Mozart Sinfonia Concertante
This composition for violin, viola, and orchestra is one of Mozart’s most moving and most famous. From the perspective of recordings, there is none more well known than the performance by Yitzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman done in 1990. The dialog and interpretation by these two amazing artists is legendary.
I have chosen a more recent recording by Anne-Sophie Mutter. Her 2-CD album of Mozart violin concerti concludes with the Sinfonia Concertante as the last work on CD-2.
As Mutter says in the CD liner notes, she plays with the London Philharmonic as a first among equals, and indeed, these are much more interactive interpretations than the standard offerings of a solo instrument concerto with the orchestra in a supporting role.
Mutter plays the slow passages of this work very beautifully, and the fast passages with energy and technical mastery.
The Sinfonia Concertante is especially brilliant, and the pairing of Ms. Mutter with Yuri Bashmet is inspired. It is worth buying this 2-CD set just for that recording! This rendition of the Sinfonia Concertante is such that one ought to listen actively and thus enjoy 100% of the performance.
Here is the concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic, Glenn Dicterow, talking about this masterpiece
Here is Anne-Sophie Mutter playing Mozart’s Violin Concertos and the Sinfonia Concertante with the excellent playing of Yuri Bashmet
Here is a wonderful video of Ms. Mutter, at the TV show “Harald Schmidt Show” from Germany; It is like the Lederman show in the US. Even if you don’t understand the German, she plays some Mendelssohn at about 11:20 with the show’s host, and that’s worth seeing and hearing
Tags: Mozart, Sinfonia Concertante K. 364, Bashmet, Anne-Sophie Mutter