Dutilleux / Bartók / Stravinsky: Violin Concertos

I could subtract 1 star because this CD is mostly a reissue, but I won't, because I believe it includes some of Mutter's worthiest concerto recordings.

Say whatever you like about her image and marketing style - I have heard her live many times at Davies Hall and her artistry needs no excuses. She is especially convincing with Stravinsky, in a rare partnership with Paul Sacher, and her Bartok ranks with the best of her peers - Chung, Tetzlaff, Menuhin, etc. Both have been previously issued separately, then issued together in the 3-CD Mutter Modern compilation. With the exception of her Lutoslawski, now available in DG's 20/21 series, I believe this disc reissues the best from the 3-CD set, which has apparently been phased out of circulation.

While this CD is attractive for simply combining Mutter's Stravinsky and Bartok, the new Dutilleux makes it irresistable for me. Dutilleux is one of my favorite living composers (I consider Metaboles to be a top-drawer masterpiece) and I'm pleased that Mutter ordains him the world's greatest in her liner notes. He is not prolific but produces high quality compositions with a listener-friendly use of modern tonalism.

Sur Le Meme Accord was dedicated to Mutter who seems to be its ideal ambassador. Its a short piece for violin and orchestra that exhibits many of Dutilleux's impressionistic trademarks - being colorful, sophisticated, bold and adventurous with neo-classical restraint, his music belongs firmly in the modern tradition without ever becoming unpleasant to listen to - not unlike late Lutoslawski or Rautavaara, following the trail of Bartok and Sibelius.

If you already have Mutter's Bartok and Stravinsky, you might be annoyed by the repackaging scheme that burdens this release. But for me and perhaps others, its a chance to acquire some of Mutter's best without the usual filler, and a very compatible combination on 1 CD.

Ordinarily when a violinist is the whole show, I find it hard to be entirely enthusiastic -- Bartok, Stravinsky, and Dutilleux wrote orchestral parts that demand great conducting, not just great fiddling. But Mutter is an exception, her presence being so commmanding that she can overcome Seiji Ozawa's pallid accompaniment in the Bartok Second. Her approach is large-scaled and roceful, without a show of tics and mannerisms. There's not a lot of Hungarian flavor, but the sheer volume of sound, purity of tone, and bow technique count for a lot. The BSO plays gorgeously and DG's recording is ful and detailed, with especially fine violin tone.

Mutter also dominates with a robust, forward performance of the Stravinsky concerto, and even though her approach is more showy and romantic than Paul Sacher's trim neo-classical accompaniment, the two are sympathetic partners, and once again Mutter is capable of so much variety and shading in hr palying that she gives added interest to Stravinsky's score, which can sound a little dry and mechanical -- or to be more polite, chaste and discreet. Still, I would turn to Vengerov or Perlman for more character and fire in this work.

Which leaves the raison d'etre for this Cd, the Dutilleux concerto that Mutter commissioned. The notoriously slow and painstaking French master gave her a 9 min. bijoux that isn't quite a concerto but a study in delicate colorations and refined orchestral tints. I doubt that anyone would call it a major work -- for one thing, none of the composer's ideas stray far from devices we've encountered many times -- but eveyr minute is agreeable. Mutter is accompanied by Kurt Masur. He does a credible job, but one suspects that a less aloof conductor would have found more meat on the delicate bones of this score.

The premiere of the Henri Dutilleux piece here gave Deutsche Grammophon an excuse to reissue on one disc Anne-Sophie Mutter's performances of two previous modernist violin concertos, that of Stravinsky and Bartok's Second. Even if I'm not completely enthralled by all the music here, the resulting programme makes for a fairly strong disc.

For example, Bela Bartok's Violin Concerto No. 2 (1937-38) has never been among my favourite works by the Hungarian composer. It has neither the spooky modernist touches of the string quartets, the piano concerto, or the "Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta" nor the infectious folk references of his solo piano output. The concerto also gets a little too Late Romantic for me, not a bad thing from other composers, but it does quiet Bartok's unique gifts. Furthermore, it does tend to drag on and on. Nonetheless, there are plenty of moments to enjoy in it, and it does stand as one of Bartok's major responses to 12-tone serialism. This performance of the Bartok by Mutter and the Boston SO cond. Seiji Ozawa is one of lush lyrical abandon, mushy yet strangely compelling compared to the more straightforward accounts I've heard so far (Mullova and Korcia). This sweetness of the conducting and violin tone is accentuated by DG's sonics which keep harp and flutes always clearly audible. On the occasions that I do want to revisit this piece, this is the recording I go to.

Stravinsky's Violin Concerto (1931) was written at the height of his neoclassical period. It is in four movements of which the outer two are extrovert, while the inner two (called "arias") more subtle and mysterious, though all begin with the same D-E-A chord. I have a peculiar relationship with Stravinsky, as I find that I enjoy his music when it's playing, but nothing calls me back to it. These foursquare, slightly vulgar rhythms are fun, but I don't detect any mystery which makes me want to explore the piece again and again. Here Paul Sacher conducts Philharmonia, taking a more meditative pace in the arias than I had heard before.

What really made this work special for me was discovering the music of Henri Dutilleux. "Sur le meme accord: Nocturne for violin and orchestra" (2002) isn't exactly a grand concerto, but it is a spellbinding 10-minute exploration of a single six-note chord with unique properties. The violin opens the piece with the notes of the chord pizzicato, awakening an orchestral elaboration of which it becomes the most dominant voice. The ending of the piece is supremely memorable for its sense of inevitability. This is music that clearly continues the French impressionist tradition, but which is utterly transparent in construction, and after I heard this I went out and bought a boatload of Dutilleux's other music. "Sur le meme accord" is a live recording where Kurt Masur leads the Orchestre National de France. There is some light coughing and the piece is followed by well-deserved applause.

All in all, the ravishing and intriguing Dutilleux calls me back to this disc even if I don't count the Bartok and Stravinsky among my favourite violin concertos. For fans of 20th century music and beyond, I think this is a disc worth trying.