One of my most favourite Violin 'Concertos', and an early disc for Mutter [1985 when she 22], is it a Violin Concerto or isn't it?, i guess it really doesn't matter, it certainly veers away from the established formula, with a five movement 'suite', playing dazzling music, Lalo composed the work for the Violinist Sarasate, and it's so good to hear this work again, it was just over a year ago that this disc appeared in my Blog [8th January 2012].
Anne-Sophie Mutter is German, she's now 49, and her half century beckons this year, she recorded this disc in 1985, and the front cover picture is by Christian Steiner, a pleasing enough portrait, but not incredibly clear, the supposed blacks are just dark brown.
The whole of this work is tremendous, every movement is different, a different mood and vibe, but the whole thing is tied together by Spanish idioms, and by a certain virtuosity, it was the third and fifth movements i liked the best, i guess over the years it's the third movement Intermezzo that has become my favourite, and it certainly hit the mark again today, it's a fairly 'angry' movement of music, at the start there's a stamping rhythm played by the strings, interspersed with a more serene echo by the flutes [0:00-0:57], the Violinist takes up this theme, but drifts away from the anger, and becomes more sweetly lyrical [1:32+], and then by turns more towards virtuosity [2:30+], and even though the orchestra try to bring back in the anger, Mutter keeps it lyrical, even though through a high level of virtuosity, i just like the many twists and turns the whole thing gives, the perfect middle movement.
Here's Anne-Sophie Mutter playing the third movement Intermezzo on YouTube.
Anne-Sophie Mutter is German, she's now 49, and her half century beckons this year, she recorded this disc in 1985, and the front cover picture is by Christian Steiner, a pleasing enough portrait, but not incredibly clear, the supposed blacks are just dark brown.
The whole of this work is tremendous, every movement is different, a different mood and vibe, but the whole thing is tied together by Spanish idioms, and by a certain virtuosity, it was the third and fifth movements i liked the best, i guess over the years it's the third movement Intermezzo that has become my favourite, and it certainly hit the mark again today, it's a fairly 'angry' movement of music, at the start there's a stamping rhythm played by the strings, interspersed with a more serene echo by the flutes [0:00-0:57], the Violinist takes up this theme, but drifts away from the anger, and becomes more sweetly lyrical [1:32+], and then by turns more towards virtuosity [2:30+], and even though the orchestra try to bring back in the anger, Mutter keeps it lyrical, even though through a high level of virtuosity, i just like the many twists and turns the whole thing gives, the perfect middle movement.
Here's Anne-Sophie Mutter playing the third movement Intermezzo on YouTube.
