09:31 > 0:09:35Many violinists fear the opening of the Beethoven,
0:09:35 > 0:09:38because it just has to be perfect.
0:09:41 > 0:09:43VIOLINS PLAY
0:09:57 > 0:10:00Dressed by his mother in velvet knickerbockers, the 11-year-old
0:10:00 > 0:10:04virtuoso walked out on stage before an expectant audience.
0:10:06 > 0:10:08OPENING MUSIC
0:10:34 > 0:10:36I would have loved to have been there.
0:10:36 > 0:10:39Absolutely loved to have been there.
0:10:40 > 0:10:44The music was an expression coming through him to the audience,
0:10:44 > 0:10:48and it was one of those magic times.
0:10:48 > 0:10:51It launched his career worldwide.
0:10:51 > 0:10:55And it was one of those sort of life-changing moments.
0:10:57 > 0:11:01I don't think he took the adulation in.
0:11:01 > 0:11:05He was just very conscious of having done well enough
0:11:05 > 0:11:08to have his delicious bowl of ice cream.
0:11:08 > 0:11:09He was a boy!
0:11:11 > 0:11:13But he was no ordinary boy.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16Hollywood stars like Charlie Chaplin wanted to meet him,
0:11:16 > 0:11:20and the Nobel prize-winning physicist Albert Einstein
0:11:20 > 0:11:22declared, after hearing him play,
0:11:22 > 0:11:24"Now I know there is a God in heaven."
0:11:26 > 0:11:30In Europe, Yehudi conquered city after city.
0:11:30 > 0:11:34And, in 1929, he came to London.
0:11:34 > 0:11:37When Yehudi made his debut here at the Royal Albert Hall,
0:11:37 > 0:11:42feverish expectation about the boy wonder was at its height.
0:11:42 > 0:11:45At the end of the performance, the audience, having already demanded
0:11:45 > 0:11:48multiple encores, rushed towards him on the stage in a great mob,
0:11:48 > 0:11:51and firemen had to step in to protect him.
0:11:51 > 0:11:55He stood there, smiling, taking it all in his stride,
0:11:55 > 0:11:57seemingly oblivious to the pandemonium.
0:11:57 > 0:11:59But this really was an unprecedented level of fame
0:11:59 > 0:12:01for a classical musician.
0:12:01 > 0:12:03He was more like a pop star in his day.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08VIOLIN MUSIC
0:12:16 > 0:12:21In 1931, Marutha decided to move her entire family to Paris,
0:12:21 > 0:12:24so that Yehudi could receive a more sophisticated musical education
0:12:24 > 0:12:28in one of the crucibles of European classical music.
0:12:28 > 0:12:32When it really came to great decisions, which required strength
0:12:32 > 0:12:38of mind and this quality, it was always she who delighted in them.
0:12:38 > 0:12:40And she'd start it up one day and say,
0:12:40 > 0:12:42"Children, let's go to Europe.
0:12:42 > 0:12:45"We must take them there. They must have that other...background.
0:12:45 > 0:12:48"They need languages, they need this and the other."
0:12:48 > 0:12:50Of course, my father would be taken aback.
0:12:50 > 0:12:52"How? Why? What's going to happen to us,
0:12:52 > 0:12:55"and what about a job?" And what about this and the other.
0:12:55 > 0:12:57She'd always win.
0:12:57 > 0:12:59It was certainly a gamble,
0:12:59 > 0:13:02and it was in favour of only one person,
0:13:02 > 0:13:05which was Yehudi.
0:13:05 > 0:13:09But Yehudi wasn't the only talented Menuhin.
0:13:09 > 0:13:13His sisters, Hephizibah and Yaltah, were both superb pianists
0:13:13 > 0:13:15but neither was encouraged by Marutha.
0:13:15 > 0:13:19Yehudi was the focus of their parents' attention.
0:13:19 > 0:13:21Yehudi didn't go to school,
0:13:21 > 0:13:25and his friends were carefully selected.
0:13:25 > 0:13:27It was an unusual childhood,
0:13:27 > 0:13:30and I think this contributed
0:13:30 > 0:13:34to the fact that, all his life, he was a bit of a man apart.
0:13:39 > 0:13:42He was definitely growing up musically but not, perhaps,
0:13:42 > 0:13:43as a human being.
0:13:43 > 0:13:47He was still massively overprotected at home, for example.
0:13:47 > 0:13:49His mother made all the important decisions.
0:13:49 > 0:13:51His father was his manager.
0:13:51 > 0:13:54And although the entire Menuhin family were dependent upon him,
0:13:54 > 0:13:57financially, the 16-year-old Yehudi wasn't even allowed
0:13:57 > 0:13:59to cross the road on his own.
0:14:06 > 0:14:09I also remember him telling me, when he was still very young, he was kept
0:14:09 > 0:14:13in shorts far longer than any young fellow should be kept in shorts.
0:14:13 > 0:14:16But not only was he kept in shorts, but his legs were shaved
0:14:16 > 0:14:19so as to keep him looking the young Messiah
0:14:19 > 0:14:22with the fiddle that the public expected to see.
0:14:23 > 0:14:25I don't think Moshe and Marutha
0:14:25 > 0:14:28had the worldliness to do otherwise.
0:14:28 > 0:14:33Their only answer was to build a cocoon, to isolate...
0:14:33 > 0:14:36To isolate this genius to keep it pure.
0:14:36 > 0:14:38Not to get distracted,
0:14:38 > 0:14:40not to have bad influences.
0:14:40 > 0:14:44And that was the way they did it, they built a wall around him.
0:14:44 > 0:14:46The barbed wire and the whole thing.
0:14:46 > 0:14:48And you had to get a special pass to come in,
0:14:48 > 0:14:51and that was the way they dealt with it.
0:14:51 > 0:14:53Yehudi had been keen to come to Europe
0:14:53 > 0:14:55because he wanted to be taught by
0:14:55 > 0:14:57the composer and violinist, George Enescu.
0:14:57 > 0:14:59Well, Enescu was Romanian.
0:14:59 > 0:15:03He was a fantastic violinist, also a fantastic composer.
0:15:03 > 0:15:05He'd go around different countries finding out about
0:15:05 > 0:15:08folk music, how it influenced music,
0:15:08 > 0:15:12and that would be his inspiration for his music.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16For some reason, Menuhin and he, really, really connected.
0:15:16 > 0:15:19So, Enescu was his true mentor.
0:15:19 > 0:15:21GYPSY VIOLIN MUSIC
0:15:31 > 0:15:34Yehudi and Enescu had first met four years earlier in Paris.
0:15:36 > 0:15:40That summer, Enescu had invited the whole Menuhin family to Romania.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46For Yehudi, it was an unforgettable experience.
0:15:52 > 0:15:54Enescu put the whole family up,
0:15:54 > 0:15:57and Yehudi played for some gypsies there
0:15:57 > 0:16:00and gave a very good bow away to a little boy
0:16:00 > 0:16:02that he found
0:16:02 > 0:16:05could play the violin so fantastically,
0:16:05 > 0:16:09and nobody could say, "You can't give it to him."
0:16:09 > 0:16:10So he did.
0:16:12 > 0:16:16I think what delighted Yehudi with discovering gypsy music
0:16:16 > 0:16:19with Enescu, it wasn't the music,
0:16:19 > 0:16:21it was the gypsies that got to Yehudi.
0:16:21 > 0:16:26It was this wonderful ability to do as you liked with the instrument.
0:16:28 > 0:16:31Yehudi's time in Romania was in sharp contrast
0:16:31 > 0:16:33to his strictly-controlled family life.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36The spirit of the gypsies would leave a lasting impression.
0:16:40 > 0:16:44In 1932, Yehudi travelled to London to meet Sir Edward Elgar,
0:16:44 > 0:16:47to record the great composer's violin concerto.
0:16:52 > 0:16:55Rehearsals started at the Grosvenor House Hotel.
0:17:01 > 0:17:06But Yehudi always remembered it was not the meeting he had expected.
0:17:06 > 0:17:08I had started to play at the soloist's entry,
0:17:08 > 0:17:11and hadn't even reached the second theme
0:17:11 > 0:17:14when Sir Edward stopped us.
0:17:14 > 0:17:17He was sure the recording would go beautifully and, meanwhile,
0:17:17 > 0:17:20if we would excuse him, he was off to the races.
0:17:27 > 0:17:30It was comforting to know he thought me adequate,
0:17:30 > 0:17:33although I couldn't quite banish the suspicion that the attraction
0:17:33 > 0:17:37of the races thrust all question of my merits into second place.
0:17:39 > 0:17:43Days later, they met at the recently opened Abbey Road Studios.
0:17:49 > 0:17:52At the recording studio, Elgar was a figure of great dignity,
0:17:52 > 0:17:54but without a shred of self-importance.
0:17:55 > 0:17:57All was ease and equanimity.
0:18:00 > 0:18:02The recording was not only successful but good.
0:18:05 > 0:18:07MUSIC BUILDS
0:18:36 > 0:18:39If you listen to his recording, it's very, very, very free.
0:18:39 > 0:18:42People had complained that it was too passionate,
0:18:42 > 0:18:45the way he played, and Elgar said, "No, I like it that way."
0:18:46 > 0:18:48There is this passion, this kind of
0:18:48 > 0:18:51glowing, burning passion in that piece.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02Menuhin's recording of the Elgar remains the gold standard
0:19:02 > 0:19:04against which all violinists are judged,
0:19:04 > 0:19:07and he was a 16-year-old boy.
0:19:07 > 0:19:11He just got it. And Elgar didn't have to say anything.
0:19:11 > 0:19:15And, for me, it's an amazing reminder of those extraordinary,
0:19:15 > 0:19:16intuitive gifts that he had,
0:19:16 > 0:19:19how he just understood what music needed to say.
0:19:21 > 0:19:24At 21, Yehudi was, by any measure,
0:19:24 > 0:19:26an exceptionally mature musician,
0:19:26 > 0:19:31but his sheltered life had given him little opportunity to become a man.
0:19:31 > 0:19:36He still lived at home, dominated by his overprotective parents.
0:19:36 > 0:19:41Then, along came the Australian heiress, Nola Ruby Nicholas.
0:19:51 > 0:19:54Yehudi had never met a woman like Nola.
0:19:54 > 0:19:58Certainly, early on in his life, up until his late teens,
0:19:58 > 0:20:02it was probably forbidden because Marutha used to vet everybody.
0:20:02 > 0:20:06And I think that Nola was shock treatment.
0:20:06 > 0:20:10For experiencing the world out there.
0:20:10 > 0:20:12I think she was wonderful for him.
0:20:13 > 0:20:15She was great fun,
0:20:15 > 0:20:19very, very vivacious, a bit of a flirt.
0:20:19 > 0:20:21And very pretty.
0:20:22 > 0:20:28I think, probably, a large extent was the fact that Yehudi was,
0:20:28 > 0:20:30at that stage, ready to...
0:20:31 > 0:20:35to get away from the total influence of his parents.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42Yehudi married his 19-year-old bride, Nola, in London
0:20:42 > 0:20:45and they settled in California.
0:20:45 > 0:20:48They had two children, Zamira and Krov.
0:20:49 > 0:20:53With his own family to look after, Yehudi was finally growing up,
0:20:53 > 0:20:56but he'd still not escaped his parents.
0:20:56 > 0:20:58They lived in the guesthouse.
0:21:04 > 0:21:06EXPLOSION
0:21:06 > 0:21:11On December 7th, 1941, Yehudi was on his way to play in Mexico
0:21:11 > 0:21:14when Japanese forces attacked Pearl Harbor
0:21:14 > 0:21:16and America entered World War II.
0:21:18 > 0:21:19Yehudi wasn't drafted
0:21:19 > 0:21:22but he was determined to support the war effort.
0:21:22 > 0:21:26He left his young family behind to perform for the troops.
0:21:26 > 0:21:28The conflict would change his life forever,
0:21:28 > 0:21:31in both good and bad ways.
0:21:33 > 0:21:35I remember him going away - a lot.
0:21:35 > 0:21:39I remember being in California with my mother.
0:21:41 > 0:21:44I didn't know why he was away.
0:21:44 > 0:21:46Nobody told me about the war.
0:21:46 > 0:21:48LIVELY MUSIC
0:21:56 > 0:21:58As far as World War II and Yehudi was concerned,
0:21:58 > 0:22:01it connected him with everything that he had not been
0:22:01 > 0:22:03connected with prior to that,
0:22:03 > 0:22:05which is just about everything.
0:22:06 > 0:22:10I think that it just, you know, it was a hard,
0:22:10 > 0:22:13total immersion course in reality.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17Quiet! Quiet, everybody, please!
0:22:18 > 0:22:20There comes a time in everyone's life
0:22:20 > 0:22:23when a moment of seriousness is appreciated.
0:22:23 > 0:22:25We all feel that moment tonight.
0:22:25 > 0:22:29It is my pleasure and privilege to introduce one of the world's
0:22:29 > 0:22:31great concert violinists.
0:22:31 > 0:22:32Mr Menuhin.
0:22:32 > 0:22:34APPLAUSE
0:22:39 > 0:22:42I would like to play for you Schubert's Ave Maria.
0:22:47 > 0:22:51I can't help believing that some of these GIs
0:22:51 > 0:22:55in these smoky nightclubs that were filmed when Yehudi was playing
0:22:55 > 0:22:59Ave Maria must have thought, you know, "What the hell?"
0:22:59 > 0:23:00"What is this?"
0:23:00 > 0:23:03MUSIC: Ave Maria by Schubert
0:23:35 > 0:23:37It's a very simple piece of music,
0:23:37 > 0:23:42and yet he had this ability to touch people in a time
0:23:42 > 0:23:46when there were unbelievable horrors, so maybe it took them
0:23:46 > 0:23:52out of that situation they were in, into another place.
0:23:52 > 0:23:55But it also, I think, gave them the feeling of hope.
0:24:09 > 0:24:12He was playing for troops that quite often were going into battle,
0:24:12 > 0:24:14or maybe coming out of it.
0:24:15 > 0:24:18And, for the first time in his life, I think that he
0:24:18 > 0:24:21really understood what he could give,
0:24:21 > 0:24:22what music could do.
0:24:25 > 0:24:28Now, I had to please men who had never attended a concert,
0:24:28 > 0:24:31whose patience could not be relied on.
0:24:32 > 0:24:36In barracks and hospitals, there was no escaping personal relationships.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39Thus my war cracked open many inhibitions and helped me
0:24:39 > 0:24:41to communicate with others.
0:24:46 > 0:24:48In one hospital on the Aleutians,
0:24:48 > 0:24:52where half the piano keys were found to be frozen solid,
0:24:52 > 0:24:56and the inside of the upright piano filled with beer cans,
0:24:56 > 0:24:59the young conscripts responded wholeheartedly to a programme
0:24:59 > 0:25:01of unaccompanied Bach,
0:25:01 > 0:25:06including the entire G Minor Sonata, and finally the Chaconne.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09Probably most of them had never heard of Bach.
0:25:10 > 0:25:14The audience was incredibly important to him.
0:25:14 > 0:25:18I think that that particular audience, those troops,
0:25:18 > 0:25:22gave him an understanding of life, an understanding of humanity.
0:25:25 > 0:25:27That he couldn't have got elsewhere.
0:25:33 > 0:25:37Yehudi played more than 500 concerts to combat troops worldwide.
0:25:37 > 0:25:42Nothing, though, could have prepared him for what he would see at Belsen.
0:25:42 > 0:25:44Just months after the camp's liberation, with his friend,
0:25:44 > 0:25:48the pacifist composer Benjamin Britten, as his accompanist,
0:25:48 > 0:25:52he played for the survivors, determined to do the one thing
0:25:52 > 0:25:55he could, console and uplift with the power of music.
0:25:57 > 0:26:01In the audience at Belsen that day was Anita Lasker-Wallfisch,
0:26:01 > 0:26:04a young cellist who'd survived Auschwitz
0:26:04 > 0:26:06by playing in the women's orchestra.
0:26:06 > 0:26:09That's a day I shall never forget because, suddenly, there was
0:26:09 > 0:26:13an announcement that there's going to be a concert in Belsen.
0:26:13 > 0:26:15This was four months after the liberation
0:26:15 > 0:26:20and concerts were really very far removed from our normal life.
0:26:22 > 0:26:24I knew who Menuhin was.
0:26:24 > 0:26:28But I don't think many people, survivors, actually knew.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38They were playing under the most impossible circumstances.
0:26:38 > 0:26:41As I said there was no silence in the room - ever.
0:26:41 > 0:26:44And I'm surprised they didn't just stop playing.
0:26:49 > 0:26:50You know, I was very naive.
0:26:50 > 0:26:54I thought, "Well, I'm going to hear Menuhin, I'm going to faint."
0:26:54 > 0:26:56Such a fantastic thing.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02I remember what he was wearing, which was very touching.
0:27:02 > 0:27:05He had a green shirt on, a short-sleeved shirt,
0:27:05 > 0:27:07and a bit of his underwear was coming out.
0:27:07 > 0:27:10It's funny, it's those ridiculous things that I remember.
0:27:10 > 0:27:13So, they certainly dressed down for the occasion.
0:27:15 > 0:27:18One of the pieces Yehudi chose to play that day was
0:27:18 > 0:27:21Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto.
0:27:22 > 0:27:26Mendelssohn's music had been banned by the Nazis because he was a Jew.
0:27:33 > 0:27:38I mean, we've come from hell and there were two people playing music.
0:27:38 > 0:27:42Suddenly, something other than death and smell and disaster.
0:27:52 > 0:27:56Yehudi was emotionally shattered by his war.
0:27:56 > 0:28:00Throughout, he'd had little contact with his young family.
0:28:00 > 0:28:02The fact that he was away a great deal and playing
0:28:02 > 0:28:06and so committed to that, I think that that became more
0:28:06 > 0:28:10important than his marriage, it became more important than anything.
0:28:10 > 0:28:14That was his music, his whole life was seen through the prism of that.
0:28:19 > 0:28:23Post-war, Yehudi suffered a crisis.
0:28:23 > 0:28:25His marriage to Nola was over.
0:28:25 > 0:28:28He later said that this period was without a doubt
0:28:28 > 0:28:29the worst of his life.
0:28:29 > 0:28:33The most unfocused, the most imprecise,
0:28:33 > 0:28:37when he let things drift nearer disaster than at any other time.
0:28:37 > 0:28:41And, musically, he was struggling to make the transition
0:28:41 > 0:28:44from his instinctive brilliance as a boy
0:28:44 > 0:28:46to a more cerebral adult artist.
0:28:46 > 0:28:50He started to question everything that he was doing, physically,
0:28:50 > 0:28:54with the thing in his hands that had always felt so completely natural.
0:28:54 > 0:28:57The fiddle went from being his greatest friend and ally
0:28:57 > 0:29:00to being, as he described it, an instrument of torture.
0:29:00 > 0:29:04Suddenly, the world's most famous and best-paid violinist felt
0:29:04 > 0:29:07he had no idea how to play.
0:29:07 > 0:29:08It was torture.
0:29:09 > 0:29:12I didn't know the first - I really,
0:29:12 > 0:29:15I didn't know the first thing about violin playing.
0:29:15 > 0:29:19I just played, and the extraordinary thing is that the tour that
0:29:19 > 0:29:22followed and all those years were...
0:29:22 > 0:29:26as successful as ever and more so.
0:29:26 > 0:29:30But I knew that I didn't have what I wanted,
0:29:30 > 0:29:33inside of there supporting me.
0:29:33 > 0:29:36Many critics feel that, as a violinist, Menuhin was never
0:29:36 > 0:29:37as good again after the war,
0:29:37 > 0:29:40but I think that this period, although it was obviously
0:29:40 > 0:29:44traumatic, was also something of a spiritual awakening for him.
0:29:44 > 0:29:48I think the war made him a better violinist because it made him
0:29:48 > 0:29:49a better person.
0:29:49 > 0:29:51Who wants to hear an artist of technical perfection
0:29:51 > 0:29:53who's got no soul?
0:29:53 > 0:29:56I'd far rather someone who was a bit ropey, technically, but who,
0:29:56 > 0:29:59in the sheer emotional power of what they're saying, moved me
0:29:59 > 0:30:03to my very core. And that's what Menuhin does.
0:30:03 > 0:30:06And never more so than in those post-war recordings.
0:30:10 > 0:30:14In 1947, Yehudi married again.
0:30:14 > 0:30:17Diana Gould, a British ballet dancer,
0:30:17 > 0:30:19had a very strong personality
0:30:19 > 0:30:21that was a match for Yehudi's mother.
0:30:37 > 0:30:41Diana represented a completely new emotional experience for him.
0:30:41 > 0:30:45They were both performers.
0:30:45 > 0:30:49It's very easy to become involved with somebody who is so like-minded
0:30:49 > 0:30:53and also extraordinarily beautiful and graceful,
0:30:53 > 0:30:56and they hit it off, obviously, very well.
0:30:56 > 0:30:59And so that became the story.
0:30:59 > 0:31:03Yehudi's new marriage and his war experiences had changed him.
0:31:03 > 0:31:06Now he would be not just a world-class violinist,
0:31:06 > 0:31:10but a humanitarian and a champion of social change.
0:31:11 > 0:31:14The man who'd often found personal relationships difficult
0:31:14 > 0:31:17was opening his heart to the world.
0:31:19 > 0:31:21INDIAN-STYLE MUSIC PLAYS
0:31:33 > 0:31:37In 1952, Yehudi performed a series of charity concerts
0:31:37 > 0:31:38for famine relief
0:31:38 > 0:31:43at the invitation of Nehru, India's first Prime Minister.
0:31:43 > 0:31:45Once he said to me that of all the trips he'd made,
0:31:45 > 0:31:47the trip to India was the most important,
0:31:47 > 0:31:49because it quite literally changed his life,
0:31:49 > 0:31:51and I think what he meant
0:31:51 > 0:31:53was that it changed the way he saw the world.
0:31:55 > 0:31:59Yehudi was already a devotee of one Indian export.
0:31:59 > 0:32:01He was one of the first Westerners to practise yoga
0:32:01 > 0:32:05and used it to help strengthen his violin technique.
0:32:06 > 0:32:10In Bombay, he met the man who would become his yoga guru -
0:32:10 > 0:32:12BKS Iyengar.
0:32:18 > 0:32:21It gives one an extraordinary feeling of wellbeing,
0:32:21 > 0:32:23so much so that one doesn't have to talk about it.
0:32:23 > 0:32:25Most people have to talk about wellbeing,
0:32:25 > 0:32:27but a yoga never really has to talk about it.
0:32:27 > 0:32:31It's been, I'm sure, the greatest effort on Mr Iyengar's part to...
0:32:31 > 0:32:33- To talk at all.- To talk at all.
0:32:33 > 0:32:35Just as a musician, if you ask what you feel about playing,
0:32:35 > 0:32:38he'd rather play you the Chaconne of Bach than talk about it.
0:32:38 > 0:32:41- Yes.- Not that he hasn't thought about it.- Yes.
0:32:41 > 0:32:43- And can you do this?- No.
0:32:43 > 0:32:45I don't think I ever shall do that.
0:32:48 > 0:32:54The romantic flavour of the whole India, for my father, seduced him.
0:32:54 > 0:32:56He loved the rhythm,
0:32:56 > 0:32:58he loved the instruments,
0:32:58 > 0:33:00he loved the dancing,
0:33:00 > 0:33:02he loved the art.
0:33:03 > 0:33:06Indian classical music appealed to him
0:33:06 > 0:33:08because he'd never heard anything like it.
0:33:08 > 0:33:10He told me that he'd been absolutely shocked,
0:33:10 > 0:33:12and he had always liked to be shocked.
0:33:12 > 0:33:15I think it changed the way he imagined music could be made.
0:33:15 > 0:33:19I remember we went to a concert at Government House,
0:33:19 > 0:33:25where we all sat and listened to Indian music for something like...
0:33:25 > 0:33:27five or six hours.
0:33:27 > 0:33:30And it was completely riveting,
0:33:30 > 0:33:33for him especially.
0:33:33 > 0:33:35He was right in it.
0:33:35 > 0:33:37Yehudi also met an Indian musician
0:33:37 > 0:33:41who'd have a profound influence on his musical direction and life.
0:33:41 > 0:33:43Ravi Shankar.
0:33:43 > 0:33:45HE SINGS A TUNE
0:33:46 > 0:33:49HE CONTINUES SINGING THE TUNE
0:33:49 > 0:33:52HE PLAYS ALONG
0:33:55 > 0:33:57Menuhin was gloriously open-minded
0:33:57 > 0:34:00when it came to the music of other cultures.
0:34:00 > 0:34:02He found improvising terrifying,
0:34:02 > 0:34:06but said, "I always thirsted for abandon. It's the Gypsy in me."
0:34:06 > 0:34:09For him, the experience of playing Indian classical music
0:34:09 > 0:34:13with Ravi Shankar was nothing short of a revelation,
0:34:13 > 0:34:15and I'm going to meet someone who can tell us more.
0:34:20 > 0:34:22At that first meeting, what would have happened
0:34:22 > 0:34:24when they first sat down together
0:34:24 > 0:34:27and said, you know, "Let's jam, let's play"?
0:34:27 > 0:34:28I mean, how, as a Western musician,
0:34:28 > 0:34:31do you even approach Indian classical music?
0:34:32 > 0:34:35Coming from a Western classical perspective,
0:34:35 > 0:34:38it can be very difficult to step in to Indian classical music,
0:34:38 > 0:34:41because by nature, the way we work is so different.
0:34:41 > 0:34:45We don't work from a paper, we don't read our music when we play.
0:34:45 > 0:34:48We play from a place, initially, of memorisation,
0:34:48 > 0:34:50that then leads to improvisation.
0:34:50 > 0:34:53So, first we memorise and we learn the music by ear
0:34:53 > 0:34:54through an oral tradition,
0:34:54 > 0:34:56and then we start to improvise.
0:34:56 > 0:34:58For a Western musician to come and step into that,
0:34:58 > 0:35:01it's an entirely different language and mode of thought,
0:35:01 > 0:35:02so that wouldn't have been easy.
0:35:02 > 0:35:06I think something I noticed about him from the beginning
0:35:06 > 0:35:07was his humility.
0:35:07 > 0:35:11You know, for someone at that level of mastery of an instrument,
0:35:11 > 0:35:12he was such a humble man.
0:35:12 > 0:35:14He always seemed to come to life
0:35:14 > 0:35:16from a perspective of wanting to learn more
0:35:16 > 0:35:18and that there was always more to learn.
0:35:18 > 0:35:21And I'm sure it was that aspect of him
0:35:21 > 0:35:24that enabled him to be able to come to a new culture with an open mind.
0:35:24 > 0:35:27I know you've played with Western violinists before.
0:35:27 > 0:35:30I would love to just explore it and see what that feels like.
0:35:30 > 0:35:31Yeah, I'd love to.
0:35:31 > 0:35:34I played it once ten years ago, so I'd love to try it again.
0:35:34 > 0:35:37- Let's see. It's all improvised, right?- Yeah.
0:35:39 > 0:35:42THEY PLAY AN INDIAN-INFLUENCED TUNE
0:36:28 > 0:36:32India wasn't the only country where Yehudi found inspiration.
0:36:33 > 0:36:35In apartheid South Africa,
0:36:35 > 0:36:39he learnt that music could be a force for political change.
0:36:39 > 0:36:41TRADITIONAL AFRICAN SINGING
0:36:42 > 0:36:46One needs to imagine somewhere like Russia in the Brezhnev years,
0:36:46 > 0:36:50a granite land, where almost everything was forbidden
0:36:50 > 0:36:53and, of course, where...
0:36:53 > 0:36:55the government policy was to build walls between people
0:36:55 > 0:36:58all the time and everywhere.
0:37:05 > 0:37:09Yehudi toured South Africa twice in the 1950s
0:37:09 > 0:37:11and he infuriated the authorities
0:37:11 > 0:37:13by visiting black churches and townships
0:37:13 > 0:37:15to listen to their music.
0:37:25 > 0:37:28He looked to black African music.
0:37:28 > 0:37:32He looked to the people who,
0:37:32 > 0:37:35despite the fact that they were, as it were, second-class citizens,
0:37:35 > 0:37:38seemed far more capable of enjoying themselves,
0:37:38 > 0:37:40had far more joie de vivre.
0:37:40 > 0:37:42So he looked sideways.
0:37:43 > 0:37:44Yehudi always looked sideways,
0:37:44 > 0:37:46always wanted what was not on the menu,
0:37:46 > 0:37:48and in South Africa, he found it.
0:37:54 > 0:37:58Menuhin thought that music helped, because at its best,
0:37:58 > 0:38:02it was something which everybody did together, as it were.
0:38:02 > 0:38:04A liberating force.
0:38:04 > 0:38:06All he was was the medium,
0:38:06 > 0:38:08and it was a kind of gentle defiance.
0:38:10 > 0:38:13Yehudi was now increasingly reimagining his own role
0:38:13 > 0:38:15within music.
0:38:15 > 0:38:19He wanted to use his status as a leading world-class figure
0:38:19 > 0:38:22to highlight and address social injustice.
0:38:22 > 0:38:25And it's hard to overstate how rare this is
0:38:25 > 0:38:26in the world of classical music.
0:38:26 > 0:38:28He could totally have got away
0:38:28 > 0:38:31with living his life of first-class air travel and grand hotels
0:38:31 > 0:38:34and rarefied concert halls, but he didn't.
0:38:37 > 0:38:39Yehudi moved to Britain with his wife Diana
0:38:39 > 0:38:43and their two children, Gerard and Jeremy, in 1960.
0:38:43 > 0:38:47London would be his base for the rest of his life.
0:38:48 > 0:38:51Now, living thousands of miles away from his parents,
0:38:51 > 0:38:55Diana devoted herself to looking after Yehudi's career.
0:38:55 > 0:38:59She was like a kind of one-person public relations machine for him.
0:38:59 > 0:39:02She was regarded as a bit of a dragon.
0:39:02 > 0:39:05She tried to fend off people she disapproved of.
0:39:05 > 0:39:08But she did a great deal for him at the same time.
0:39:08 > 0:39:11You could argue that he needed to have a very strong woman
0:39:11 > 0:39:13to be dependent on.
0:39:16 > 0:39:20Hephzibah, Yehudi's adored sister, had moved to London, too.
0:39:22 > 0:39:24I think Hephzibah must have been the woman
0:39:24 > 0:39:28that he really admired and loved most.
0:39:30 > 0:39:33Because she had a depth to her that he shared.
0:39:35 > 0:39:38Unlike Yehudi, Hephzibah's musical talent
0:39:38 > 0:39:40had not been encouraged by their parents.
0:39:40 > 0:39:43But in spite of this, her brilliance had blossomed
0:39:43 > 0:39:47and they delighted in playing together.
0:39:47 > 0:39:50Hephzibah was Yehudi's favourite recital partner.
0:39:50 > 0:39:53Miss Menuhin, when did you first play this piece together?
0:39:53 > 0:39:56We played this together about 1934, I think.
0:39:56 > 0:39:59Were you the first, in fact, to play it in public or not?
0:39:59 > 0:40:02He had played it himself in public and we were probably the next ones.
0:40:02 > 0:40:04- Enescu had played it in public, yes. - Yes.
0:40:04 > 0:40:07- Did he hear you play it? - Yes, yes, he heard us play it.
0:40:07 > 0:40:09We practised it by ourselves for quite a long time.
0:40:09 > 0:40:13Well, I'm now going to withdraw and let brother and sister play.
0:40:20 > 0:40:23MUSIC: Violin Sonata No 3, Op 25 by George Enescu
0:40:50 > 0:40:53Hephzibah and Yehudi together were...
0:40:54 > 0:40:57There's nothing really quite comparable.
0:40:57 > 0:41:01Brother and sister, childhood experiences.
0:41:01 > 0:41:02Both great artists
0:41:02 > 0:41:06She was very underrated as a pianist. She was a fabulous pianist.
0:41:16 > 0:41:18It's just unforgettable, for me.
0:41:18 > 0:41:22They were really like, in a sense, like Siamese twins.
0:41:22 > 0:41:24They were just together, they were just there.
0:41:45 > 0:41:48Yehudi had the chance to explore his diverging musical ideas
0:41:48 > 0:41:51when he became artistic director of the Bath Festival.
0:41:51 > 0:41:54Curating the festival and conducting its orchestra
0:41:54 > 0:41:56gave him a break from the fiddle
0:41:56 > 0:41:58and from the lonely life of a solo artist.
0:42:00 > 0:42:03It means, to me, working with colleagues,
0:42:03 > 0:42:06with the orchestra, which is working with a body.
0:42:06 > 0:42:08I mean, it's like...
0:42:08 > 0:42:11having a company instead of working alone.
0:42:11 > 0:42:14A violinist's life is a solitary one.
0:42:14 > 0:42:16A violinist works for himself in seclusion
0:42:16 > 0:42:18since he was a little boy or girl.
0:42:18 > 0:42:21The temptation is enormous, because it compensates
0:42:21 > 0:42:24for a lifetime spent in solitary confinement.
0:42:29 > 0:42:33Ravi Shankar was a frequent collaborator at the Bath Festival
0:42:33 > 0:42:35and when the two released West Meets East,
0:42:35 > 0:42:39it topped the Billboard classical album chart for months.
0:42:39 > 0:42:41JUGALBANDI
0:43:45 > 0:43:47APPLAUSE
0:43:47 > 0:43:50I think the collaboration with Ravi Shankar
0:43:50 > 0:43:54really represents so much of what Yehudi stood for.
0:43:54 > 0:43:59You know, he believed that all musicians are equal,
0:43:59 > 0:44:01that all music is equal,
0:44:01 > 0:44:04and that one can learn from other musicians.
0:44:04 > 0:44:09That if you're willing and open enough to open your ears,
0:44:09 > 0:44:13that you can find a way to communicate across boundaries.
0:44:13 > 0:44:15Yehudi's internationalism
0:44:15 > 0:44:18led the United Nations to elect him president
0:44:18 > 0:44:20of Unesco's International Music Council.
0:44:22 > 0:44:25In 1971, he was the keynote speaker
0:44:25 > 0:44:28at the council's conference in Soviet Russia.
0:44:29 > 0:44:33He used it as a platform to speak out for social justice
0:44:33 > 0:44:34and for a fellow musician.
0:44:36 > 0:44:38Addressing his audience in Russian,
0:44:38 > 0:44:42Yehudi publicly questioned why the celebrated cellist Rostropovich,
0:44:42 > 0:44:46persecuted for his support of dissident novelist Solzhenitsyn,
0:44:46 > 0:44:49was banned from the conference.
0:44:49 > 0:44:53It was unthinkable to Menuhin, as I see it,
0:44:53 > 0:44:55that he should not have said exactly,
0:44:55 > 0:44:59or close to exactly, what he felt,
0:44:59 > 0:45:02in a way which was absolutely inconceivable in those days.
0:45:03 > 0:45:05The Soviets ordered a media blackout,
0:45:05 > 0:45:08but when Muscovites heard of his speech,
0:45:08 > 0:45:12they pressed messages of support into his hands.
0:45:12 > 0:45:15He loved upsetting pompous people
0:45:15 > 0:45:19and he particularly liked upsetting pompous political people,
0:45:19 > 0:45:22and so the two, in a sense, went together.
0:45:22 > 0:45:25It was the unstoppable child in him,
0:45:25 > 0:45:28as much as the political agitator.
0:45:32 > 0:45:36As he grew older, Yehudi reflected on his childhood.
0:45:36 > 0:45:40He opened an international school for musically gifted children
0:45:40 > 0:45:43where they could live, play and support each other.
0:45:43 > 0:45:47He wanted their childhoods to be very different from his own.
0:45:48 > 0:45:50Although Yehudi still toured endlessly,
0:45:50 > 0:45:52he was a frequent visitor here.
0:45:52 > 0:45:55He believed passionately in passing down his knowledge
0:45:55 > 0:45:57to those of us of a younger generation.
0:45:57 > 0:46:00..The third and fourth bar...
0:46:00 > 0:46:03Yehudi didn't have schooling as such,
0:46:03 > 0:46:05although he had private tutors,
0:46:05 > 0:46:07but he was on his own or with his sisters.
0:46:07 > 0:46:10He didn't have that feeling of being in a class
0:46:10 > 0:46:12and kicking a football around
0:46:12 > 0:46:16and all the things that the school does.
0:46:17 > 0:46:22He knew exactly how to be the kindly old gentleman
0:46:22 > 0:46:25and to make us all relax,
0:46:25 > 0:46:27and all of us at the Yehudi Menuhin School,
0:46:27 > 0:46:29we looked forward to his visits hugely
0:46:29 > 0:46:31from all sorts of points of view.
0:46:31 > 0:46:33THEY PLAY A FAST PIECE
0:46:39 > 0:46:41Very good, Nigel.
0:46:41 > 0:46:45You didn't have to be so apologetic on the very last note.
0:46:45 > 0:46:46You could be...
0:46:46 > 0:46:49Because you have every reason to be pleased.
0:46:49 > 0:46:51It's going very well, it's coming along very well.
0:46:51 > 0:46:54'It's essential that they start young,
0:46:54 > 0:46:56'because the young children whom you've seen here
0:46:56 > 0:46:58'know exactly what they want to do in life.
0:46:58 > 0:47:01'They want to be musicians, they want to be violinists or pianists,
0:47:01 > 0:47:06'and they should be given every help in achieving what they want to do.'
0:47:06 > 0:47:09Certainly with our students, and when he worked with our students,
0:47:09 > 0:47:13he was wanting them to find their own way of making music
0:47:13 > 0:47:16and their own way of finding the sound that they wanted,
0:47:16 > 0:47:18so he was never prescriptive.
0:47:27 > 0:47:30The philosophy of the school from day one
0:47:30 > 0:47:33was to be an international institution.
0:47:33 > 0:47:36He had this vision of having, you know,
0:47:36 > 0:47:41a child from, as was called then, Red China and a child from Taiwan
0:47:41 > 0:47:43making music together.
0:47:43 > 0:47:47He was both a visionary and incredibly pragmatic.
0:47:47 > 0:47:48He made it happen.
0:47:49 > 0:47:53Yehudi wanted the power of music to touch everyone.
0:47:53 > 0:47:56He established the charity Live Music Now
0:47:56 > 0:48:00to bring music into the lives of the disadvantaged and homeless.
0:48:00 > 0:48:03The pleasure and challenge of playing to such different audiences
0:48:03 > 0:48:05gave him enormous reward.
0:48:05 > 0:48:10It's really far better than playing for a traditional concert audience,
0:48:10 > 0:48:15because the convention and the obligation of the audience to behave
0:48:15 > 0:48:20and to respond in certain ways covers over a multitude of sins -
0:48:20 > 0:48:24boredom or whatever it may be.
0:48:24 > 0:48:28But here, the response has to be genuine.
0:48:28 > 0:48:30It's either there or it isn't there.
0:48:35 > 0:48:39Today, Live Music Now enables young professional musicians
0:48:39 > 0:48:43to reach people in care homes, hospitals and special needs schools.
0:48:43 > 0:48:46# ..If you live the life you please Well, it's all right... #
0:48:46 > 0:48:47He really was a person
0:48:47 > 0:48:50who wanted to leave the world a better place than he found it,
0:48:50 > 0:48:52based upon these experiences during the war,
0:48:52 > 0:48:55if only he could take the best young musicians
0:48:55 > 0:48:57at the start of their careers,
0:48:57 > 0:49:01they would give their services where people were disadvantaged.
0:49:02 > 0:49:05And yet within those children was a spirit
0:49:05 > 0:49:09that burned alive if it could be illuminated by music.
0:49:09 > 0:49:11GUITAR PLAYS
0:49:17 > 0:49:20Menuhin was an idealist, but he was also a pragmatist,
0:49:20 > 0:49:22and he was a dreamer,
0:49:22 > 0:49:24but his belief that music could transform lives,
0:49:24 > 0:49:26whoever you are, wherever you come from,
0:49:26 > 0:49:28was more than just a dream.
0:49:28 > 0:49:31It was real, it's alive, it's happening all around us.
0:49:31 > 0:49:33And it's amazing.
0:49:33 > 0:49:36# ..Not a trace of doubt in my mind... #
0:49:36 > 0:49:37Are you ready?
0:49:37 > 0:49:40- # I'm in love... # - ALL:- Whoo!
0:49:40 > 0:49:43CHILDREN CHEER
0:49:46 > 0:49:49MUSIC: Jealousy by Stephane Grappelli
0:49:52 > 0:49:55In 1971, the ever curious Yehudi
0:49:55 > 0:49:58met a man whose music evoked childhood memories
0:49:58 > 0:50:01of the time he'd first encountered the Romanian Gypsies.
0:50:32 > 0:50:36Stephane Grappelli's gypsy jazz both thrilled and challenged Yehudi.
0:50:51 > 0:50:53I've always loved this instrument.
0:50:53 > 0:50:57I like to see it in every kind of situation -
0:50:57 > 0:51:00Indian situation, Gypsy and, of course, jazz.
0:51:00 > 0:51:03And I like to think that the jazz violin
0:51:03 > 0:51:05comes out of a link with the Gypsy world.
0:51:05 > 0:51:07He loved the idea of the Gypsies,
0:51:07 > 0:51:09because he was a Gypsy,
0:51:09 > 0:51:11they were like him.
0:51:11 > 0:51:14He was a nomad, he was a gypsy,
0:51:14 > 0:51:16and he loved their freedom.
0:51:17 > 0:51:19I know that ever since I've played...
0:51:19 > 0:51:22I started in the classical way, learning to read music,
0:51:22 > 0:51:26but it has always been my dream to...
0:51:26 > 0:51:30to have some sort of contact, some physical touch,
0:51:30 > 0:51:32with the world of improvisation.
0:51:32 > 0:51:36I mean, he wasn't a great improviser.
0:51:36 > 0:51:38And I know he'd stay up hours the night before,
0:51:38 > 0:51:40almost "practising" the improvisation
0:51:40 > 0:51:42of what he was going to play.
0:51:42 > 0:51:46When Grappelli went on a riff, when he tore away with the stuff,
0:51:46 > 0:51:47he was having a ball.
0:51:49 > 0:51:52And that's what Yehudi admired.
0:51:52 > 0:51:54He, I think, always felt
0:51:54 > 0:51:58that he'd been pushed into a kind of musical straitjacket,
0:51:58 > 0:52:02not just as a fiddler, but as a musician,
0:52:02 > 0:52:03as Yehudi Menuhin.
0:52:03 > 0:52:07He could be no other in the eyes of those who came to hear him.
0:52:07 > 0:52:09It refreshes me
0:52:09 > 0:52:13and it allows me to go back to my own music which I know
0:52:13 > 0:52:17with a new feeling for the meaning of notes and intervals and rhythms.
0:52:17 > 0:52:18Yes. Yes.
0:52:18 > 0:52:20It's like washing one's eyes
0:52:20 > 0:52:23and seeing colours much more brightly than one might otherwise.
0:52:23 > 0:52:25Yes.
0:52:25 > 0:52:28In public, Yehudi was an eloquent man,
0:52:28 > 0:52:31but in private, he struggled to share his emotions.
0:52:31 > 0:52:34I wonder if it was only with a violin
0:52:34 > 0:52:37that he felt he could truly express himself.
0:52:37 > 0:52:39HE PLAYS A STRIKING PIECE
0:52:56 > 0:53:01When, in 1981, his beloved sister Hephzibah died after a long illness,
0:53:01 > 0:53:05this very private man refused to let his public down.
0:53:06 > 0:53:08He did everything possible
0:53:08 > 0:53:10to put her in the hands of the right doctors
0:53:10 > 0:53:13and paid for everything
0:53:13 > 0:53:15and did all of that.
0:53:15 > 0:53:17But when she died,
0:53:17 > 0:53:21it was like a sort of paralysis, almost.
0:53:21 > 0:53:23He didn't even give up a concert.
0:53:23 > 0:53:27He was playing somewhere and he went on with that concert
0:53:27 > 0:53:31and I think he regretted not having had the courage
0:53:31 > 0:53:33to face it.
0:53:39 > 0:53:42I think he was very complicated emotionally.
0:53:42 > 0:53:45It's partly this unusual childhood he had,
0:53:45 > 0:53:47of being a wunderkind,
0:53:47 > 0:53:51of being able to express himself through music,
0:53:51 > 0:53:52but maybe not through emotions,
0:53:52 > 0:53:56so he must have built up some protective shell.
0:54:06 > 0:54:08He found himself when he picked up the fiddle
0:54:08 > 0:54:11and became Yehudi Menuhin,
0:54:11 > 0:54:15that man, that musician, that artist,
0:54:15 > 0:54:16whom the world knew.
0:54:19 > 0:54:20But he said to me once,
0:54:20 > 0:54:23"I don't know who they see when they look at me."
0:54:23 > 0:54:27And I think it was a question he was really addressing to himself.
0:54:39 > 0:54:41MUSIC: Flight Of The Bumblebee
0:54:47 > 0:54:48In his eighth decade,
0:54:48 > 0:54:52Yehudi, now Lord Menuhin, was as busy as ever,
0:54:52 > 0:54:56performing in Bosnia and post-apartheid South Africa,
0:54:56 > 0:54:58and he'd established a violin competition
0:54:58 > 0:55:02to attract the world's finest young players.
0:55:02 > 0:55:05Music remained at the very heart of everything he did.
0:55:07 > 0:55:10- It takes less time with every year. - That's right.
0:55:13 > 0:55:14Sweetheart.
0:55:15 > 0:55:18In March 1999,
0:55:18 > 0:55:21he was performing in Berlin with Daniel Hope.
0:55:21 > 0:55:24Usually, he would send me out to do an encore
0:55:24 > 0:55:26and would leave the stage.
0:55:26 > 0:55:31And on that evening, he decided to stay on stage.
0:55:31 > 0:55:34And I could see him from the side, and I thought, "It's unusual."
0:55:34 > 0:55:35I'd never seen him do that.
0:55:35 > 0:55:39In all the years, he would never be on stage during the encore.
0:55:39 > 0:55:43So I thought I'd play something different as a result.
0:55:43 > 0:55:47I'd been listening to many, many of his recordings during that tour,
0:55:47 > 0:55:50and I'd come back to a piece which I just loved,
0:55:50 > 0:55:52which was the Kaddish, by Maurice Ravel.
0:55:52 > 0:55:56And the way that he played that piece was just mind-blowing.
0:55:58 > 0:56:00And I thought I would play the piece for him.
0:56:00 > 0:56:02Just the solo line of the piece.
0:56:02 > 0:56:04And I dedicated it to him.
0:56:04 > 0:56:07MUSIC: Kaddish by Maurice Ravel
0:56:15 > 0:56:18He listened and then we walked off the stage together.
0:56:18 > 0:56:21And he said, "I haven't heard that piece in so many years."
0:56:21 > 0:56:25And I said, "Your recording is the one that I always listen to."
0:56:25 > 0:56:27He said, "It WAS rather good, wasn't it?"
0:56:27 > 0:56:29And I said, "Yes, it really was."
0:56:29 > 0:56:32He said, "But you know, on the D string,
0:56:32 > 0:56:34"you should play 3-3-2-2, not 2-2-3-3."
0:56:34 > 0:56:37I said, "Well, I'll try that,"
0:56:37 > 0:56:41as we left the stage, and that was his final concert.
0:56:45 > 0:56:47Yehudi fell ill backstage.
0:56:47 > 0:56:50Days later, he was admitted to intensive care,
0:56:50 > 0:56:52where, on 12th March 1999,
0:56:52 > 0:56:54he suffered a massive heart attack.
0:57:02 > 0:57:05HE PLAYS A MOURNFUL TUNE
0:57:16 > 0:57:19Yehudi grew up on stage.
0:57:19 > 0:57:22All his life, he had a deep need to perform.
0:57:22 > 0:57:25But he was always much more than a musician.
0:57:25 > 0:57:29And that makes him hard to define and hard to get close to.
0:57:29 > 0:57:32For me, though, he was the ultimate teacher,
0:57:32 > 0:57:34because he was always learning.
0:57:34 > 0:57:36He never stopped.
0:57:54 > 0:57:56I'd love to have known him more,
0:57:56 > 0:57:58I'd love to have known him better.
0:57:58 > 0:58:01But then I don't know anybody who did.
0:58:02 > 0:58:06That was the great... That was the paradox.
0:58:06 > 0:58:09I don't know anybody who knew him, knew Yehudi Menuhin.
0:58:11 > 0:58:13I remember him as a light.
0:58:14 > 0:58:16As a shining light.
0:58:18 > 0:58:20So I think he's still around somehow.