A full house, and in the Festspielhaus of Baden-Baden that means 2500
seats, expected the appearance of Anne-Sophie Mutter and Lambert
Orkis in their Brahms Sonata evening, with which they are now touring
in three Continents.
One still remembers the beginning of her meteoric career some twenty-five
years ago when Anne-Sophie Mutter, vigorously promoted by Karajan,
appeared as the first female star in a firmament largely dominated by
male violinists. Her impetuosity, and sometimes wilfully rich
vibrato, even if in the service of superb musicianship, remarkable
even in more mature artists, soon earned her, particularly in the UK,
some detrimental notices.
Nevertheless, in the course of a slowly maturing process, during which she also distinguished herself in almost statesmanlike dignity with bilingual brilliance, support and even creation of meaningful charities, fearless engagement in the fight for human rights and the promotion of the careers of young violinists, she still finds herself in the company of a very select few at the top of her profession.
Her string chamber music partners Yuri Bashmet and Lynn Harrell are two of the finest performers of this art. Many leading contemporary composers have dedicated important concertos to her. Her recent recording of Gubaidulina’s Second Violin Concerto, a monumental and deeply philosophical work, was widely acclaimed even by formerly critical reviewers. She will present the first European performance of Previn’s Concerto for Violin and Double Bass in December with the LSO at the Barbican. Her concert engagements are filled to capacity for years ahead.
During her forthcoming US tour of Bach concerts, she asked one of her
most talented protégées, Vilde Frang, a young Norwegian violinist
about whom we shall hear a lot in the future, to play the second violin
part in the Bach Two-Violin Concerto – a typical gesture in promoting
the careers of the next generation.
Her partner in her almost missionlike persistence throughout three
Continents in presenting the sonatas of Mozart, Beethoven and now
Brahms, Lambert Orkis, is a Canadian pianist and musicologist of high
reputation. They were welded together through many hundreds of
recitals into an exemplary unity, thinking, phrasing and sounding like
one.
Anne-Sophie Mutter has an extraordinary stage presence. Dressed always
strikingly in beautifully designed gowns, with her alabaster shoulders
always left bare to display even more artistically her Stradivarius
violin, she unwittingly reminds one of the stage appearance of Anna
Netrebko, whose statuesque beauty is an integral part of her artistic
persona. The difference, to me, is that one can listen to Anne-Sophie
Mutter with closed eyes, and still be carried along with the individualistic beauty and subtlety of her
playing.
Striding along the wide stage, like being lifted on a wave of
genuinely heartfelt applause, Lambert Orkis traipses a few haltering
steps after her, with the benevolent smile of a jovial uncle. To
many in the audience this reduced his role to one of a mere
accompanist. Nothing could be further from the truth, but Anne-Sophie
Mutter just cannot fail to dominate a stage on which she appears.
On reaching the piano, they immediately started playing, as if wanting
consciously to avoid being voyeuristically ogled by the audience.
Raising her bowing elbow high, she now allows her bow to play almost by itself, just by its own gravity. This achieves truly breathtaking diminuendos, dying away, but still floating in the blackness of that enormous airspace. This new subtlety and delicacy marked particularly the Andante Tranquillo of the A Major Sonata, and the G Major Sonata ended in a dreamlike suspense that lasted long after they finished playing.
Yet when in the A Major Sonata Brahms resorted to sudden
outbursts of manly vigour, encouraged by the attentions of a singer,
whom he even contemplated marrying – much to the chagrin of his
platonically adored Clara Schumann – she went back to her aggressive
and forceful bowing, her whole upper body taking part in the widely
swinging effort. Yet the sound always remained pure and like
burnished gold.
Carried on the waves of heartily enthusiastic applause, they gave by
way of three encores a brilliantly virtuosic and yet wonderfully
schmaltzy rendering of the No 1, 7 and 2 Hungarian Dances by Brahms. A
wonderful evening, and from me, humble gratitude to Brahms, who will
live centuries after the names of many of our contemporary composers
will be buried only in footnotes in a twenty-second century Grove's…
Photos: Copyright Deutsche Grammophon