{"id":26903,"date":"2015-04-04T11:44:51","date_gmt":"2015-04-04T15:44:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=26903"},"modified":"2015-04-04T11:44:51","modified_gmt":"2015-04-04T15:44:51","slug":"cd-review-anne-sophie-mutter-strikes-a-balance-with-dvorak-violin-concerto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2015\/04\/04\/cd-review-anne-sophie-mutter-strikes-a-balance-with-dvorak-violin-concerto\/","title":{"rendered":"CD REVIEW | Anne-Sophie Mutter Strikes a Balance With Dvo\u0159\u00e1k Violin Concerto"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Dvo\u0159\u00e1k: Violin Concerto in A minor Op. 53. Romance in F minor Op. 11. Mazurek in E minor Op. 49. Humoresque in G flat major Op. 101 No. 7 arr. Kreisler*. Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin. Berlin Philharmonic\/Manfred Honeck. Ayami Ikeba, piano*\u00a0<\/strong>DG B0019303-02 (Total Time: 55:08)<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Very few recordings I\u2019ve heard in recent months have given me as much pleasure as this one. While Dvo\u0159\u00e1k is one of my favourite composers, the Violin Concerto has always seemed to me more impressive on paper (score) than in live performance or on a recording. I remember hearing Milstein play it with the Toronto Symphony and being completely baffled by the balance. How could a composer of Dvo\u0159\u00e1k\u2019s stature so often allow the solo violin in this work to be covered by the orchestra?<\/p>\n

In fact, although balancing the piece is especially challenging, it is a challenge that can be overcome; all it takes is a forceful soloist, a demanding conductor and a cooperative orchestra. We have all three on this new recording and together they make this work come to life as never before in my experience.<\/p>\n

Anne-Sophie Mutter first came to prominence as a gifted teenager when she was chosen by Herbert von Karajan for major promotion. He and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra recorded a couple of Mozart concertos with her and they went on to record virtually all the important violin concertos together. After that initial push, Mutter didn\u2019t need much help convincing concert promoters that she was the real deal. Clearly, she could play the violin like few other artists of her generation, and it turned out that she was interested not only in her own career but \u2013 wonder of wonders \u2013 in music too! Her 2001 recordings of the Beethoven sonatas with Lambert Orkis (DG 073 014-9) were not only violinistically superb but scrupulously true to the score. Then came Mutter\u2019s foray into contemporary music with first performances of works by Lutoslawski, Gubaidulina, Previn, Dutilleux, Rihm and many others.<\/p>\n

Only recently did Mutter turned her attention to the Dvo\u0159\u00e1k concerto. One suspects that she too was puzzled by the challenge of doing it justice. Whatever the process, she worked it out and has now given us the performance we have been waiting for. On a recording, there need not be any problems of balance; the sound engineers can make sure that the soloist is never overwhelmed, whatever is being done by soloist, orchestra and conductor. That is certainly the case in this recording, but one can also detect the unusual care taken by the artists themselves to listen to each other and to really collaborate; for example, while the passage in the final pages of the first movement is mainly for solo violin playing in its lowest register accompanied by winds, the wind parts in these thirteen bars are just as important as the solo line. In other words, this is chamber music and Mutter and the Berlin Philharmonic players make it sound incredibly beautiful.<\/p>\n

The end of the first movement flows without pause into the second movement, Adagio, ma non troppo.<\/em> The violin continues in its lowest register, but here the orchestra must remain in the background. This is clear from Dvo\u0159\u00e1k\u2019s markings \u2013 piano<\/em> for the soloist, but pianissimo<\/em> for the lower strings and bassoon; however, in this case the pianissimo<\/em> must be not only \u2018soft\u2019 but \u2018as soft as possible.\u2019 This performance gives us that dynamic and the result takes one\u2019s breath away.<\/p>\n

Another outstanding feature of this performance is the frequent changes in tempo, some indicated by the composer and some not. In the last movement just before letter K, the metre changes from 3\/8 to 2\/4 and the key changes into a mournful D minor. Dvo\u0159\u00e1k indicates no tempo change here, but Mutter and Honeck adopt a much slower tempo, starting with the horn octaves four bars before K. This tempo change suits the different character of the music here perfectly, and I found it absolutely convincing. Numerous other examples in this performance reflect the artists\u2019 deep sensitivity to the music. Mutter, for example, drops in a couple of portamenti<\/em> (i.e., slides from note to note), which heighten the expressiveness of the music).<\/p>\n

While soloist Anne-Sophie Mutter is clearly the one responsible for most of the balance and tempo adjustments, Honeck\u2019s role should not be underestimated. He brings out myriad details in the orchestration that other conductors overlook and elicits crisp and energetic playing from the orchestra.<\/p>\n

All the performances on this CD, which is filled out with other Dvo\u0159\u00e1k works for violin and orchestra, are first-rate. An added bonus is an exquisite performance of the well-known Humoresque<\/em>, in the arrangement by Fritz Kreisler.<\/p>\n

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