0:00:02 > 0:00:03For the past 60 years,
0:00:03 > 0:00:07the BBC has been showcasing many of the world's greatest violinists.
0:00:07 > 0:00:11Tonight, I'll be showing you some of my personal favourites.
0:00:11 > 0:00:14Yehudi Menuhin, Nigel Kennedy,
0:00:14 > 0:00:16Itzhak Perlman,
0:00:16 > 0:00:18Anne-Sophie Mutter,
0:00:18 > 0:00:19Maxim Vengerov,
0:00:19 > 0:00:22Sarah Chang and many, many more.
0:00:38 > 0:00:42APPLAUSE
0:00:44 > 0:00:47That was Bruch's first violin concerto in G minor
0:00:47 > 0:00:51and my performance of it at the Last Night of the Proms,
0:00:51 > 0:00:54a momentous occasion for me.
0:00:54 > 0:00:55Unforgettable.
0:00:55 > 0:00:58One of the most incredible things about the violin is
0:00:58 > 0:01:00definitely its versatility,
0:01:00 > 0:01:03but it's also an instrument that adopts very accurately
0:01:03 > 0:01:06the personality of the person playing the instrument,
0:01:06 > 0:01:10which means that all violinists sound entirely different
0:01:10 > 0:01:13and have an extremely personal expression.
0:01:13 > 0:01:15We're going to start with a hugely important
0:01:15 > 0:01:19but very subtle violinist, Nathan Milstein.
0:01:19 > 0:01:22His sound sort of reminds me of silver.
0:01:22 > 0:01:26It's extremely pure and extremely direct.
0:03:29 > 0:03:33If purity and directness characterise Nathan Milstein,
0:03:33 > 0:03:38dazzling virtuosity is the trademark of our next virtuoso violinist.
0:03:40 > 0:03:44In 1999, at the Proms, an expectant crowd was waiting
0:03:44 > 0:03:48for the return of Maxim Vengerov for his final encore.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51He decided to play Bazzini's fiendishly difficult
0:03:51 > 0:03:53Dance Of The Goblins
0:03:53 > 0:03:55and just listen to how he does it.
0:08:45 > 0:08:47APPLAUSE
0:08:47 > 0:08:49Maxim Vengerov playing Bazzini.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54Our next virtuoso violinist, Mischa Elman,
0:08:54 > 0:08:57was born in Russia in 1891
0:08:57 > 0:09:00and had a performing career spanning over six decades.
0:09:01 > 0:09:04Mischa Elman was hugely popular.
0:09:04 > 0:09:07He, in fact, sold over two million records.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10I think that popularity had something to do with
0:09:10 > 0:09:12how good he makes you feel.
0:09:12 > 0:09:16Listening to his playing is like a warm embrace,
0:09:16 > 0:09:19it's something that just makes you feel good inside.
0:09:19 > 0:09:21I could listen to his playing all day long.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49Mischa Elman playing the music of Fritz Kreisler.
0:12:49 > 0:12:54Like so many composers tonight, a world-renowned violinist himself.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58Kreisler really understood the personality of the violin.
0:12:59 > 0:13:01His gift for melody takes us
0:13:01 > 0:13:04back to the grand drawing rooms of prewar Vienna.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08And next we're going to hear one of his best loved pieces
0:13:08 > 0:13:12played by the Polish-born violinist Henryk Szeryng.
0:15:05 > 0:15:07Henryk Szeryng playing Kreisler.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10Is that upbeat all right for you, or shall I give you two beats?
0:15:10 > 0:15:13Our next virtuoso violinist, Isaac Stern,
0:15:13 > 0:15:16was a friend of presidents and of prime ministers.
0:15:16 > 0:15:17Good.
0:15:17 > 0:15:21In 1966, the BBC filmed him rehearsing and directing
0:15:21 > 0:15:24the London Symphony Orchestra as they prepared to play
0:15:24 > 0:15:28Mozart's third violin concerto at the Royal Festival Hall.
0:15:29 > 0:15:32Some of you are still not vibrating the second note.
0:15:32 > 0:15:34You're spoiling it for those who do.
0:15:34 > 0:15:38It's a dead sound. It's a da-da-da-da da-da-DUM.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40Much of the violin's technical wizardry we know today
0:17:40 > 0:17:43comes from the 19th century
0:17:43 > 0:17:45and a young violinist who played so frenetically
0:17:45 > 0:17:49that he broke the strings of his instrument.
0:17:49 > 0:17:52His portrait hangs in the museum at the Royal Academy Of Music.
0:17:56 > 0:17:59The violinist and composer Niccolo Paganini entirely
0:17:59 > 0:18:02revolutionised playing the violin.
0:18:02 > 0:18:05He was a virtuoso like no other before him.
0:18:05 > 0:18:09Paganini took the importance of the performer,
0:18:09 > 0:18:10as opposed to the composition,
0:18:10 > 0:18:12to a whole new level.
0:18:12 > 0:18:15He would perform all kinds of tricks
0:18:15 > 0:18:18and all kinds of show-off techniques on stage,
0:18:18 > 0:18:21and the performance was absolutely focused on him
0:18:21 > 0:18:23and his ability, and what he could do.
0:18:54 > 0:18:58In this 1995 film, we saw Itzhak Perlman's dazzling technique,
0:18:58 > 0:19:02a direct musical descendant of not only Paganini,
0:19:02 > 0:19:04but also of Pablo de Sarasate,
0:19:04 > 0:19:08the other great 19th-century composer virtuoso.
0:19:08 > 0:19:10Listen out for the left-hand pizzicato
0:19:10 > 0:19:13and ricochet towards the end of this one.
0:21:01 > 0:21:05Itzhak Perlman came to nationwide fame when he was just 13.
0:21:05 > 0:21:10Ed Sullivan invited the child prodigy onto his legendary show.
0:21:10 > 0:21:14Violinists do start early.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17Although I did begin playing the violin very young,
0:21:17 > 0:21:21I would never at all class myself as a child prodigy.
0:21:21 > 0:21:24On the other hand, Sarah Chang, I think
0:21:24 > 0:21:28most of the music world would agree, was the epitome of a child prodigy.
0:21:28 > 0:21:32Her recordings of Tchaikovsky violin concerto and a variety of other
0:21:32 > 0:21:37impossibly difficult works when she was as young as 11, 12 and 13
0:21:37 > 0:21:40not only have unbelievable virtuosity
0:21:40 > 0:21:41and incredible perfection,
0:21:41 > 0:21:47but a very mature musical expression and a lot of soul.
0:21:47 > 0:21:50Here she is playing the very challenging
0:21:50 > 0:21:52Carmen Fantasy by Sarasate.
0:23:39 > 0:23:43In 1927, our next violinist, Yehudi Menuhin,
0:23:43 > 0:23:46took to the stage as a young boy still in shorts
0:23:46 > 0:23:50and wowed Carnegie Hall, playing Beethoven's Violin Concerto.
0:23:53 > 0:23:56I was fortunate enough to attend the Yehudi Menuhin School
0:23:56 > 0:24:01from the ages of 10 to 15 and remember like it was yesterday.
0:24:01 > 0:24:05He was someone with an unbelievable aura and presence,
0:24:05 > 0:24:09and even just him being there, standing in front of you,
0:24:09 > 0:24:12would change the way you felt and change the way you played.
0:24:14 > 0:24:18In 1943, his playing brought solace to millions in his famous
0:24:18 > 0:24:22wartime live broadcast with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
0:24:30 > 0:24:3320 years later, he returned to the BBC
0:24:33 > 0:24:35to record Beethoven's Violin Concerto
0:24:35 > 0:24:38with the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Colin Davis.
0:24:39 > 0:24:43The opening of the second movement and his entry, I think,
0:24:43 > 0:24:47has got to be one of the most pure and heavenly moments of music making
0:24:47 > 0:24:49I have ever heard in my life.
0:27:43 > 0:27:46Another student of the Yehudi Menuhin School,
0:27:46 > 0:27:48like me, was Nigel Kennedy.
0:27:53 > 0:27:56With his Aston Villa shirt and spiky hair,
0:27:56 > 0:28:00and outlandish image, that was what was talked about a lot,
0:28:00 > 0:28:05but, in actual fact, Nigel Kennedy is a fantastic, fantastic violinist
0:28:05 > 0:28:08and his interpretation of The Four Seasons brought the
0:28:08 > 0:28:12classical violin and classical music to millions and millions of people.
0:32:49 > 0:32:53Nigel's interpretation of Vivaldi was unique,
0:32:53 > 0:32:55but it isn't the only one.
0:32:55 > 0:33:00A very personal favourite of mine is the Italian baroque specialist
0:33:00 > 0:33:02Giuliano Carmignola.
0:33:04 > 0:33:07I sort of felt like my whole world was turned upside down
0:33:07 > 0:33:10the very first time I heard a recording of him
0:33:10 > 0:33:12playing Italian baroque music.
0:33:12 > 0:33:13It was Vivaldi, in fact.
0:33:13 > 0:33:18His style of playing is as if he is improvising it as he is playing it.
0:33:18 > 0:33:22There's a certain way about producing the sound
0:33:22 > 0:33:25that never lands in any one place.
0:33:25 > 0:33:29It's like the sound is just being spun and improvised.
0:33:29 > 0:33:34I very much turned my whole idea of playing baroque music
0:33:34 > 0:33:37upside down after hearing that recording
0:33:37 > 0:33:39and he's been an enormous influence to me,
0:33:39 > 0:33:42and, I think, one of the most unique violinists of our day.
0:39:03 > 0:39:05When people are talking about the violin,
0:39:05 > 0:39:08they're most often thinking about this part.
0:39:08 > 0:39:10But in actual fact, to play the violin,
0:39:10 > 0:39:12you really need this part, which is the bow.
0:39:12 > 0:39:16The bow, of course, can do all kinds of pyrotechnics,
0:39:16 > 0:39:19lots of very impressive fast strokes,
0:39:19 > 0:39:23but one of the most integral things about the bow is being able
0:39:23 > 0:39:27to pull the sound out, create a long melody and really sing.
0:39:30 > 0:39:34I think violinists would unanimously agree that Anne-Sophie Mutter
0:39:34 > 0:39:38is one of the strongest examples of an enormous
0:39:38 > 0:39:42and beautiful sound of all violinists playing today.
0:43:15 > 0:43:20I was first introduced to a violinist that is now
0:43:20 > 0:43:23possibly my number one favourite, David Oistrakh,
0:43:23 > 0:43:24when I was around ten years old.
0:43:24 > 0:43:26Born in the Soviet Union,
0:43:26 > 0:43:30he became one of the greatest violinists of the 20th century and
0:43:30 > 0:43:34counted the composers Shostakovich and Prokofiev amongst his friends.
0:43:34 > 0:43:38His way of producing sound is really like no other.
0:43:38 > 0:43:40There is never a moment that is without
0:43:40 > 0:43:44integrity and quality and beauty,
0:43:44 > 0:43:48and that is not that easy to do on the violin.
0:47:12 > 0:47:14And four years later, David Oistrakh was
0:47:14 > 0:47:17part of one of the greatest musical treats ever
0:47:17 > 0:47:19recorded on British television,
0:47:19 > 0:47:22playing Bach's double violin concerto with Yehudi Menuhin.
0:51:32 > 0:51:35One of the greatest violinists of our time is Gidon Kremer.
0:51:35 > 0:51:38He was an enormous influence on me
0:51:38 > 0:51:40and pretty much every other violinist I know.
0:51:42 > 0:51:45In some ways, he comes from what people would say is a very
0:51:45 > 0:51:49traditional Russian heritage of violin playing,
0:51:49 > 0:51:54but his musical personality is anything but traditional.
0:51:54 > 0:51:58He has an extremely extrovert and varied way of playing,
0:51:58 > 0:52:02and his stage presence is entirely unique.
0:52:02 > 0:52:07Here he is performing Leonard Bernstein's Serenade in 1986,
0:52:07 > 0:52:11at the Barbican in London, with the composer himself conducting.
0:54:36 > 0:54:38We have heard some wonderful
0:54:38 > 0:54:42and extremely varied performances on this extraordinary instrument.
0:54:42 > 0:54:45I do hope you've enjoyed listening to them.
0:54:45 > 0:54:47We're going to leave you now with a performance by
0:54:47 > 0:54:49the Dutch violinist Janine Jansen.
0:54:51 > 0:54:53She is undoubtedly one of the most expressive
0:54:53 > 0:54:56and genuine musicians on the circuit today.
0:54:57 > 0:54:59She will be performing
0:54:59 > 0:55:03the ever-popular Mendelssohn Violin Concerto. Good night.