Mutter's Mozart...

i've been extremely fortunate to have had the opportunity to hear some incredibly talented artists (e.g. András Schiff, David Helfgott, Sarah Chang, Alfred Brendel, Ralph Kirschbaum, Leon Fleischer, Anne Akiko Meyers, etc.) render some profound interpretations of the great masters...

although, i think, it is even more incredible when they are able to offer you a reassessment of your pre-conceived partial view of the works of those classical masters; e.g. that of Mozart, who is hailed as the child-prodigy and who is known to have penned heavenly music... yet despite the fact that his works are very often prettily composed and diverse in similar (but never the same) themes and variations... they don't always pull my heartstrings, for i feel that they are often played, coldly (whether intuitively or interpreted as such)... and somewhat distant.

what violin virtuoso Anne-Sophie Mutter did in her performance on wednesday was quite refreshing... adding colour, texture and depth to the notes of Mozart's violin sonatas and making them more rousing and alive than i've ever thought his music could be capable of.

i first heard of Anne-Sophie as a little girl/ teenager growing up in singapore... i heard her name being annouced over the radio programme (very likely the short-wave BBC world-service that my papa fiddles with...) and then her playing... and always wondered who this incredible person, and where germany might be... and whether i will ever get to see her and hear her play, live... someday.

i did so last wednesday evening... saw her walked onto the stage in her beautiful blue floral-print mermaid dress with her accompanist Lambert Orkis. they only briefly took their positions and began their repertoire without hesitation... there's something powerfully alluring in her playing which kept me captivated... (even when some audiences left their wretched cell-phones on! utterly annoying twats...) ... and even made me reconsider my partiality towards Mozart's composition.

perched up on the closest balcony, with a splendid view of the musicians, i could admire Anne-Sophie bowing, and fingering all the notes across the finger board of her beautiful instrument, and watch her anticipation of various phrases... i love the intimacy... which one doesn't really get in a larger orchestral setting. pity though, that there aren't many such performances throughout the year... although, it is probably good for my wee pocket... =C) for i am a sucker for inspiring artsy stuff...

nearly reaching the end of her Mozart tour... her last stops are in the US... with 3 different programmes to choose from, she delighted the audience with a selection of violin sonatas in A, C, E flat, G, and B flat. i particularly enjoyed her 2 encores... when she played the Menuetto from Mvt 3 of the Divertimento in D (K. 334) with such passion, and the lyrical slow movement of the sonata in E minor (K. 304)... it was perhaps where Mozart meets Bach... soulful and penetrating... and even more wonderfully so, because Anne-Sophie Mutter enjoyed herself too.

posted by ~overacuppa~ on Sunday, 12 November, 2006 at 13:32 hrs