Customer Reviews

Anne-Sophie Mutter - The Berlin Recital

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I must say,at the outset, that a lot of fine violinists have recorded these pieces so there is no shortage of technically and musically compelling performances to choose from, but this particular recording bears further scrutiny and I feel, should be in everyone's collection, both for its tremondous conviction and its few excesses.Unlike one of the reviewers, I never got the impression at any point in this recital that technique was put first and expression sacrificed in its stead. On the contrary, a few of the musical choices may be perhaps too strong-headed and almost overbearing for some of the music; in particular the tempo changes and agogic accents (accents of duration to make a given note have more expressive importance by being held beyond its "official" length) in the opening movement of the Mozart E minor Sonata strain the limits of the high classic style and lose the long line in favor of expressive detail that need not be so prominently highlighted. This tempo tugging works to much better effect in the atmospheric Debussy Sonata and successfully creates dramatic contrast in the Franck Sonata which also receives heightened contrast with passages, like the end of the Recitativo movement, played with a bare, vibrato-less tone that adds gravitas and a sense of finality to the proceedings. It would be no understatement to say that Mutter has thought these pieces through quite thoroughly, perhaps as much as anyone is capable of - her choices of where to speed things along, hold things back, add high-powered vibrato, or not, thicken the sound or thin it, hold on to certain notes or let them go more freely, all have an intellectually solid foundation and are not flightly, callous, flippant, or capricious. That said, I can understand that some might find her contrasts in tempi and dynamics to push the limits of what is acceptable. This is also what is so fascinating about this recording because I can think of no other violinist whose recorded this repertoire that has taken the chances she has and managed to pull it off convincingly. The only regret is that, given such a strong personality, she overwhelms Lambert Orkis who, though a fine musician, is nonetheless left a bit in the shadows by her dramatic even searing intensity. A more balanced combination can be found in the recording of French violin repertoire by Augustin Dumay and Maria Joao Pires, the latter possessing the most amazing legato playing of any pianist I've ever heard. With the caveat that the pianist and violinist are not on equal footing sonically (interpretaively they are), I would recommend this recording very very highly for its expressive power and plethora of interesting musical ideas. It is uncommon music making and deserves a fair hearing.

Other reviewers have commented on Mutter's extraordinary technique and fully thought out interpretive choices on this recital. For me the highlight of the disc is the Mozart E-minor Sonata. This is the only Violin Sonata Mozart worte in the minor key, and given its chronological proximity to the death of his mother, one cannot help but wonder about its biographical significance. In any case, what a profoundly tragic and yet dignified music this is! The first movement is unrelentingly dramatic and contrapuntally ingenious. The second movement has an abundance of sweetness and melancholy that is positively Schubertian. One can argue that in terms of tragic grandeur and expressive profundity, Mozart never surpassed this sonata in any of his later compositions.

Mutter's interpretation of this sonata is stunning. I was totally surprised and initially disturbed by the wealth of accents, rubato and tonal colors that she brought to the piece. The overall tempo was also unusually slow. (What a contrast to another recent recording of the sonata by Hilary Hahn, which was also technically flawless, but interpretively more restrained and "classical".) And yet the more I listened to the performance, the more I come to be persuaded that the treatment was fully appropriate and indeed matches the profound musical utterances inherent in the composition.

We probably will not hear anything like this in a long time. And really, there is no better way to celebrate the 250th birthday of Mozart than listening to it and be moved by again and again by this miraculous music.

Mutter's Mozart violin sonata E minor is unparalleled in its emotional depth.

Better than any other recent recordings and even historical recordings by Arthur Grumiaux.

Another works are also excellent.

This is an extraordinarily well-played CD. Mutter is probably the greatest violinist technically playing right now, and she and Orkis seem to make music without any human effort. And maybe that's part of the problem here. The effort has an expressive purpose. Listening to these performances, it's hard to imagine Mutter has ever shed a drop of sweat. She is so detached from the music she is making nowadays (compared to her style maybe 13 years ago and before) that it is almost scary. It seems to me like her main concern in every piece she plays is how perfectly she can play the piece, and her obsession with technique can border on showboating. With her technique, I think she can play *anything* flawlessly. But what I haven't gotten from her in a long time is a point of view in the music, an identification. Her recordings recently say to me "Let me show you what I can do with the violin in this piece" rather than "Let me show you what the composer is about." Her Brahms Hungarian Dance No. 5 has all the "gypsy" spirit of a Mozart recital. Such music is too earthy, I think, for Mutter. (The same goes for her recent CD of tango music with hubby Previn.)

It would be pointless to break these pieces down and discuss each. They're all played the same. No surprises, other than how perfect her technique is. I don't get the aristocratic elan of Stern, the burnished tone and slavic overtones of Perlman, the ringing line of Heifetz, or the steely granite of Oistrakh, or anything else. Orkis too is mechanically perfect but not at all individualistic. I'd defy anyone in a blindfold test to identify him. Furthermore, I don't hear the give-and-take collaboration I hear with so many other great chamber ensembles, which is why ultimately I don't think history will judge them as a great chamber music duo. True I liked much of their Beethoven collaboration, but even there I felt Mutter was leading and Orkis was on the leash. Here there's no doubt. I wish Mutter would push herself more--not with further technical challenges, which she does not need, but with collaborative challenges. (I'd love to hear her in duets with someone like Martha Argerich or Krystian Zimerman.) Until she does this, to my mind she won't be completely satisfying. Maybe Previn, a fine give-and-take chamber musician (or at least he was last time I heard him), can help.

Your opinion about Mutter has nothing to do with the sense of artistic feeling. It's just an excuse to avoid the fact that she's probably the best soloist in the world (in that is concerned to the violin). Are you bothered by the fact that a woman can be in the first place? Just guessing, I'm a man and I'm proud of such talent, because it's so inspiring, perfect... as any classical master intended to be.

In fact, I guess you're the kind of people who praise Horowitz, Toscanini, and those kind of self indulgent wanna be musicians. It's no wonder that you named Argerich... because she's the best example of this... plays fast all the time, too strong, too sharp... typical of somebody who jumps a ladder just to get to the bottom. This is no talent at all.

Anne Sophie Mutter has nothing to do with this circus. She has talent, discipline and character. What more you can ask for these sort of works? You should check the music again, unless you feel insecure about this gem. This is no 2nd class music.