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 a year yet showing a clear sense of Mozart’s development within the form. Anne-Sophie Mutter invests them all with an unfussy elegance verging on the effortless. Cool as a classical cucumber, she is without doubt a class act.

The Second Concerto saw her long, smooth bowing action contrasting perfectly with the busier passages in the amiable first movement. Her interpretation, even of this, the least flashy of the three, was full of ideas for dynamic shading, and all communicated to her SSO colleagues via the subtlest of body language whilst reserving her virtuosic firepower for the surprisingly showy cadenza. In the slow movement, Mutter glides between notes perhaps more than would be tolerated by the period performance school but her playing is invested with a generous use of vibrato and such warmth and fullness of tone that everything comes across as perfectly judged.

Two flutes join the fray for the Third Concerto where already you can feel Mozart making the orchestral textures lighter to contrast more sharply with the soloist in the airy opening movement. Again, delicious shaping of phrases is the order of the day with a meaty cadenza looking distinctly forward to the 19th century. I should also mention Mutter’s breath-taking trills and a seeming ability to produce a sustained sound with no loss of tone when it appears she has only an inch of bow left to spare. The second movement with its pizzicato cellos and plangent flutes saw a heart-stopping solo entry beginning from almost nothing and a heavenly line like spun silk. Mutter can be a more indulgent player these days, when she chooses to be, and the rondo provides a perfect opportunity with its cheeky interjections, like little musical jokes from a forgotten era.

Apart from its unexpected slow entry, the Fifth Concerto’s first movement is less experimental perhaps than the Third but the solo part is even more cleanly defined. Mutter is here at her most imaginative with some superb piano/pianissimo playing, the Joachim cadenza beautifully finessed. After the long-breathed slow movement and the deceptive little Haydnesque minuet that begins the finale, the Turkish music, as ever, comes as a delightful dramatic surprise. Mutter allows it to carry her from Classical to Romantic mode before minuetto allegretto-ing her way to the end in style. Needless to say, the crowd love every minute of it.

Talking to Anne-Sophie Mutter before she came out to Australia she spoke candidly about knowing when to call it a day and indicated that her concertizing days were strictly limited. On this showing, I would say that losing her would be a tragedy as she still has so much to offer. Either way, the watchword would have to be: “catch her while you can”.