About this Artist

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• Interview

Editorial Reviews

A violinist as successful as Anne-Sophie Mutter doesn't have to play any modern music at all; she could have a phenomenally successful career playing only the accepted masterworks. But Mutter's enthusiasm for the new and unusual pervades all of her work, so that even in standard fare her interpretations have a feeling of that thrill of discovery. On this recording she plays the beautiful Violin Concerto (1935) by Alban Berg and a work from 1992, "Gesungen Zeit" (Time Chant), by Wolfgang Rihm. Berg's Concerto was written as a memorial to a young girl and bears the subtitle, "To the memory of an angel." Dense, difficult, and suffused with sadness, it richly repays repeated listening. Echoes of tonal music hover like ghosts, particularly in the final movement, where Berg quotes a chorale melody by Bach. Rihm, on the other hand, dispenses entirely with traditional melodies and all musical models from the past. He creates a new language, at once lyrical and fragmentary, lithe and fragile. Mutter's persuasive advocacy makes both works accessible for any listener with eager ears and an open mind. Andrew Farach-Colton, Barnes & Noble

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