Beethoven and Bruch: Violin Concertos

Advantages: Mutter's eloquence and sensitivity in older recording are enhanced here.
Disadvantages: None at all!

...As a fantastically talented eighteen-year-old, Anne-Sophie Mutter already awed me with her sensitive and thoughtful eloquence in her 1981 recording of the Brahms violin concerto (with Herbert von Karajan directing the Berlin Philharmonic). However, there’s an even deeper understanding in Mutter’s reading of the Brahms piece on this newer disc. This performance was taped live at the Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, New York City, in 1997. Kurt Masur conducts the New York Philharmonic in particularly inspired fashion. A difference of fifteen years separates the two recordings. In the time between, she married, had children, and then was widowed at a very young age. When Mutter returned to her instrument, she would bring a greater strength, emotional depth and insight to her playing, lending a maturity and assuredness to her... Read review

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Advantages: Classic Concertos for Everybody
Disadvantages: Strings only!!!no woodwind...boo!

...prominent. Thus Vivaldi wrotes sonnets to accompany his music and to establish each thought in his mind. It is obvious to say then that Concerto is labelled Spring through to Winter, with three movements within each season. Most form again adopts the ABA construction, a favorite of Vivaldi. These are as follows: 1: Spring: Concerto No.1 in E Major Allegro / Largo / Allegro This I think, is the most well known of the Concertos, and has been used on numerous car adverts and airline adverts. This is what most people remember Nigel Kennedy playing at the very beginning of Nigel Mania!!!! The string compostion reflects the freshness of spring and depending on what recording you buy (trust me there is loads of choice!) this normally sells the album, this movement is the most played also by a leading Classical Radio. 2: Summer: Concerto... Read review

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Advantages: The Romances; concerto's third movement.
Disadvantages: Tempo, pitch and volume quirks in Concerto.

...I never imagined I'd ever down-rate one by Anne-Sophie Mutter for reasons to do with the German violinist herself, but in this case, it just can’t be helped. Two-and-a-half stars are all that this sadly disappointing disc merits from me, an avowed Mutter fan. Mutter revisits the Beethoven workhorse (the Violin Concerto) decades after first recording it as a teen, under the guidance of mentor Herbert von Karajan. That version “distinguishes” itself by being among the slowest out there on disc today. And yet that same performance (tending as it does toward the ponderous) remains more emotionally involving than this, Mutter's more "mature" one. It’s the second joint effort between Mutter and Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic (NYPO), recorded in May 2002 at Avery Fisher Hall, New York City as part of Masur's series of farewell... Read review

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