Search - Anne-Sophie Mutter :: Sur Le Meme Accord/Violin Concerto 2/Violin Concerto

My favorite Mutter CD

Ruminator | The Fencepost | 10/06/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I could subtract 1 star because this CD is mostly a reissue, but I won't, because I believe it includes some of Mutter's worthiest concerto recordings.



Say whatever you like about her image and marketing style - I have heard her live many times at Davies Hall and her artistry needs no excuses. She is especially convincing with Stravinsky, in a rare partnership with Paul Sacher, and her Bartok ranks with the best of her peers - Chung, Tetzlaff, Menuhin, etc. Both have been previously issued separately, then issued together in the 3-CD Mutter Modern compilation. With the exception of her Lutoslawski, now available in DG's 20/21 series, I believe this disc reissues the best from the 3-CD set, which has apparently been phased out of circulation.



While this CD is attractive for simply combining Mutter's Stravinsky and Bartok, the new Dutilleux makes it irresistable for me. Dutilleux is one of my favorite living composers (I consider Metaboles to be a top-drawer masterpiece) and I'm pleased that Mutter ordains him the world's greatest in her liner notes. He is not prolific but produces high quality compositions with a listener-friendly use of modern tonalism.



Sur Le Meme Accord was dedicated to Mutter who seems to be its ideal ambassador. Its a short piece for violin and orchestra that exhibits many of Dutilleux's impressionistic trademarks - being colorful, sophisticated, bold and adventurous with neo-classical restraint, his music belongs firmly in the modern tradition without ever becoming unpleasant to listen to - not unlike late Lutoslawski or Rautavaara, following the trail of Bartok and Sibelius.



If you already have Mutter's Bartok and Stravinsky, you might be annoyed by the repackaging scheme that burdens this release. But for me and perhaps others, its a chance to acquire some of Mutter's best without the usual filler, and a very compatible combination on 1 CD."

Beauty is as Beauty Does

Hobart McShane | 07/08/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ah, yes, the beautiful Anne-Sophie Mutter once again dazzles us with her brilliant display of musical bravado. I once saw her on the Charlie Rose show. She told Charlie Rose that she "has the soul of a mountain climber." Indeed she has. I can seldom, if ever, find any criticism with her playing. She has it all: technical expertise, passionate yearning, and emotional understanding. Hey, would the late Herbert Von Karajan have mentored a less than great protege? So, listen to the mountain climber scale the heights of her own musical Alps with an effortless grace, insouciance, and passionate embrace."

Mutter carrries the show in this modernist mix

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 02/24/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ordinarily when a violinist is the whole show, I find it hard to be entirely enthusiastic -- Bartok, Stravinsky, and Dutilleux wrote orchestral parts that demand great conducting, not just great fiddling. But Mutter is an exception, her presence being so commmanding that she can overcome Seiji Ozawa's pallid accompaniment in the Bartok Second. Her approach is large-scaled and roceful, without a show of tics and mannerisms. There's not a lot of Hungarian flavor, but the sheer volume of sound, purity of tone, and bow technique count for a lot. The BSO plays gorgeously and DG's recording is ful and detailed, with especially fine violin tone.



Mutter also dominates with a robust, forward performance of the Stravinsky concerto, and even though her approach is more showy and romantic than Paul Sacher's trim neo-classical accompaniment, the two are sympathetic partners, and once again Mutter is capable of so much variety and shading in hr palying that she gives added interest to Stravinsky's score, which can sound a little dry and mechanical -- or to be more polite, chaste and discreet. Still, I would turn to Vengerov or Perlman for more character and fire in this work.



Which leaves the raison d'etre for this Cd, the Dutilleux concerto that Mutter commissioned. The notoriously slow and painstaking French master gave her a 9 min. bijoux that isn't quite a concerto but a study in delicate colorations and refined orchestral tints. I doubt that anyone would call it a major work -- for one thing, none of the composer's ideas stray far from devices we've encountered many times -- but eveyr minute is agreeable. Mutter is accompanied by Kurt Masur. He does a credible job, but one suspects that a less aloof conductor would have found more meat on the delicate bones of this score."