Mutter and mates achieve a classy, collegiate intimacy with grace and style.

Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House

Jan 31, 2014

German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter has been playing the Mozart violin concertos for more years than a gentleman might care to tell, and since 2000 she has regularly played then without a conductor at the helm. That she is drawn back again and again to these gems from the pen of the Viennese wunderkind (Mozart had written them all by the age of 20) is a tribute not just to the works but to the questing spirit of this most complete of modern musicians.

For Sydney return, following her debut with the Beethoven concerto, she has chosen to go commando once more (by which I mean without conductor, not without underwear before you ask), a gesture of respect for the 30-or-so players of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, led by concertmaster Dene Olding, with whom she performs. That collegiate feeling of chamber-like intimacy is evident right from the start – they like her and she clearly likes them back.

On the program are three of the concertos, Nos. 2 and 3 and No 5 with its famous Turkish episode, all of them written within...