Anne-Sophie Mutter: A Life With Beethoven (DVD)

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Anne-Sophie Mutter, goddess of the violin, is one of the crown jewels in Deutsche Grammophon´s stable of recording artists. In order to celebrate Ms. Mutter´s career-long kinship with Ludwig van Beethoven, the label has released the DVD "Anne-Sophie Mutter: A Life With Beethoven". The disc provides an entertaining, even enthralling introduction to the joys of chamber music performed at the highest levels.

A recent trip to a local music store yielded the following observation from the classical music department´s handler: "People have this idiotic notion about what classical music is. They think ´Josh Groban´ or ´Andrea Bocelli´ or ´Charlotte Church´. That´s not classical music--that´s rubbish."

While I don´t share his view that the vocalists whom he named are "rubbish", I understand his frustration. In order to survive commercially, the classical music world has come to rely on superstar performers who aren´t necessarily the best in their fields of expertise. This trend has lead to the emergence of acts that present "greatest hits" rather than full-fledged compositions. For example, the likes of Josh Groban release albums filled with a couple of show-y songs, but these albums are not cohesive musical wholes (which is the problem with most music created post-1950--everyone´s too busy writing 5-minute ditties rather than harnessing energies to create actual works).

Imagine, then, the vision that it takes to be able to master an entire slate of music written for an instrument in a particular format. Cellist Yo-yo Ma has done it many times during his career with J. S. Bach´s six richly sonorous cello suites (available as two different recordings). Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and pianist Lambert Orkis devoted all of 1998 to playing Ludwig van Beethoven´s 10 piano/violin sonatas, a Herculean task usually accomplished over the course of an entire career. Ms. Mutter and Mr. Orkis traveled around the world, performing all 10 sonatas in 2-night concerts at each tour stop.

Following the conclusion of their tour, their recording company released a 4-CD set of recordings made during their Wiesbaden, Germany performance. The "Anne-Sophie Mutter: A Life With Beethoven" DVD features footage taped during the Paris, France performance at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. The DVD contains renditions of only 2 of the 10 sonatas--No. 5 in F major, op. 24 ("Spring") and No. 9 in A major, op. 47 ("Kreutzer"). Of course, since "Spring" and "Kreutzer" are the only ones with nicknames, they are more famous than the others (and possibly among the most recognized of all classical music compositions).

My colleague, John J. Puccio, also writes reviews of classical music CDs for the magazine "$ensible Sound". I asked him for his opinion of Ms. Mutter, and he replied that he´s "always found her playing very refined, stylish, elegant, and, when needed, highly exuberant." I agree with my dear friend, of course, and I would also like to add that Ms. Mutter and Mr. Orkis bring plenty of innovation to the 10 sonatas. Ms. Mutter attacks her violin with bowing techniques no one else knows how to use. Mr. Orkis´s fingers dance over the keyboard with nimble spaciousness, and he isn´t afraid to hold his hands much lower than other pianists do--sometimes his fingers look like they´re barely hanging onto the keyboard! Both artists also play some passages noticeably slower or faster than more traditional musicians would dare to do. (Amazingly, Ms. Mutter plays the violin without a shoulder pad, and you can see that her instrument leaves a deep mark on her left collar-bone.)

As a fan of German-composed classical music (my favorite composers are Mozart and Beethoven), I find it rather moving and poetic that a proudly Teutonic violinist is the one creating definitive interpretations of important violin pieces for her generation, especially after a united Germany has risen out of the ashes of World War II to become the dominant cultural, economic, and political force in Europe.

Earlier in this review, I mentioned that companies in the business of releasing classical music albums now rely on superstars who aren´t necessarily as talented as they are marketable to sell products. In the past, the Beethoven piano/violin sonatas were called that--piano/violin sonatas. Now, Deutsche Grammophon is calling them violin sonatas only--despite the fact that both instruments have fairly equal parts. Ms. Mutter´s face is used for a variety of packagings, while Mr. Orkis´s is nowhere to be found. Of course, since violinists hold their instruments so closely to their bodies (particularly their faces), they have an advantage over other musicians--dramatic intimacy. Pianists are literally at "arm´s length" from their craft, so it´s hard for audiences to focus on both a piano player´s face and hands.

Anyone can thrash away on a guitar (or bash one to pieces, for that matter), but the discipline required to perform classical music arises from a love of artistry and technique. Those hacks that you see on MTV need the aid of producers, synthesizers, booming woofers, digital wipes, and other tricks just to be able to produce 5 minutes worth of noise. A classically-trained musician needs only his/her instrument of choice to be able to mesmerize the world with mellifluous charm.