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The Week in Reviews, Op. 538: Anne-Sophie Mutter, Christian Tetzlaff, Leonidas Kavakos
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. Click on the highlighted links to read the entire reviews.
Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter. Image courtesy of the artist.
Anne-Sophie Mutter performed the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Karina Canellakis.
- Bach Track: "Mutter asserted complete artistic authority, embodying every hallmark of leadership: commanding stage presence, unshakeable poise and a tonal identity instantly recognisable. Her approach was steeped in a grand tradition, with generous vibrato, a consistently warm and rounded sound, her phrasing less concerned with razor-sharp contour than with saturated lyricism."
Christian Tetzlaff performed Ondrej Adámek’s "Thin Ice," Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 2 with Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra and Jonathan Nott.
- Bach Track: "It’s as if a standard concerto had been fed into a mechanical thresher that turned it into metal...And it’s glorious noise, wildly inventive, cleverly orchestrated and thoroughly refreshing....(Tetzlaff) handled it all with a masterful combination of skill and brio, deeply focused on every note, passionate in execution and totally unfazed by the technical challenges."
Leonidas Kavakos performed Bartók's Violin Concerto No. 2 with the New York Philharmonic and Santtu-Matias Rouvali.
- Bach Track: "Passagework was clean and rhythmically alert and the fleeting quarter-tone inflections near its close registered with quiet tension before a cadenza delivered with commanding assurance."
Vadim Gluzman performed the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with the North Carolina Symphony and Carlos Miguel Prieto.
- EarRelevant: "He took the fast portions of the last movement so fast that Heifetz, by comparison, sounds somewhat turtlelike. At the same time, Gluzman also invested the last movement’s several slow passages with genuine soulfulness. Overall, his turned out to be an impressive performance."
Dylana Jenson performed Sibelius’s Violin Concerto with the Lakeview Orchestra and Silas Huff.
- Chicago Classical Review: "Jenson brought a gleaming tone to the melancholy opening melody, while the orchestral strings provided a quietly shimmering bed of sound underneath. After the heartfelt opening statement and luminous double stops, Jenson attacked the fiendishly difficult passagework with determination. "
Concertmaster Madeline Adkins performed John Adams’ Violin Concerto with the Utah Symphony and David Robertson.
- Utah Arts Review: "The outer movements in particular demand virtuosic playing and Adkins certainly didn’t disappoint, giving a tour-de-force performance that was stunning in its pyrotechnical displays as well as showcasing her expressive side in the slow middle movement. "
Alexi Kenney, performed Sofia Gubaidulina's "In Tempus Praesens" with the Houston Symphony and Juraj Valcuha.
- EarRelevant: "Making his Houston Symphony debut, Kenney offered a demonstrative—even theatrical—performance. His clear tone and impeccable intonation carried him through the concerto’s formidable technical demands with conviction and expressive commitment. The cadenzas unfolded with dramatic narrative shape. A master colorist, Kenney delivered an interpretation worthy of comparison with the finest recorded accounts."
Jennifer Koh performed in recital with pianist Thomas Sauer at Herbst Theatre in San Francisco.
- San Francisco Classical Voice: "A famed interpreter of new and recent music, the highlights of Koh’s recital were the two newest works by Tania León and Kaija Saariaho, and three bonbons by Lili Boulanger that opened the concert."
Jennifer Pike performed Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor with the Czech Janácek Philharmonic Orchestra and Daniel Raiskin.
- Bach Track: "It is some artist who can take a warhorse as familiar as this and sound as if she has just discovered the score and wants to share its delights with her audience. There was no exaggeration in her phrasing, or anything but the most subtle rubato, playing her solos quite straight but fresh and pure in sound."
The Attacca Quartet performed a concert at the Gardner.
- Boston Musical Intelligencer: "The Attacca Quartet rewarded an intrepid audience that dared to venture out in advance of an anticipated bomb cyclone with a compelling program that kept us all spellbound from first note to last. "
Himari performed Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Jaap van Zweden.
- WTTW News: "Himari’s performance...was superb. Following the lyrical opening by the orchestra came her beautiful, warmly emotional solo that was marked by her richly dramatic sensibility."
Henning Kraggerud, cellist Adrian Brendel pianist Imogen Cooper performed Schubert piano trios at London’s Wigmore Hall (in December).
- The Strad: "The evening was a total joy, often feeling more like eavesdropping on some relaxed music making between friends than a performance."
Please support music in your community by attending a concert or recital whenever you can!
You might also like:
- The Week in Reviews, Op. 537: Hilary Hahn's Return, with Philadelphia Orchestra
- The Week in Reviews, Op. 536: Alexi Kenney, Maxim Vengerov, David Kim
- The Week in Reviews, Op. 535: Augustin Hadelich, Randall Goosby, María Dueñas
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Replies
Steve I was disappointed to learn that it was, but also not surprised. I saw her play the UK premiere of John Williams' Violin Concerto in '23, I think. It wasn't as full as you'd have expected for such a classical powerhouse.
As from ~ "Apostle" of Heifetz & Nathan Milstein, Elisabeth Matesky {#3} ~ Re Anne Sophie Mutter in Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto yet not in Spohr's "Thirteenth" Violin Concerto!!
Although I knew and gratefully studied in London with Mr. Heifetz's RX to me in Los Angeles in our JH Violin Master Classes knowing I had just received the Fulbright Fellowship to RCM in London, quote JH to yours truly prior: "Liz, Lasserson in London!" ~ I am deeply aware of Anne- Sophie Mutter's choice in repertoire which is always intriguing and often not expected but I am a bit confused about the 2 Replies above from obviously British Violinists or Violin Aficionados of Anne - Sophie Mutter! Why suggest the Royal Festival Hall was not completely full when the first Replier, @Steve Jones, writes "Anne-Sophie Mutter's Festival Hall Concert with the LPO under Karina Canellakis was a sell-out ..."?? It is confusing and knowing Mutter's Sound and instantly recognisable, I'm unsure what the two Respondents are speaking about or if it's the Royal Festival Hall?
Having Recital played on the South Bank in London when residing in London for 7.5 years loving my life in London, and throughout the UK, invited to make my London Violinist Debut by Sir Adrian Boult in the Brahms Violin Concerto and selected by Sir Adrian, himself, listening to my Khachaturian Violin Concerto (performed in our Jascha Heifetz Violin Master Class film which is a part of the Series of We 7 original artist pupil's of Jascha Heifetz, now on YouTube and also other websites globally), it would be interesting if both Members of Violinist.com wrote in with their own assessments of Mutter's actual performance of the Tchaikovsky, which by now, so often performed is not only known to global audiences but possibly avoided by Major Artists to not disappoint regular audience goer's to Mutter Concerts yet savvy and thought out by the now fabled Concert Artist - Her Royal Highness of Violin, Anne-Sophie Mutter, not only veteran violinist but most beloved! We have known each other since Sir Georg Solti introduced us to each other long ago in The RFH after a dress rehearsal with ASM and then brought both of us together, and btw, much younger {!!} yet neither speaking the other's own native language! Solti was sort of a Grand Uncle hugging us both on either side of himself hoping we would engage in major Violin Speak ~ A bit later we honoured The Maestro's Intentions!
Our Conversation in January of 2020, just 8 Days before the Official Announcement of a Pandemic rooted in China then spreading across the World with Flights from China to the US not allowed to Land in major airports in our Country, and just prior, Mutter giving a marveled Concert in our Orchestra Hall in Chicago celebrating what had been thought to be the beginning of Ludwig van Beethoven's 250th Birthday Year, yet ASM was feeling very fatigued yet interested in my very rare private for 3.5 years Advanced Bowing Studies w/Nathan Milstein and expressed this to me having the start of a hoped for more time later on continued Violin Chat ... For myself, I much prefer her interpretation of the Grand Kreutzer Piano and Violin Sonata No. 9, which she offered with grand musical depth plus insights renewed and most loved with her long time Pianist whom a close friend/Colleague of mine, first Cellist under 18 to be hired by Eugene Ormandy in his Philadelphia Orchestra which at the time made Headlines here in America due American Cellist, *Barbara Haffner, also attending ASM's Beethoven at 250 Violin/Piano Recital meeting up whilst Barbara visited with her also known for decades ASM Pianist, while Anne-Sophie and I continued on chatting about Mr. Milstein with her questions about JH Peer GOAT Violinist, ASM found Milstein's playing and Rare Longevity truly intriguing which IMO bodes most well for her own thus far longevity and freshness when in America & parts further On Tour!!
I would hope the Mutter with LPO Tchaikovsky may have been or Will Be Recorded and out on disc!! There are Few now playing Concert Violin who can match the Mutter Sound Loveliness and enriched vibrato also old fashioned beauty harkening back to the 'Golden Age' of both my Mentor's and the born in Ukraine Auer Assistant Guru, England's Sascha Lasserson and I wish to Salute both Mr's Jones and Jake Watson for writing thoughtfully about both Violin Concerti they had heard which included the John Williams Violin Concerto Premier in UK by Mutter in the year 2023 ... Not having heard this work, I can attest to the marvel of composition by US John Williams having weirdly met together in a (now revealing my beginning Touring concertising years via Jet Airplane 727s) Pan Am Passenger Lounge in JFK International Airport in NYC or just out of due an Engine having fallen off the Incoming from London plane losing an Engine over the Atlantic, and those few of us booked on a very early AM flight from JFK to London's Heathrow Int'l Airport and while Waiting the Pan Am Team were most cordial to those of us up for a very early supposed Transatlantic Flight to London but in the meantime, Younger John Williams introduced himself to Your Truly carrying a Double Violin case with Two Violins and my Best Friends!! He asked where I was from and was also working in London on a film telling me he was then looking for a Violinist playing concerts to record violin solo's in a Score he was In Process of fully completing which at the time I was delighted to be invited yet studying privately with *Nathan Milstein on Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 1 in D Maj, worried Mr. Milstein might yell at me if he knew his self proclaimed 'Heifetz private pupil' was going Hollywood! I did not follow through on JW Invite to chat once back in London yet went round to the Milstein's home in Chester Square SW1 once back on UK Soil and after an almost 4 hour plus wait for the new Engine to be in service for our Flight then so delayed ~ But better Safe than Sorry ... {When Young one makes mistakes missing opportunities yet Prokofiev was waiting from its "Owner" of Violin Concerto #1, Nathan Milstein!}
My Hopes and Warm wishes go out to Anne-Sophie Mutter for her now Sixtieth Birthday Celebration Year of a Marvellous Veteran Violinist and ASM Concertising globally for a very long time never disappointing her very Loyal Followers and also giving much of her time for Causes known of All Over The World when ASM partnered with the Munich Philharmonic to raise Funds for The Children of Ukraine so harmed and without funds for even Baby Pablum with all giving their time and wonderful music making without any Fee's to help fellow human beings suffering the terror of ongoing War ... This Is Anne-Sophie Mutter at her very best as an Ambassadress for Good Globally and no one thus far has come close to her gifts for Others which is a rarity yet part of her own personae of Caring for Others ~
I feel this all too little known side of Anne - Sophie Mutter important as she now engages in her Sixtieth Year Anniversary of Concert Violin and may all of us treasure her public performances in this year 2026/27 Special Concert Season with the Mutter Celebration now being honoured throughout ASM Global Concerts around The World! {If I sound like a promoter of ASM, it is a First for me yet I consider myself by now knowledgeable enough and knowing Both GOAT's Violin Artist's Up Close and Personal throughout my own Concert Violin Career plus Master Teaching Loving Music and All who are Offering Knowing what Greatest Music Making means} ...
A Word: Kavakos has now turned to Conducting with his just recently announced appointment as Special Guest Conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra taking up his Post in this 2026/27 Season which should bring a 'New Take' on The Podium from a marvellous Violinist who is known for his I believe in 2001 Video Recording of the Korngold Violin Concerto which is beautiful and sits so well with Leonidas Kavakos!! {A mention whilst ASM and I were last chatting she mentioned Kavakos by last name with a certain respect and a tint of her native German tossed in!! I felt then she respected her honoured colleague most well ...}
~ ~ ~ Musical Greetings to All from Chicago ~ ~ ~
............... Elisabeth Matesky ..............
Fwd ~ dmg Save Book File Mutter Tchaikovsky VC/V.com EM Reply {#3}
Elisabeth - I mistakenly thought the concert reviewed in BachTrack was the (sold out) one in the Royal Festival Hall
https://lpo.org.uk/event/anne-sophie-mutter-plays-tchaikovsky/
but now I see the same artistes gave the same programme a few days later in Hamburg. I expect that one was sold out too.
This looks like a stellar lineup! Mutter, Tetzlaff, and Kavakos are all extraordinary musicians, and it’s exciting to see their performances reviewed together. I’m especially curious about the interpretations and how each artist brings their unique style to the pieces—they’re bound to offer some unforgettable moments.
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February 26, 2026 at 08:51 AM · I wasn't surprised to learn that Anne-Sophie Mutter's Festival Hall concert with the LPO under Karina Canellakis was a sell-out. The rest of the programme consisted of Sibelius's Pojhola's Daughter and Beethoven' seventh. I can't help wondering, was the Tchaikovsky Mutter's own choice? If so, why? I'm not suggesting it would have been an artistic improvement but the hall would still have been full if she'd played Spohr's thirteenth or absolutely anything else.