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The Week in Reviews, Op. 279: Anne-Sophie Mutter; Vadim Gluzman; Simone Porter
In an effort to promote the coverage of live violin performance, Violinist.com each week presents links to reviews of notable concerts and recitals around the world.
Anne-Sophie Mutter. Photo by Stefan Höderath, courtesy Deutsche Grammophon.
Anne-Sophie Mutter performed Andre Previn’s Violin Concerto with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood.
- Boston Globe: "To the solo part, Mutter applied her usual chilly elegance and wry phrases with several dashes of sweetness. Behind her, the orchestra traded in lush cinematic fantasies, inquisitive wind and brass solos, and dark chromatic sequences. The piece sometimes rambles on longer than it needs to, but its most poignant moments stuck in the mind — a cadenza of keening double stops, a sustained final note that Mutter didn’t want to let go."
- MassLive: "Mutter gave a passionate performance Saturday night of Previn’s violin concerto written just for her. Often, the music has a haunting, wistful quality, especially in the longer second and third movements. Mutter played such parts especially well, tenderly caressing each note out of her violin."
Vadim Gluzman performed Prokofiev’s Second Violin Concerto with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
- The Sydney Morning Herald: "Vadim Gluzman played Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Opus 63 with masterly eloquence, clarity and a tone of unforced beauty and strength even in Prokofiev’s sardonic moments."
- Limelight: "With a refulgent upper register, Gluzman’s sound cut through the colourful textures of Prokofiev’s orchestral writing – Zhang coaxing plenty of depth and subtlety from the SSO strings – and established the soloist as very much the main event."
- J-Wire: "From the opening solo passage, with his Strad singing like a call from heaven, he was in complete control. The Prokofiev second violin concerto is as technically demanding as it is melodically rich, with few furloughs for the soloist and extended passages of tricky double-stopping. Gluzman turned in a peerless performance."
Simone Porter performed Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with the Aspen Music Festival Orchestra.
- The Aspen Times: "The marquee concerto, the Prokofiev, found soloist Simone Porter (another Aspen alum) playing with her trademark agility and purity in the silky opening pages. She dug into the rougher sections, but not hard enough to realize the potential of the contrasts. This put more emphasis on the sweeter lyric sections, and that’s how the concerto ends, the result leaving a cuddly impression."
Jenny Gregoire performed Mozart's Concerto No. 4 with the the Eastern Festival Orchestra.
- News & Record (Greensboro): "The composition is filled with youthful excitement and Gregoire’s playing perfectly caught that enthusiasm. Her cadenza was marked by some impressive double stops and her reading of the slow, lyrical movement was stunningly beautiful."
Please support music in your community by attending a concert or recital whenever you can!
You might also like:
- Remembering Conductor and Composer André Previn, 1929-2019
- Violinist.com interview with Anne-Sophie Mutter (2008)
- Violinist.com interview with Vadim Gluzman (2009)
Replies
Someone fetched "refulgent" from the pages of his or her thesaurus.
Re ~ "Reviews" !!!!
As 71.208.69.7 wrote, followed by Paul Deck, I think parts of both 'Reviews' above are 'Nose in the Air' Dribble excepting one Critique from "Mass Live", describing Great Violinist, Anne Sophie Mutter, not wishing to let the final sustained note of her now late former husband, Andre Previn's, Violin Concerto for 'Anne Sophie' "Go." ~ I've no doubt Ms. Mutter could not & did not want to Let go of Any Musical Notes. i.e., translation = to not let emotions go or slip away as these Notes/Emotions were expressions of the most intimate & deep rooted feelings a husband can feel for a wife let alone a prolific Composer, Andre Previn, for his World Renowned Violinist adored wife. Someone from The Boston Globe "got it" ~ truly understood some of what was Real and Happening during Ms. Mutter's Live performance ~ This, folks, is worth printing in any major newspaper, but dribbled cynicism is Way Off Limits, especially at this poignant time in Violinist, Anne Sophie Mutter's, Life ~ Her Grief, intertwined within the Previn Violin Concerto Anne Sophie, composed for her, his beloved wife, Must Be quietly respected & in-the-heart affirmed minus any critical sarcasm ...
Btw, Prokofiev's First Violin Concerto in D Major, premiered early in the Twentieth Century by Joseph Szigetti, to be later followed by my mentor, Nathan Milstein, who brought this first vibrant & dazzling Violin Concerto from black & white (Szigetti) to Nathan Milstein Technicolour w/a devil's wizardry + glorious musicality w/his Milstein Sound, which stands Alone & Above All in interpretation & Mastery as the Greatest Recording of Sergei Prokofiev's Violin Concerto # 1, (Nathan Milstein, violin w/Carlo Maria Giulini Conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra/ London), Mr. Milstein did share his 'views' on this Great Violin Concerto w/me & his extraordinary bowing making child's-play of devil webbed wicked passages in the Scherzo 2nd mov't.! Giulini was masterful with inserted extraterrestrial rare sound effects in the again Dazzling orchestral accompaniment which weaves an orchestral laced Back-up to enhance Mr. Milstein's hypnotic wizardry - cutting as a knife through the orchestral backdrop score accompaniment yet fused into it as well ~ All younger violinists should study this recorded performance very carefully to learn from Nathan Milstein's Mt. Everest Standard! Thank God the Milstein/Guilini/Philharmonia Prokofiev #1 & #2 (opposite side) Milstein/ Fruhbeck de Burgos/Philharmonia Orchestra, is preserved for all & posterity on the EMI Label ~ Both are Historic Beyond!
*The Aspen Times review touches on this re a young violinist who "dug into the rougher sections, but not hard enough to realise the potential of the contrasts ..." I can authentically say that the Scherzo in Prokofiev #1 won't fly/'Take Off' unless all definitive Milstein bowing technique/s are fully embedded into a Violinist's Bow Arm 'Toolbox.' Nathan Milstein possessed an uncanny bow arm unique in every imaginable & unimaginable way but unless blessed to be 'baptised' as his first 'Guinea Pig' private artist-pupil at Chester Square, SW1, in London, one's chances to dazzle-perform Prokofiev No. 1, are slim at best ~
More in a Piece about artistic insights gleamed from my 'other' mentor, Nathan Milstein ... (by Elisabeth Matesky ~)
Not intending to penn such a lengthy Reply, this has taken on a life of its own due to my having Lived it & Own it experiences as a re-ignited/liberated concert playing artist-pupil of Icon of the Violin, Nathan Milstein ~
Blaming the subject of reviewed Prokofiev Violin Concerti, etc., for my involved response, realise both Masterworks were ideal Musical Marriage Repertoire for the Master Violinist Equal of Jascha Heifetz, the Great Nathan Milstein.
As an un-named Contributor wrote, Critics 'make us look much worse than we [soloists & orchestral Pro's] really are' ... There exists an 'air' of sabotage circling the Globe, defying the Art of Goodness = veteran status of proven Musicians who 'be older' than some less known performer's who might think winning a violin competition or more, grants a right to belittle Classical Music's Performing 'Veteran's' ~ Knowingly, I Protest & RX a required in-depth study & learned knowledge of regal artistry by those who tear at Greatness yet haven't travelled Artist's Road's much less travelled ...
Respectfully submitted ~ July 10, 2019 ...
Elisabeth Matesky *
*1st Mentor: Jascha Heifetz (https://youtu.be/M54U-P-Vs9g )
https://www.violinist.com/directory/bio.cfm?member=Milstein
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July 9, 2019 at 06:36 PM · Can stand reading critic reviews . Just makes us classical musicians seem more snobbish than we actually are.