{"id":6620,"date":"2012-10-04T07:45:33","date_gmt":"2012-10-04T11:45:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=6620"},"modified":"2012-10-04T07:45:33","modified_gmt":"2012-10-04T11:45:33","slug":"concert-review-violinist-anne-sophie-mutters-commanding-performance-with-the-toronto-symphony-orchestra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2012\/10\/04\/concert-review-violinist-anne-sophie-mutters-commanding-performance-with-the-toronto-symphony-orchestra\/","title":{"rendered":"Concert review: Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter’s commanding performance with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter performed with conductor Michael Francis and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra on Wednesday night (Dale Wilcox photo).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Under d\u00e9buting guest conductor Michael Francis, Wednesday night\u2019s Toronto Symphony Orchestra concert featured a commanding performance by violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter of the well known Concerto No. 2<\/em> for violin and string orchestra by J.S. Bach, the darkly intense In Tempus Praesens <\/em>(For the Present Time) written for her in 2007 by Sofia Gubaidulina, as well as Beethoven\u2019s Fifth\u00a0 Symphony<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In Bach\u2019s concerto, Mutter played with exquisite control of expression and nuance in dynamic interplay with a small ensemble of strings. She executed difficult passages with a lightness that only a true virtuoso can deliver, and the small ensemble whetted the audience\u2019s appetite for Beethoven\u2019s Fifth<\/em>, which has four times the musical forces.<\/p>\n

The orchestra sounded sluggish in the first two movements of the Beethoven piece, despite Francis\u2019 efficient conducting. From where I sat, the orchestra provided only three dynamic levels: soft, loud, and even louder. Fortunately, there was a marked improvement in the last two movements, where Francis drew out a wider dynamic spectrum and ably shaped the sonic textures necessary to convey the drama in Beethoven\u2019s music.<\/p>\n

This was the orchestra at its very best.<\/p>\n

And those audience members who returned after intermission to hear the newer work by Gubaidulina were not disappointed.<\/p>\n

In Tempus Praesens <\/em>draws on the universal concept of the individual against an oppressive society, underlined by the composer’s own experience of having her music banned in Russia.<\/p>\n

Gubaidulina offers an interesting twist on musical forces being pitted against one another in a concerto by removing the orchestral violins. This placed principal viola Teng Li in the role of concertmaster, leading to a chorus of delighted foot-stomping from the musicians on stage.<\/p>\n

Augmented by a rich percussion section, the orchestra’s shifting textures and sounds made a fine contrast with Mutter\u2019s minimalistic and meditative solo lines. Her long, sustained tones, in no way resembling melodies, conveyed deep intensity and gravity, drawing listeners into a deeply introspective state.<\/p>\n

Under Francis’s careful direction, the intensity of the piece built gradually to the sort of dramatic heights usually experienced in opera, bringing the Roy Thomson Hall audience to a standing ovation.<\/p>\n

If you missed this concert, you can see Mutter perform the same program again tonight (details here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Margaret Lam<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Under d\u00e9buting guest conductor Michael Francis, Wednesday night\u2019s Toronto Symphony Orchestra concert featured a commanding performance by violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter of the well known Concerto No. 2 for violin and string orchestra by J.S. Bach, the darkly intense In Tempus Praesens (For the Present Time) written for her in 2007 by Sofia Gubaidulina, as well […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6621,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,74,76,19,36,38,52,58,60,63,1,68],"tags":[302,435,485,857,1493,2217,6471,2881,3360,3498],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2012\/10\/mutter.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-1IM","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6620"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6620\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6620"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=6620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}