Customer Reviews

Sibelius: Violin Concerto,Op.47 / Serenades Nos. 1 & 2 / Humoresque

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Being a musician myself, I am always trying to find that archetypal recording that you can excitedly recommend to your friends. This recording of the Sibelius Concerto surpasses that adventure. Whether it has been the dull and dry workings of Itzhak Perlman, the rushed and emotionless circus of Jascha Heifetz, or the silly and unprepared version of Sarah Chang's, neither have even come close to Anne's superb interpretation. The haunting opening of the first movement causes you to turn up the volume just to make sure that your ears can hear the tonal perfection of Anne-Sophie. The Staatskapelle is amazing with its sonorous orchestral interludes and awe-inspiring dynamics, especially in the quickest, most-exciting finale I have ever heard. The ending harmonic still rings in my ear. The second movement is emotionally riveting. It constantly builds up and drops from a climax until the final, tear-jerking explosion of sound. In the third movement, Anne's perfectly forged thirds, quadruple stops, and wrist-crippling jumping octaves are a force that has yet to be reckoned with. The Serenades and Humoreske are also a unique and great addition to this disk. The haunting melody under improvisation in one, the jokingly emotional turns in another and the haunting melody of another bring to a close one of my favorite discs of all time. I highly recommend this recording because I have tried the rest and they don't pass the test.

Mutter is a performer who has become one of the most fashionable, and original of violinists. She has the most sweet but intense tone that is suitable for Romantic works, and I was a little sceptical (though I am a huge fan) whether she could be convincing in the Sibelius. But I could not have been more wrong. It is one of the most impassioned acccounts I have ever heard. She plays her entry without vibrato, to startling effect. Very original, as I don't know of other performances which start this way. Gradually she uses full vibrato, and in her hands, every note means something. The second movement is simply gorgeous. It is very sweet-sounding at first, but one realises that she uses the darkest tone colour to create a very 'Nordic' atmosphere. In a word, gorgeous. The third movement is the most impressive. Throughout the performance, her use of rubato is used to amazing effect, but in the last movement, all hell breaks loose. She lets rip, without loss of control. Mutter sounds so gutsy and impassioned that I wondered if she had broken any strings during the recording. I'm sure she did. The Sereneades and Humoreske are wonderfully played, and although musically less subtantial than the concerto, the small pieces, the Humoreske especially sound happier than a lot of Sibelius' music. Wonderfully imaginative couplings. The playing of the Dresden Staatskapelle under Previn is first class. The placing of microphones over certain sections of the orchestra in several passages could have been different. For example, in the last movement, the 'wrong' instruments are given more prominence over the 'right' instruments (the brass are too prominent in some bits, where the strings should be the dominant players). Nonetheless, it doesn't detract from the whole performance and the sound generally is superbly engineered. Clean, with an airy atmosphere, which is very apt in the concerto. A wonderful disc, albeit a little short at 47 minutes for a full price disc. My benchmark recording would be the classic 1970 Kyung-Wha Chung version on Decca, also under Previn (but with the London Symphony Orchestra). The playing of the young Chung may be less polished technically, but it is an altogether electric recording that will be hard to beat. Still, this Mutter version comes verrrrrrrrrrrrry close.

The post-Karajan Mutter continues to impress me with her growing musical maturity, and her in-depth exploration of the Sibelius is yet another testament to her artistry. As with all of her recordings, her fabulous tone is evident throughout, as is a technique that is more than equal to the challenges of the composer. I would dispute the one reviewer who argues that she slows down in the more technically challenging passages; certainly one cannot make that claim in the 3rd movement, which is certainly as brisk in its tempi as any recording available on the market today, and in any case, Mutter has always had a tendency to try and draw everything she can out of each note. A particularly notorious example of this would be her youthful recording of the Beethoven concerto with Karajan, where slow tempi cause the whole piece to become absolutely bogged down to a level beyond redemption. One certainly cannot find anything of that sort in this recording of the Sibelius, which remains a coherent performance throughout.

So why only 4 stars? Well, first and foremost, Previn & the Dresden Staatskapelle really seems to be phoning in their performance at times, and with a concerto like this, such a defect can cause quite a bit of damage. This could be due to mike placement as much as anything, but whether it is the sound engineer or the performers themselves, the result is an ensemble that sounds at times disengaged and at others overwhelmed by the soloist.

Also, as another reviewer has observed, a 47-minute CD at full price (where a third of the music consists of nice but relatively inconsequential compositions), simply put, is a ripoff. Why not fill it out a little? Put all six Humoreskes on the recording, or a tone poem if you like, or perhaps a lesser known piece like the Suite Mignonne. There are plenty of options, but none is explored here. Consumers expect a full CD for full price, so DG should deliver accordingly.

However, the consumer should be have nothing to complain about when it comes to Mutter's performance. She certainly appears to be fulfilling all of her potential as an artist.

This disc is one of the warhorses in my music collection. Very few discs have received as much play on my stereo. It was my first disc of music from both Sibelius and Anne-Sophie Mutter; both have become personal favorites.

The Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D minor, op. 47 is hands down my favorite violin concerto. It begins in beauty, moves on to startling beauty, and finishes in the sublime. The Staatskapelle Dresden, under the direction of Andre Previn, plays this music with vigor and grace. The strings are especially warm and supple. I cannot imagine the concerto being played any better than it is here.

The disc includes, as well as the concerto, two Sibelius serenades and a humoresque. Anne-Sophie Mutter plays all of these brilliantly. She exudes the emotion of the music without being overpowering.

This disc is a masterpiece. I recommend it for everyone.

This CD by A.S. Mutter presents Sibelius from another, modern perspective. It is certainly interesting and I recommend this recording to all people, who want to start to explore Sibelius' music. I compared this CD to a recording by L. Bernstein with N.Y. Philharmonic (violin solo by Zino Francescatti), that I consider to be one of the best recording made.

I would like to review three aspects of this recording : violin solo, orchestration and sound quality. The violin solo is very close to what Sibelius intended to create. The A.S. Mutter's interpretation is very "fresh", and reflects mainly the "modern part" of Sibelius' music. I really enjoyed the solo part and the interpretation is excellent, even in comparison with the interpretation of Zino Francescatti, whose interpretation I consider to be the best. The only thing, that I didn't like is the lack of consistency in the solo part. Yet the orchestration by Previn and the Staatskapelle Dresden is not very good. The orchestration by Bernstein and N.Y. Philharmonic recorded in 1965 is much accurate and the orchestra's accurate "responses" to violin solo are astonishing. I think, that Previn did not fully understand Sibelius' intention in terms of orchestration and the result of this misunderstanding is the fact, that the orchestra and the violin solo do not create a harmonic unity, and the orchestra does not respond to themes presented on the violin solo. The sound quality is once again excellent and the 4D version sound better than most DDD CD's. Result : Solo - 9/10 Orchestration - 5/10 Sound - 9/10

There seem to be two Anne-Sophie Mutters. The first was the violinist from her debut till about 1994, who made some of the best recordings I've heard in modern times, even if some of them were perhaps a *little* over-hyped. The second is this far more technical, far more, well, egotistical soloist, who seems to say in every recording, "Woohoo, look what *I* can do." Or, to put it another way, she plays the violin but not the concerto. Watching her in a recent documentary comment on her first recording of the Beethoven concerto, she said it had nothing to do with how she would handle the piece today. Undoubtedly so, and what a pity. I have nothing against interpretations that get off the beaten path and take us to unfamiliar regions, but her journey today sounds superficial, with overly-mannered playing (slooowing down at the eeend of eeevery phraaaaaase) and a futzing with vibrato and color every ten bars, rather than saving her special effects for key dramatic moments. That latter would demonstrate to me that she knows the *concerto* as well as the *violin.* As it is, now that she has conquered the fiddle--and there is no doubt that she has; she almost seems bored with it at times--she should dedicate her life to studying the *scores.* Hubby Andy (although he wasn't her hubby back then) wades through the work with a decaffeinated Staatskapelle Dresden, following his partner rather than sparring with her. The second movement works best, where things really do get a bit over the top at the big climax, but even here it comes dangerously close to hysterics and melodrama. This concerto to me is about fire meeting ice. In their hands, it's about blubber meeting more blubber.

For some really intense accounts, try Heifetz/Beecham, Mullova/Ozawa (and I'm generally not an Ozawa fan, but the two of them struck magic here), and above all, the gold standard, Oistrakh/Rozhdestvensky, where the fire and ice are almost too much to bear, and the technique is just as assured, if not as showboaty. Listening to these recordings, you get the impression the artists studied the work first and then decided how they would approach it from the point of view of violin technique. I greatly admire Mutter's prowess on her instrument, but technique is not an end to itself, and I have not gotten the feeling she has really penetrated a work to the core since her 1992 recording of the Berg concerto. Perhaps this is the danger of being the world's number one violin star at the moment. If so, she needs to get over herself.

I am a fourteen year-old violinist and I idolize Anne-Sophie Mutter. So do most of the kids in my youth orchestra........the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra.

She's an incredible violinist and she never takes the break-neck speeds of other violinists, namely Jascha Hiefizt and Isaac Stern. She isn't sloppy like Itzhak Pearlman. She isn't immature like Sara Chang. And she isn't fake like Midori. I consider the Sibelius recording one of her best. I watched a live TV broadcast of it and she was sloppy, but the recording brings out her wide range of dynamics and the incredible phrasing and tonal qualities that she brings to the music.

She truly understands what she is playing which is why so many composers write for her. The Sibelius brings out all her best. The first movement is thrilling in all it's haunting melodies and beautifully wrought passages. Flowing and lyrical. The second movement is enchanting and the Staadskapelle plays wonderfully rendered counterparts. The third movement is flashy and fun all the way through. Incredibly virtuosic and atheletic, rather like a dash on a bareback horse through a meadow.

Anne-Sophie is incredible throughout. She is truly the best. And us young musicians all love her. You would do well to purchase this CD. The two serenades at the end are a perfect touch and just as beautifully haunting. Everyone wants to play Brahms or Bartok, but ever since I heard this recording.......I can't wait to play Sibelius. I just hope I can live up at least half of what Mutter does in this splendid recording.

It seems that if I express a careful but negative review, I am likely to suffer indignant responses.
If you are a dedicated Mutter fan, or if you like this violin concerto to sound gloriously romantic, this review will not be of interest: there are plenty of affirmative positive reviews here for you.

I would hope that anyone who looks beyond Mutter's image and seeks the icy intensity and fiery bleakness of Sibelius would find my comments at least reasonable from that point of view.

I would stick to the positives first: This is a personal reading, and demonstrates Mutter's exceptional virtuosity. She intends to show from the start how bleak this wonderful masterpiece can sound,the violin entry sounding quieter, paler and more desolate than any other version on disc. She certainly brings out intensity at times, with dynamic changes almost overdoing the effect in places. The orchestral sound is good.

It is a worthwhile coupling with Sibelius' other well known violin pieces of lesser depth, played very nicely, if a little blandly - the humoresque sadly not quite pointed and witty enough to really make any statement. It is a great pity she didn't record all the humoresques for this disc, which is therefore a bit light on content.

I haven't really found this a musically satisfying performance though. I have no wish to string a load of invective and exaggeration which one of the reviewers has found necessary. But I really cannot find a feeling that the soloist has put this together as a complete whole - it has a feeling of being sections joined together. Also, I think that she overeggs the initial bleakness to the point that it is a caricature: the violin opening bears the composer's instruction "dolce ed espressivo" - Mutter's opening is far from dolce, and carries an unconventional idea of expressiveness - no vibrato at the beginning, but a great deal of wide vibrato thereafter in the piece. With her exaggerated pp - p entry (instead of mezzoforte) there seems to be recurring exaggerated dynamic and intensity changes in the first movment. Also, Mutter's episodic slowing and altering pace with apparently meaningless rubato is very irksome to anyone who reads the Sibelius as having bleak but persistent rhythms. All through the performance one is conscious of Mutter pushing and pulling the music in non-Sibelian idiom.

Sometimes less is more.

Unfortunately, the second movement fails to move me. It seems to lack that lonely cold intense passion that brings tears to one's eyes. It seems over-egged warm and treacly in Mutter's wonderful sound. The final movement is a rhythmic shambles, just listen to any fine version eg Mullova, Kyung-Wha Chung, Heifetz, Oistrakh, Kraggerud and even Tasmin Little's understated version, and one can see how the music really fits together in the last movement and as a whole. I really find the musical rapport between Previn and Mutter to be disappointing, when one compares it with Previn's greater examples of musical empathy with other soloists in the past (and I really don't mean the Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show!). Just wondering perhaps whether their personal rapport has affected the balance of the musical rapport, so that Previn is too accepting of an accompanying role in this work?? Who could say??

It remains a moot point whether personal eccentric readings are artistic or simply ill-conceived.
It is not for me to accuse. Mutter is a truly fine virtuoso violinist, but this performance of one of the truly great original and iconic violin concerti of all time is unfortunately too eccentric for my own taste.
I have many versions of this work on CD, but this one I don't think I'll be listening to again.

DG presents here a hauntingly strong rendition of the Sibelius Violin Concerto, a work completed in 1904. The first version being finished in 1903, but upon complaint by critics, Sibelius set it to a "thoroughgoing overhaul"... and this masterpiece was thereby produced. His revised edition was certainly demonstrative of fine musicianship, but yet may even exhibit philosophical underpinnings! But firstly, concerning other reviews here: I would reply that Ms. Mutter's violin does stand out, but this is a concerto where one really does desire the violinist to be duly prominent; it was not overdone.

Actually, Andre Previn does an excellent job in maintaining a fine proportion between soloist and the orchestra; and he knows how to, and does, rally the latter when called for and needed. Indeed, I would submit that Mr. Previn's conducting is so much an example of good balance, that I think the conductor did add to the work... And I have listened to other recordings, but nowhere is the balance as fine as I find it here; and compared to the Mutter, I will at times find the violin solo flagging. Therefore, this certainly is a passionate performance, but I think technically well done too, which makes it so outstanding.

But the meaning behind the music? I might suggest an illuminination of the disturbing and pathetic struggle of Western Society to maintain a generally upright attitude, one illustrative of freedom and good will, against the barbarism and inhumanity, the cruelty, that would later come to characterize the 20th century. His final manuscript for this concerto stands supreme not only among Sibelius' own work, but among the entirety of 20th century concertos and symphonies - there with with Rodrigo's Aranjuez and Durufle's Requiem. I am uncertain if even Sibelius himself realized the beauty of his creation. One of the great late-Romantic concertos, not to be missed; and neither is Anne-Sophie Mutter's performance.

Being an excellent violinist himself, Sibelius really wanted his one and only concerto for the instrument to be outstanding. In the hands of Anne-Sophie, Sibelius's concerto can be considered not only outstanding but one of the best. From her beautiful, subtle entrance to the wonderful ringing harmonic of the finale she gives a first rate performance. As well, Previn and the Staatskapelle play wonderfully and with great motivation.