Customer Reviews

Face To Face With Beethoven

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Anne-Sophie Mutter is, in my opinion, the greatest living violinist. With her warm, singing tone and technical virtuosity, everything this brilliant woman touches with the violin, she makes gold. Not that Beethoven's Violin/Triple concertos need the help; they are legendary works in their own right. But Mutter performs with staggering skill. This is an essential recording. Period.

Wonderful, "desert island" recordings. I don't even know whom to praise first! Anne-Sophie Mutter's beautiful engaging, sensual and powerful violin playing is given energetic, warm and spirited support by the greatest maestro ever - Herbert von Karajan. On triple concerto they are joined by the stellar company of Yo-Yo Ma and Mark Zeltser, creating the only competition to Oistrach and Rostropovich (also with Maestro Karajan, on EMI).

The whole experience is astonishing, Beethoven's music blazes through the speakers with incredible poignancy and splendor. In liner notes Anne-Sophie Mutter explains that through innovation and revolutionary vision Beethoven created the greatest violin concerto in history. Preferences may vary, but you will agree with her after listening to this incredible album. Thanks to DG for issuing these great performances in a single set, graced by a picture of lovely and charismatic Ms. Mutter.

Anne-Sophie Mutter takes the Beethoven concerto to a whole new level. Ms. Mutter brings to your attention a depth to the concerto that you just don't hear when others perform it. Other performers take the piece at face value, and it becomes just another display of virtuosity. Mutter, though (no doubt under the suggestion of Herbert von Karajan), takes her time and thoroughly examines every last phrase, making this the most beautiful recording I've heard. The piece becomes not so much a concerto, but a wonderful symphony with gorgeous violin commentary. Great stuff.

Sophie-Anne Mutter is no doubt one of the great violinist. So is Yo-yo Ma, the cellist. And Karajan is no doubt one of the greatest conductor ever. Given that, this CD is not up to expectation.

One reason is that the violin concerto is her debut performance with the Berliner Philharmoniker back to the 80s. In that performance, her technique was exceptionally good. However, I think she overused the vibration technique and lack a more deep feeling.

The triple concerto, with the participation of Yoyo Ma, is below expectation. The orchestra is out performed the soloits so that it becomes dominant. For a concerto, I think the soloists must be at the center. Here, the orchestra is considerably louder than the violin and the cello. Maybe, it dues to sound recording.

But over all, it is a good CD, two for the price of one.

The first recording I ever heard of the Beethoven violin concerto was by Perlman. It too is very good, but my taste in music had not really developed. I thought it was too long and that it was boring. Then I saw this CD yesterday at a used bookstore. I had never heard the triple so I really bought it for that. I listened to it first and it is really great. A combination of Ma and Mutter can't go wrong. But, then I listened to the Violin concerto. If you read the little thing inside the CD Mutter says it's the greates violin concerto, well I don't know about greates but it is incredible. I then went back and listened to Perlmans. Mutter's is better in my oppinion. This is a must buy!

Mutter interprets this most elegant piece in a way that only she can. She breathes new life into arguably the most beautiful concerto ever composed for the violin.

Just recomending you guys check out a CD I just got...

Anne-Sophie Mutter preforms not only what she calls 'The greatest violin concerto in history,' Beethoven's Violinkonzert but teams up with Ma and Zeltser to give a breathtaking preformance. If you love classical music, you owe it to yourself to get this two CD set. If you are trying to decide what items to place in your cart, leave no doubt in your mind that this should be your highest priority.

Anne-Sophie is no doubt one of the brilliant violin performers in the history. Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Karajan is just the best in the world. A must to have for violin lovers.

This is the best recording of Beethoven's Violin Concerto -- Ithzak Perlman's recording is overly loud, monodynamic, and sluggish, not to say it's horrible of course. However, Anne-Sophie Mutter doesn't play the violin solos as well as she could -- there is, like another reviewer mentioned, an overuse of vibrato. However, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra puts out one of its best performances on this CD.

I don't much like the Triple Concerto, so I can't comment on it without bias. However, the Violin Concerto is one of my favorite pieces, and I advise you to add this music to your classical collection. -_-

Ms. Mutter recorded Beethoven's Violin Concerto over twenty years ago when still a teenager, and for some reason she has never replaced this early recording. She performs with an A-student proficiency that never adds up to an interpretation, skillfully negotiating each technical challenge in a commendable but wholly unexciting fashion. Time for a new version, I'd say--but considering how poorly she handles Beethoven's Sonatas in her recent multi-disc release, one wonders if age has brought mastery or degeneration.