Anne-Sophie Mutter in Chicago

[septimus_...@q.com]

[septimus_...@q.com]

"But one step out into the brilliant March day and there it is as
big as life, the genie-soul of the place which, wherever you go,
you must meet and master first thing or be met and mastered ...

"The wind and the space, they are the genie-soul. The wind blows
in steady from the Lake and claim the space for its own, scouring
every inch of the pavements and the cold stony fronts of the
buildings. It presses down between buildings, shouldering them
apart in skyey fields of light and air. The air is windpressed
into a lense, magnifying and shaprening and silencing -- everything
is slienced in the uproar of the wind that comes ransacking down
out of the North. This is a city where no one dares dispute the
claim of the wind and the skyey space to the out-of-doors. This
Midwestern sky is the nakedest loneliest sky in America."

-- Walker Percy, _The Moviegoer_

Walking around the Golden Coast and Old Town areas of Chicago
I saw plenty of that brutal wind bemoaned by Walker Percy. Lake
Michigan was still frozen almost a mile from shore and the heavy
rain somehow made little impression on the solid ice accumulated
on the sidewalks. The Art Institute was really well-curated
though, and I even saw a film at the famed Gene Siskel Center
(more on that later).

But my first Chicago visit (not counting airport stopovers) was
made to attend an Anne-Sophie Mutter recital. Her latest U.S.
program was a strange one, consisting of oddball selections played
in small, unusual venues (Kansas, Detroit, Seattle, Baltimore).
San Francisco and Chicago were the sole large cities she visited.
I have loved all her concerts except the two in San Francisco,
where she rushed through the Mendelsohn concerto and made an
obvious error in a Beethoven trio. I heard rumors that her son
studies in Berkeley, which might account for her distractedness.
No idea if that's true, but I wouldn't go to SF to see her again.
The windy city was the logical choice, arctic conditions or not.

Her strapless ball gown was a brilliant gold embroidered with
gem stones. "Gem-like" was also the recurring theme in the way
she played. The first piece was Mozart's sonata in G-major
(K-379). It was an unusually sedate composition from Mozart,
the descending scale motifs lending it gravity. However, it
was somewhat dominated by the piano. On her CD, Mutter and
Lambert Orkis played it gracefully and evenly. Perhaps because
it had been showcased so often during her Mozart tour, Mutter
rendered it very differently here. The drama and the beautiful,
flowery tone were still there, but there was a curtness too,
with less sentiment and follow-through. In the first movement
some chords were repeated, first with piano and then
immediately with both instruments; when Mutter entered, the
duo played at a markedly faster pace than when Orkis was by
himself. I got the distinct impression of a duet by two lovers,
with one more ardent than the other. The second movement
was played gloriously though. Why would you need symponic
acccompaniment when these two musicians could generate the full
sound of an orchestra.

The centerp8iece of this recital for me was the Schubert.
I have never heard Mutter play anything by the composer, in
album or live. Truth be told, even though Schubert is my
favorite composer (along with Brahms and Beethoven -- depending
on which day you ask), and either his String Quartet #14 or
his String Quintet will be played at my funeral (if I have
one), his works for violin and piano are awful. The lone
exception is the Fantasy in C, which was the astute choice
made in this concert series. I had only heard it played by
a young violinist and was dying of curiosity to see what
an expert could do with it. And it was sensational, worth
the trip all by itself. A long piece without any break,
Mutter played it deliberately, majestically, so that it
must have lasted half an hour. (The demand on the pianist,
who played continuously, was even higher, and Orkis flubbed
a line in the only obvious mistake of the night.) Schubert
was someone who liked to hammer the strings in his chamber
pieces, and it was vintage Mutter on display that day: she
ripped her bow until the violin bled. The sound filled the
auditorium like an entire orchestra would. Her power and
intensity were, of course, the reasons I favored her work
over other violinists. One complaint about Schubert's
chamber work is their repetitiveness; in the recording I
own, that flaw is fairly obvious. But Mutter played it with
such flair, there was such sparkle in the sound, I didn't
notice any reptition at all, and was wondering if she
skipped a few chords! I wished it would go on forever,
that she would record this piece so that I could play it
on a loop in my car, never turning it off. There was
scatttered but well-deserved standing ovation afterwards,
just before the intermission.

I wish I had something useful to say about the Lutoslawski
partita. Mutter once recorded it but it was one of her
few recordings I don't have a copy of. Instead I listened
to it on youtube, but did not recognize a thing about the
piece when it was played live. It was discordant, atonal
modern music, and I blame part of my inattentiveness on my
caffeine deprivation. (Note to self -- always drink plenty
of caffeine at intermission in the future, especially if
the first half is exciting and draining.) Even if I didn't
follow the large scale structure, it was still an interesting
piece. I always wondered what the difference is between
modern "classical" compositions and jazz. Both are often
atonal and strident; while everyone claims to like jazz,
the likes of Lutoslawski are hated with a passion. I think
it is just trendy to lfavor jazz. Personally I hate jazz with
a passion, especially disliking the sound of saxiphone,
trumpets, and brass wind-intruments.

The last piece was Saint-Saens' sonata for violin and piano
#1, seldom recorded or played by famous violinists these days
(Then again, Mutter may suggest that no violin sonata is
really in the repertoire anymore.) The first, long movement
had a couple of Schubert-like sing-song motifs (someone
told me it was connected to Proust), but it sounded dreary
overall -- if already much better than the youtube versions
I heard. (Youtube should be banned as a means of appreciating
classical music.) The second movement, extremely short,
finally woke me up. It was waltz-like, bright, and shiny,
especially with Mutter's unhurried lyricism and sighing
sensitivity, at times barely breathing on the strings -- the
way she played the Mozart K379 on her CD. The final movement
must have been exceptionally demanding for the violinist; when
she had a few moments off she would wring and unwind her fingers,
something I've never seen her do before. She did three encores.
The Meditation and Brahms' Hungarian Dance #2 were standard
fare, but she ended the proceedings with a Ravel piece full of
Spanish airs. Could a French album be in the works?