Anne-Sophie Mutter is one of the artists-in-residence in San
Francisco in this 250th Anniversary of Beethoven's birth. She
played three of the sonatas on 1/26, will play two string trios
and a string quartet (the "Harp") on 1/27, and the violin
concerto in June. I only got to attend the first, although
I have already had the honor of seeing her concerto in Montreal.
The program notes were as detailed as I have ever seen, but the
Davis Hall audience were pathetic; they applauded after the first
movements and could barely make an effort to give a proper
ovation at the end. Mutter played a John Williams piece for
encore and left.

Anne-Sophie Mutter's strapless dress (it wasn't long enough to
qualify as a gown) was all-black, embroidered with silvery
fish-like patterns. I thought she would be wearing the same
black flower gown she did when filming her DVD 20 years ago.
The less elaborate, lighter fabric is typically what she prefers
for ensemble pieces, so it may have been chosen with the next
night in mind. Her performance was correspondingly energetic,
flashy, and youthful; if there is performance enhancement
drugs for classical music she must have taken them, because
in recent years she seemed utterly rejunvenated!

The brooding sonata #4 is never among my favorites, but Mutter
selected it as the sister piece to the surpassingly graceful
"Spring" sonata. Still, the finale of the 4th was performed
with tremendous nuance, played differently than in her recording.
The liner notes compare the first movement to Schubert's
subsequent "Death and the Maiden" quartet. (In this vein,
the racehorse rhythm in the Kreutzer sonata dovetails with
the slow movement in Schubert's string quartet too.)

Sonata #5 features prominently in Rohmer's _A Tale of Springtime_
(suddenly 30 year old). It is the least virtuosic of the three
but Mutter's fresh take on this piece made it an unforgettable
highlight of my concert-going career. The allegro is impossibly
lyrical and melodic but after the first few bars features almost
exclusively short bursts of violin, which Mutter delivered with
extraordinary crispness. The adagio molto expressivo is the
opposite, decked out with sustained, almost uninterrupted bowing.
The Scherzo allegro motto and the rondo have a combination of both,
and the constant changes in pace and color are utterly charming.
Through it all Mutter's phrasing and interpretation were again
markedly different from her recording, giving the piece a
liveliness and spontaneity, a joy to behold. If ever she deserved
to play with a smile on her face this was the occasion, but of
course she treated it with the solemnity of a life-and-death
struggle; that's why I had seen 19 of her concerts live!

The Kreutzer sonata (#9) is considered one of the pinnacles
of the form. The piece is longer and more intricate than most
symphonies. My favorite is the slow movement with its sustained,
muted violin passages. The sonata is noted for its technical
challenge, consistently hitting the highest, least forgiving
registers, and there is barely a break for the violinist (on
top of that the performers had to shorten transitions between
movements lest the audience blundered into applause again).
Despite that, Mutter absolutely breezed through it; her play
was utterly flawless and of studio recording quality. With a
showpiece like this, there was less opportunity for radically
different interpretations, but the sheer confidence, energy,
and verve she brought was astonishing. Afterwards she and
Orkis stayed to sign CD. After my Montreal exposure, where
she clearly spotted me on the front row two nights in a row
and was about to take out an restraining order, I elected to
keep a low profile and skipped that ceremony.

Mutter said in interview that she might take a year away
from the concert tour to study, and would return with fewer
concerts per year. I wonder why -- she is playing better than
I ever remember. But it may be a while before I will have
the pleasure to attend her concerts.

(for A.)

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)