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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hauntingly Beautiful, March 15, 2000
I'm no expert on classical music (I'm basically a jazz fan), but I know what I like, as they say. Penderecki's second violin concerto--Metamorphosen--is my very favorite piece of classical music. Penderecki wrote it for, and dedicated it to, the performing violinist, Anne-Sophie Mutter. It is a piece in six movements, with a well-defined opening theme which is repeated in the final movement. Overall, the piece is intense but at once hauntingly beautiful. I would not say that you can sing along, but almost. Mutter, the violinist, writes in the liner notes that the piece ends "with a scene of burial, in which the soul triumphs over the body and soars aloft to heaven." Indeed! I had listened to Penderecki before (the Hiroshima composition), but this piece is much different. Mutter's violin is intimate, almost fragile, in the high registers, yet insistent in the lower. The orchestra is dialogic even supportive, but not overwhelming. A remarkable composition that comes alive by means of an incredible performance.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
total brilliance, July 11, 2004
Though I somehow always think of Penderecki as a composer of vocal works, here his voice is the violin, in one of the most astounding pieces for the instrument I have ever heard. It has mystery, drama, and intense beauty, and rather than six separate movements, it stretches from mood to mood, segueing into them. My favorite is the transition from the fifth to the sixth, with the orchestra sounding more like the rumblings of nature than instruments. The concerto was dedicated to Anne-Sophie Mutter, who was the soloist in the enthusiastically received first performance in 1995. The extreme difficulty of the concerto must be daunting for a violinist, but Mutter's technical mastery equals her sensitivity and artistry. Of special note is the 5th movement cadenza, which is enthralling. Like most Penderecki works, this is a composition that gets better with every hearing; one has to get to know this piece, for it to reveal the full magnificence of its soul. The Bartok Sonata # 2 takes us into far different territory: Angular, harsh and energized, it's a whirl of virtuoso technique and dynamic sound. Lambert Orkis on piano counterbalances Mutter's violin, producing varied tones and rhythms.
Anne-Sophie Mutter has been an award-winning soloist with major world orchestras since her teens, making her Berlin debut with Karajan and the Philharmonic when she was only 15, and her wide range of repertoire is impressive. Penderecki writes of her in the liner notes, that he was inspired by her "...sublime art of interpretation". The Penderecki was recorded in 1997, the Bartok in '95. The sound is excellent and total playing time is 58'01
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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Anne-Sophie Mutter is transcendental !, January 31, 2000
Being a young composer and pianist I have spent the last 10 years of my life studying scores and recordings by various known and unknown composers of the 20th Century. Discovering the Mutter recording of Penderecki's 2nd Violin Concerto was the pinnacle of my treasure hunting! After hearing Penderecki's intensely moving composition, "The Polish Requim", I thought their would be no space left for maturity in this composer, Im glad I was wrong. The Penderecki is by far the greatest 20th Century work for violin and orchestra if not the greatest overall violin concerto ever written. The intesity in mood, character, melody, harmony (which tends to be intensely hyper-romantic as well as modern), dynamic range, technical demand, counterpoint and orchestration are unsurpassed in this composition. Mutter is like a window to the music, her sense of interpertation, spiritual expression and understanding is so dramatic and intense that it becomes shocking at times! The 2nd violin concerto titled "Metamorphoses" is aptly named for the listener truly finds him or herself on an emotionally and spiritually induced celestial journey through the stars and heavens! Mutters technical abilities are extremely prominent through the use of extreme accuracy in intonation, extreme ranges in dynamics as well as use of harmonics to achieve extreme overall range, multiple stops which really sound like multiple violinists due to sheer accuracy and expression, as well as use of special effects so tastefully and naturally done that the listener is left with the sense of true astonishment! This recording is one of the most emotionally moving pieces in classical music history. EXTREMELY recommended to all classical music lovers especeially those of you have not found 20th century classical music appealling, this recording will surely change your mind!
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