Anne-Sophie Mutter

Anne-Sophie Mutter

Listening to Anne-Sophie Mutter's new recording of the Mozart violin concertos, it's hard to believe it's almost 30 years since the violinist first committed them to disc, so fresh and spontaneous do they sound.

It's partly this ability to renew and reinvigorate her music making that has kept the German violinist at the top of the musical tree for three decades. In an age where musical superstars are proclaimed every five minutes, Mutter is the real deal. Technically unsurpassed, she remains musically curious, committed to contemporary repertoire, eager to explore new ways of working and keen to find new ways of moulding her distinctive sound.

That approach is embodied in her Mozart Project. With a focus and intensity rare in a musician of her stature, Mutter has been directing her attention towards the music of Mozart in his anniversary year. The grand finale is her first ever recording - released by Deutsche Grammophon in September - of the violin sonatas, with her long-time musical collaborator, pianist Lambert Orkis. The two open the 2006 Lucerne Festival with performances of the works.

Mutter has also joined forces with production company Unitel to record the Mozart Project for international TV broadcast. Then there's her large-scale television documentary Mutter's Mozart, the first part of which was broadcast on German television in January 2006.

Mutter has long been associated with the music of Mozart. She first recorded the concertos with Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic in 1978 - and she's had a lifetime to explore their intricacies. So it comes as a surprise when she admits that the greatest influence on her approach to the music has been playing without a conductor.

'The fact that I started to play without a conductor meant I had to restudy the pieces,' she says. 'I've now become more interested in the interaction between the orchestra and the violin. I see my position within the orchestra.

'Mozart is so subtle, so multilayered, there are so many dialogues even between the second and first violins - there are so many important details to carve out,' she continues. 'It's necessary to pare down the texture of the music, to get the feel of it as chamber music - which is why I've been doing them without a conductor. It makes it more manoeuvrable and responsive musically.'

This personal dialogue has been key to Mutter's relationships not just with orchestras and audiences but with composers. She remains a committed advocate of new music and has commissioned many pieces by some of the leading names in the business. In 2000, she undertook a major project called Back to the Future - a retrospective journey through the 20th century's major repertoire. She also premiered Penderecki's violin sonata, which she commissioned, in London that same year. More recently she has championed the violin concerto of André Previn, her husband.

'If you didn't love contemporary music then you wouldn't want to play it,' she insists. 'The things I have played so far I have always adored.' She's now waiting for Pierre Boulez finish a piece for her ('I'm deadly afraid it will be too difficult!') and there's a concerto in the wings from Sofia Gubaidulina. 'If it's anything like as heart-wrenching and deep as her Offertorium, which I played in August, it will be extraordinary,' she says.

'I have also asked Wolfgang Rihm for a new piece. I premiered his concerto Gesungene Zeit 14 years ago and it has not lost any of its spike or force. I have asked him to write a piece for string trio that Yuri Bashmet, Lynn Harrell and I will play in 2008.'

But first comes another concerto - this time for double bass and violin - from Previn. 'André is one of the few composers who can deliver on time,' she says. 'It's really difficult if they deliver a few moments before the premiere!'

So what - other than timeliness - does Mutter look for in a new work? 'I look for something that will touch strings in my brain, an emotion that perhaps I don't even know of yet,' she muses. 'I hope it will inspire me even if it's something totally bizarre and new. I hope that it will renew my playing but hopefully that it will also be something I will fall in love with. I'm probably not the one who goes for the bicycle bells school of new music. I'm more on the classic side: making music which has some beauty. But it's very subjective.'

Less subjective is the need to encounter all forms of musical activity - and on this front some of Mutter's legendary steeliness glints through the surface gentleness. 'I think technically the demands are no different on today's artists than they were 30 years ago but I think the willingness of young artists to take risks - and artistically to know as much repertoire as possible - has not really grown.

I do think too many soloists have fallen into the trap of knowing their own repertoire and not taking, for instance, chamber music so seriously. But it's about becoming a musician. That's why I play duos, concertos, string trios - the fun and the diversity is what makes life interesting.'

1963
Anne-Sophie Mutter is born in Rheinfelden, southern Germany on 29 June

1968
Mutter starts to play the violin, aged five

1976
Makes her concert debut at the Lucerne Festival aged 13

1978
First recording for Deutsche Grammophon of Mozart's Violin Concertos Nos 3 and 5 with Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic

1986
Appointed as international chair of violin studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London

1987
Founds the Rudolf Eberle Trust, which supports young string players in Europe

1992
Premieres Wolfgang Rihm's Gesungene Zeit

1993
Releases Carmen Fantasy with the Vienna Philharmonic, Deutsche Grammophon's biggest selling record to date

1995-99
Premieres two new works and releases another two recordings

2002
Marries pianist André Previn

2003
Tours Germany and the rest of Europe with the Munich Philharmonic under the direction of Previn

2004
Embarks on a tour of North America

2005
Records and tours with the Salzburg Camerata and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, performing the five Mozart concertos and Sinfonia Concertante

2006
Mutter celebrates 30 years since her concert debut by performing at the Lucerne Festival and embarking on a Mozart Project involving performances and CDs

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