Brahms: Violin Concerto; Schumann: Fantasie,Op 131

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, ...
...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 performances. I’ve always found a rare, affecting quality in Mutter's distinctive sound. A ... more

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 performances. I’ve always found a rare, affecting quality in Mutter's distinctive sound. A pure, silvery tone unlike any other flows effortlessly from her Strad, yet she avoids descending to soporific and maudlin lows. Her more expansive reading, the greater elasticity than is usual of her sustained notes, allows one to absorb, ponder and appreciate the sheer exquisiteness of the music more fully. Read on to see why this disc will rank among my DIDs (desert island discs) for all time.

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As befits its Teutonic origins, the Brahms violin concerto is a weighty one, in contrast to, say, the Mendelssohn. In this seminal work, Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) displays some of the most emotive and lyrical musical themes in the classical repertoire.

Brahms wrote it for his good friend, Joseph Joaquim (1831-1907), asking the great Austro-Hungarian violin prodigy to modify the piece as necessary. (Brahms himself did not play the violin). Joaquim did so, and the piece finally premiered on January 1, 1879--to a confused and rather hostile reception (not unlike what would later greet the Tchaikovsky violin concerto). Pianist Hans von Bulow described it as a concerto not ‘for the violin’, but ‘against it’! Brahms tweaked it further until the piece finally saw publication months after its premiere. With such shaky beginnings, it might have been hard to imagine the work becoming one of the most beloved in the violin repertoire today.

To be quite frank, the concerto did almost nothing for me at first. None of the musical themes appealed to me, buried as they were in the work’s complexity. It was hard to follow the melodic line, which was obscured by frequent shifts in rhythm and tempo. In fact, all it needed was a few more spins on the player for its breathtaking magnificence to emerge.

The first movement opens with a majestic orchestral introduction that lasts two-and-a-half minutes. Strings repeat a phrase insistently as Mutter joins in. Already she’s running swiftly up and down the scales with legato (connected) and staccato (disconnected) notes. The pace slackens, as we encounter for the first time that melody of spine-tingling beauty. Delicate little trills decorate the end of each phrase. You’re then jolted out of you sweet reverie by the strong, raspy, bounced notes that follow. A slight anguish, then a brief break for Mutter as the winds take over. When the lyrical theme returns, Mutter has the pizzicatto (plucked) cellos and basses for company.

Repeat listenings are in order, if one wishes to catch the details, especially those lovely intricacies in melody and time signature. Surprises await you in the rapid, unpredictable shifts in tempo and the occasional key change. Sweet, languid notes alternate with harsh ones. Seemingly chaotic at first, the work’s profound beauty reveals itself only over time. Running to twenty-two minutes, the first movement is long for a concerto, but the soloist gets a little break midway through. Mutter plays Joseph Joaquim’s cadenza (violin solo), entering with stirring passages that end on a high note held across several bars. Just when you think it has reached the summit, the violin dares to go even further, now more passionate and rapturous than ever, as the orchestra picks up the theme and proceeds to sound the closing chords.

Spanish virtuoso Pablo de Sarasate scoffed at the manner in which the second movement opens. The oboe enters at the top with a two-minute solo, enough to prompt Sarasate to declare that he did not wish "to listen, with violin in hand, to how the oboe plays the only melody in the whole piece!” No cause for worry, as Mutter repeats the theme with an especially powerful achiness rendered by her wistful, elegant notes soaring into the stratosphere. This Adagio must contain some of the finest examples of sublime, delicate, and restrained melodic wonder that have met my ears--'tis a rare glimpse of heaven, truly.

Shifting from melancholia, the exuberant last movement celebrates life joyfully, echoing the lively Hungarian and gypsy dances on which it was based. Mutter cuts loose, sliding and bouncing her bow against the strings with appropriate gusto, accompanied by the enveloping sound of the orchestra. Slowing down shortly before the end, she grows hushed, at which point the orchestra lets out the final, booming chords, a lovely close to an exhilarating musical journey.

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The rest of the disc is taken up by Robert Schumann's rarely played and heard Fantasy. Schumann wrote this work for (once again) Joseph Joachim. (Schumann was a mentor to Brahms, who cherished his friendship with the older composer, and is believed to have fallen deeply in love with Schumann’s wife, Clara. But that’s neither here nor there.)

Pastoral-like, sweeping notes are played by the strings and winds, the soloist enters, at first with serious intent, yielding to joyous sections that please with their many surprises. Mutter’s strong, quick and scraping notes alternate with fluid and sweetly mellow phrases. Her solo violin hogs much of the spotlight on this one. The orchestra shadows her, occasionally playing the theme against her brief sinuous counterpoint. A short cadenza lets Mutter show off some complex fiddling, with furiously played phrases that leap as they ascend across the octaves. The piece concludes with the traditional booms from the orchestra, evoking a sense of finality and closure.

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I warmly recommend this particular disc over the previous Brahms recording by Mutter--but just by a nose--while noting that 'tis a rather difficult choice to make. Both are wonderful and worthwhile, as each reflects a different point in the musical life of the violinist. It can’t fail to capture your ear and mind, heart and soul, what with Brahms, the "Romantic Beethoven," as composer, the always compelling Mutter on violin, and maestro Masur and the NYPO lending wonderful orchestral support. Five solid stars.

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NOTE: To commenter #3, posted comment today, 27-8: the message I left in your gb, sir, should sufficiently clarify the situation.

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CD Notes:

JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833 - 1897)

Konzert für Violine und Orchester D-dur op. 77
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D major

1 1. Allegro non troppo (22' 55)
Cadenza: Joseph Joachim, rev. Ossip Schnirlin

2 2. Adagio (9' 20)

3 3. Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo vivace - Poco più presto (7' 55)

ROBERT SCHUMANN (1810 - 1856)

Fantasie für Violine und Orchester C-dur op. 131
Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra in C major
Transcription: Fritz Kreisler

4 Moderato semplice ma espressivo - Allegro marcato - Molto tranquillo - Tempo primo - Cadenza - Molto tranquillo (13' 12)

ANNE-SOPHIE MUTTER, Violine
New York Philharmonic
KURT MASUR

Recorded Live at Lincoln Center Festival 97

Total Running Time: 53' 35

© 1997 Deutsche Grammophon 457 075-2

 

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