Anne-Sophie Mutter – The Berlin Recital (APE)

Composer: Johannes Brahms, Claude Debussy, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Cesar Franck
Performer: Anne-Sophie Mutter, Lambert Orkis
Audio CD
SPARS Code: DDD
Number of Discs: 1
Format: APE (image+cue)
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Size: 293 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes

# Scherzo for violin & piano in C minor (third movement of “F-A-E Sonata”), WoO posth. 2
Composed by Johannes Brahms
with Anne-Sophie Mutter, Lambert Orkis

# Sonata for violin & piano, L. 140
Composed by Claude Debussy
with Anne-Sophie Mutter, Lambert Orkis

# Sonata for violin & piano No. 21 in E minor, K. 304 (K. 300c)
Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
with Anne-Sophie Mutter, Lambert Orkis

# Sonata for violin & piano in A major, M. 8
Composed by Cesar Franck
with Anne-Sophie Mutter, Lambert Orkis

# Hungarian Dances (21) for orchestra, WoO 1 No 2 in B minor
Composed by Johannes Brahms
with Anne-Sophie Mutter, Lambert Orkis

# Hungarian Dances (21) for orchestra, WoO 1 No 5 in G minor
Composed by Johannes Brahms
with Anne-Sophie Mutter, Lambert Orkis

# Beau soir (“Lorsque au soleil couchant les rivières sont roses”), song for voice & piano, L. 6
Composed by Claude Debussy
with Anne-Sophie Mutter, Lambert Orkis

01. Scherzo in C minor for violin & piano (from the FAE-Sonata)
02. Sonata for Violin and Piano in G minor – 1. Allegro vivo
03. Sonata for Violin and Piano in G minor – 2. Intermède (Fantasque et léger)
04. Sonata for Violin and Piano in G minor – 3. Finale (Très animé)
05. Sonata for Piano and Violin in E minor, K.304 – 1. Allegro
06. Sonata for Piano and Violin in E minor, K.304 – 2. Tempo di minuetto
07. Sonata for Violin and Piano in A – 1. Allegretto ben moderato
08. Sonata for Violin and Piano in A – 2. Allegro- Quasi lento- Tempo 1 (Allegro)
09. Sonata for Violin and Piano in A – 3. Recitativo – Fantasia (Ben moderato – Largamente – Molto vivace)
10. Sonata for Violin and Piano in A – 4. Allegretto poco mosso
11. Hungarian Dance No.2 in D minor
12. Hungarian Dance No.5 in G minor
13. Beau Soir

Not to be missed for the Mozart alone

Other reviewers have commented on Mutter’s extraordinary technique and fully thought out interpretive choices on this recital. For me the highlight of the disc is the Mozart E-minor Sonata. This is the only Violin Sonata Mozart worte in the minor key, and given its chronological proximity to the death of his mother, one cannot help but wonder about its biographical significance. In any case, what a profoundly tragic and yet dignified music this is! The first movement is unrelentingly dramatic and contrapuntally ingenious. The second movement has an abundance of sweetness and melancholy that is positively Schubertian. One can argue that in terms of tragic grandeur and expressive profundity, Mozart never surpassed this sonata in any of his later compositions.

Mutter’s interpretation of this sonata is stunning. I was totally surprised and initially disturbed by the wealth of accents, rubato and tonal colors that she brought to the piece. The overall tempo was also unusually slow. (What a contrast to another recent recording of the sonata by Hilary Hahn, which was also technically flawless, but interpretively more restrained and “classical”.) And yet the more I listened to the performance, the more I come to be persuaded that the treatment was fully appropriate and indeed matches the profound musical utterances inherent in the composition.

We probably will not hear anything like this in a long time. And really, there is no better way to celebrate the 250th birthday of Mozart than listening to it and be moved by again and again by this miraculous music.