Anne-Sophie Mutter

Anne-Sophie Mutter (b. June 29th, 1963)

ANNE-SOPHIE MUTTER'S YEAR OF (MOSTLY) MOZART
The Violinist Caps a Flurry of CDs with a Delightful Compilation, While News of Her Retirement is Decidedly Premature
For Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 2006 was quite a year. Concert halls overflowed with his music, and CD bins brimmed over with hundreds of new recordings, all in celebration of the composer's 250th birthday. It was also quite a year for violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter. Perhaps no other artist embraced the Mozart spirit as wholeheartedly as Mutter; her just-completed Mozart Project encompasses seven CDs -- all-new recordings of Mozart sonatas, trios, and concertos -- while a set of DVDs featuring live performances is slated to go on sale in 2007. On top of all this, Mutter has released Simply Anne-Sophie, a selection of highlights from some of her favorite recordings. It's something "to be enjoyed without great cerebral effort," she says with a chuckle, drawing a contrast to some of the more challenging repertoire she has championed. Mutter, 43, also marks a personal milestone this year: the 30th anniversary of her professional debut. So what about those reports of her impending retirement? All a misunderstanding, she explains with a heartier laugh. Fans were nonplussed by the news, and one leading British columnist went so far as to pen an epitaph for Mutter's career. But, as she told Barnes & Noble.com's EJ Johnson, who reached Mutter at a Manhattan hotel while she was gearing up for an all-Mozart stint at Carnegie Hall, it's just a sabbatical.

Barnes & Noble.com: Tell me about your Mozart Project. What prompted you to undertake this ambitious series of recordings?

Anne-Sophie Mutter: It started with the violin concerti, which I did six years ago for the first time without a conductor, and I developed a totally different concept of these pieces. I wanted to use a more chamber-music approach, and after doing them a few times with the Vienna Philharmonic and various other orchestras, I wanted to record them. My first recordings of Mozart are now 30 years back, [laughs] so it seemed that it was really time to show a different viewpoint.

B&N.com: Your first commercial recording, in fact, was of the Third and Fifth Violin Concertos with Von Karajan conducting.

ASM: That's correct, and the first concert I did with orchestra at the age of nine was also Mozart concerti. So after realizing that this year is the big birthday of the most beloved composer, Mozart, I also started to look into more than the usual three or four sonatas and found 16 really gorgeous pieces, stretching back to the early ones where the violin is not an equal partner with the piano but very much dominated by the piano. And then we cover a middle period where he had already married Constanze and which probably was the happiest time of his life, and then the late Mozart, who was very successful but always struggling for money. And it's just wonderful to have this kind of "time travel," not only mirrored on three evening recitals, on which we do the 16 pieces, but also on the CDs. You get a really good overview of three totally different stylistic periods.

B&N.com: And the third part of the project is the trios.

ASM: Yes, some of the late trios, which Mozart also used to perform himself. In the E Major Trio, André [Previn], who has such a fluid and wonderful technique, was pulling his hair, because it's terribly demanding for the piano. Actually these are really piano concerti with violin, and then very far back somewhere is a cello. That part is wonderfully played by Daniel Müller-Schott, a very gifted cellist. But let's face it, this is really piano playing at the highest level, and André is such a gifted Mozart player, with such an incredible sense for colors. It's a great project because it also shows how many different ways Mozart, who was not only a pianist but also a brilliant violinist, was treating the violin, and how much the violin from the early stages evolved to become a really mature and equal partner to the piano.

B&N.com: You've mentioned some of your early experiences playing Mozart. How would you contrast playing Mozart as a youth versus as an adult? I think of Schnabel's famous quote about Mozart being too easy for children and too difficult for adults.

ASM: I think it's somewhere in the middle. [laughs] The thing is, Mozart requires total attention and dedication, because he has written so few notes and his music is very sparsely orchestrated. I think it was Joseph II, the emperor, who said, "Oh, too many notes!" And Mozart said, "No, it's just the right amount." And this is true, but it is a very intimate dialogue where every word counts. And that is what makes this music so endlessly interesting, because there is so much detail. And it's great to see how the audiences around the world -- so far we have played in the Far East and Europe -- are getting into this music, which is so sophisticated and delicate but at the same moment incredibly passionate and just overflowing with exuberance and joie de vivre.

B&N.com: You've also just released a retrospective collection, called Simply Anne-Sophie. But some of the music on it is anything but simple, like the Sarasate Fantasy. Why the title?

ASM: It's because of André's piece, Tango, Song, and Dance. The slow movement is titled "Simply." First of all, it's one of my favorite pieces, because it's such a wonderful song and he's such a great songwriter, even without words, and it just seemed to be a good title -- nothing pompous, you know, it's just simply me. Actually, it's not simply me: It's pieces of great composers! [laughs] I tried to find a mixture between virtuosic music and pieces which also show the singing quality of the violin. But maybe it's a relief for my audience to finally have a recording they don't have to kneel down in front of Mozart's music, just enjoy sitting on the sofa, or whatever. [laughs]

B&N.com: I read that you recently announced you intend to retire in 2008…

ASM: Yeah, [laughs] I wish had never said that! First of all, I have never said that I would retire in 2008 or whatever. It will be my usual ten-year break. I simply wanted to state that I'm not the type of artist who's going onstage just out of a habit but will do it as long as I think I can bring something positive to music, something important. I might stop tomorrow, I might stop in five years, I might stop in ten years. My only intention was to reaffirm my great humbleness in front of music and that I'm not doing it as a job which I'll do until I drop dead.

B&N.com: So it will be time off to recharge the batteries, so to speak.

ASM: Yes, and to learn new repertoire, which is very difficult to do on the side. I just received Sofia Gubaidulina's Violin Concerto about ten days ago, and then André's Double Concerto, which is going to be performed in April, is knocking on my door. Contemporary music does need time, and I'm very much looking forward to doing more chamber music work, like string trios with Yuri Bashmet and Lynn Harrell. And all of that just requires quiet rehearsal time together, because playing trios and quartets is something that has to grow slowly. So there are many reasons to take a sabbatical, but I'm not on retirement! I love music way too much, and I think there's way too much I want to say.

November 2006