Antonio VIVALDI (1678-1741) The Four Seasons Giuseppe TARTINI (1692-1770) Sonata in G minor "The Devil's Trill" ANNE-SOPHIE MUTTER violin with the Trondheim Soloists Sonnets included.

DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 463 259-2
[62:50] full-price

by Chia Han-Leon

The special thing about Anne-Sophie Mutter is that in a recording of a work like this, the question is hardly about "authenticity", but simply whether she can instill in her performance something unique, something Mutteresque in this popular piece. With Karajan gone, so to speak, one would not expect the lusciousness, the gourmet sumptiousness of her previous recording with the great maestro. Instead, one looks for that distinct strength of personality, that "I don't care what you think but I'd like you to hear it" so characteristic of this favourite violinist of DG.

For me, Ms Mutter is a great musician because she both fascinates and frustrates listeners. As with other great art and great artists, this is their trademark. An example of this is her tone, perplexing with its cool, penetratingly heated, steely energy. I have yet to find the right words to describe the Mutter touch.

Likewise this CD package, a meticulous production wrought with much polish, including an informal interview Ms Mutter has with "the man without a tie in row 17" (I don't understand the reference - someone enlighten me?) - a touch personal, a touch revealing, a touch cryptic, even a little pretentious and self-effacing (it is DG), but by no means unenlightening. Anne-Sophie champions The Four Seasons and The Devil's Trill - "Vivaldi's Four Seasons is a unique celebration of life, a veritable riot of colour. It takes a sensitive violinist to bring out this riot of colour in the form of a tone painting." Stuff it, Stravinsky!

In The Four Seasons, fast movements are treated with an almost tingling metallic glitter. There is something heavily sinewed together in the sound of her playing, something forceful about its energy, that is both interesting, alive and occasionally shocking.

She is most effective during the depiction of the winds. The gales of Summer are powerful indeed, high velocity combined with deep biting, precision ferocity. Mutter subtly displays her understanding of Vivaldi's musical language - the pauses, the momentum, the atmosphere. The final orchestral passage of this movement, with its driving whirlwind, is fantastic. Bravo to the orchestra! Similarly, the North winds of Winter are menacing yet sculpturally so beautiful in her hands. It reminded me of the only time I (and about 200 others, all lined up) met Ms Mutter (see here) - cold, distant and beautiful.

But I do suspect that some listeners will find this very forcefulness and the jarring weight of some passages annoying. Sometimes the going does seem to go a blow too far, as in the middle movement of Summer, with its wildly contrasting sections for quiet forlorn solo and thunderous orchestral tuttis. The bite of the musicians can be too hard, painful. Speaking of the orchestra, the weight generated by this small ensemble of 16 musicians is very substantial - but they match Ms Mutter bowstroke and string tone. Some of the slow passages are poured upon the ear with clever deliberation, as in the opening of Summer, Winter's finale or the sleeping drunkards of Autumn, the orchestra full of tranquil stupour. The more I listen to them, the more I like it.

The locomotive horsepower of Baroque orchestral writing is impressively displayed throughout. In fact, the Trondheimers are very good at negotiating lightning runs and bringing down heavy tutti blows with perfectly judged, attention-grabbing rhythmic coordination. "[L]iterally leap[ing] from their seats", says the interview. The bagpipe drone and air of Spring's country dance is musically painted, and there are also some passages of very pleasing grace and beauty.

Slow movements are also an education. The loneliness and starkness of Ms Mutter's playing captures well the sleeping goatherd of Spring and the anxiety of the storm-fearing shepherd in Summer. Sometimes, this performance of The Four Seasons tends to sound very serious (as opposed to "fun"), which is ironically at odds with the pictorial atmosphere of the CD package (more later). The first movement of Autumn, with its country festivities, is surprisingly solemn in mood, lacking a certain joy in the peasants' harvest celebrations. For the most part though, Ms Mutter remains the superb soloist, playing her portrait of song and dance, of langorous sleep effectively. It is not surprising to suggest perhaps, that although she knows the programmatic content of the verses relating to the concerti, she may have found herself more interested in enjoying the music. But this is hardly a fault.

Having said that, I was disappointed with the performance of the "Winter Largo" - though it is sincerely rendered, Mutter's vibrato just doesn't work for me here. The aria-like nature (Baroque style) of the melody is made to sound quivering, almost fearful, rather than warm and cosy. Here is where I think a little less indulgence is better.

THERE IS such a close affinity here between light and shade on the part of both the modern painter and the Baroque composer. This explosive spark, this flash of lightning in the art of both men! Graubner's images convey a sense of the most extreme elemental force that resembles the musical storms conjured by Vivaldi. But in the same breath I find the most delicate transparency in both artists: notes and colours that weigh as light as a feather, as though I were being breathed on by a tiny creature as it comes into existence. Teeny-weeny abstractions. Brainspun beings smaller than any embryo. Anne-Sophie Mutter

But by the same standard, the slow movements of the Tartini coupling - "The Devil's Trill" made famous by Vanessa Mae - are made Romantic by the same emotional treatment. It sounds (approvingly) more like Beethoven, sweetly so; and Mozart, innocent. Then again, the fast movements sound straight, but though technically impressive, misses a certain heatedness, a kind of wavery Manze-an madness, Italian fire. Maybe I'm just spoiled by Vanessa Mae.

Back to The Four Seasons: particularly enjoyable is "The Hunt" of Autumn, which is read with theatrical bounce, the musicians relishing the spirit of dance and recreation, totally lacking a sense of danger (we aren't watching Predator, you see). One can hear how marvellous Mutter makes the solo writing sound, as simple as the notes look in this movement.

So, in all, not the usual Four Seasons, but with many interesting differences from the average performance. It is neither unauthentic, authentic nor anti-authentic - it is very Mutter, and that's all that Mutters.

And so is the packaging. Oh dear, Deutsche Grammophon is like a rich male suitor to the beautiful Ms Mutter. I never really know whether to be ashamed of DG, or to join in the scintillating 16-million colour celebrations. No less than 30 (yes, three-zero) photographs of Ms Mutter appear in this CD package, not counting the photos where her face does not appear. Most are hue-fully rich reproductions, worthy of a fashion magazine. The CD itself is mounted on a digipak comprising glossy cardboard colour panels which opens out in a cross shape. Praise be to the Violin Goddess, Ave Anna-Sofia. My goodness, this could actually be the classical CD industry's first fashion spread, complete with interview and editorial.

But I won't deny it: this expensive production will achieve its purpose - to get the male heterosexual classical fan rushing to the stores. The girls might want to take a close look at Anne-Sophie's cool shoes. I like the jeans too. And boy, does Ms Mutter make a plain white t-shirt look good...

There's more to the photos and the music though - inside the notes, Ms Mutter has included a brief feature on her favourite artist Gotthard Graubner, who speaks to her on the relationship between painting and music. His paintings "are a sensitive reaction to the music that [he] listen[s] to while working." For Anne-Sophie, the inspiration for the CD came from a visit to the artist's studio - "the images I saw made me think I was listening to Vivaldi's music. There is such a close affinity here between light and shade on the part of both the modern painter and the Baroque composer."

Love her or hate her, she's always an education.

[Photos from DG Website, Anne-Sophie Mutter website and CD package.]

Chia Han-Leon has seen Ms Mutter upclose in person (for all of 20 seconds) and yes, she's absolutely gorgeous.

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621: 27.12.1999 ©CHIA Han-Leon

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