It is a special place: it was here that the Nazi regime had the rockets developed that were used to bombard London during World War II. Today, the former turbine hall is a place of remembrance and reconciliation. Anne-Sophie Mutter, the four-time Grammy Award winner and formative soloist, mentor and visionary, connects Germany and the USA like no other violinist. Her husband, the American-Jewish pianist, composer and conductor André Previn, who died in 2019, dedicated the violin concerto ‘Anne-Sophie‘ to her. It is one of his most successful works and a profound love letter full of virtuosity for a master of her instrument. Joan Tower is also dedicated to strong women. With “1920/2019” from the New York Philharmonic‘s Project 19, the young composer pays tribute to the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution, which guaranteed women the right to vote and which celebrated its centenary in 2020. The New York Philharmonic also finds diversity in equality in Béla Bartók’s most successful work. His concerto for orchestra, premiered in Boston in 1944, demands brilliant solo and virtuoso performances from the orchestra. PROGRAM Previn: Violin Concerto ‘Anne Sophie‘; Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra; Tower: 1920/2019 (European premiere)
Tanglewood Festival 2021 – A.S. Mutter & John Williams
C Major is delighted to present the world premiere performance of John Williams’ Violin Concerto No.2 from the Tanglewood Festival. Williams himself conducts the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the soloist is the work’s dedicatee, Anne-Sophie Mutter. The legendary composer and superstar violinist are old friends and have enjoyed worldwide success together in recent years. Providing an explosive opening to the concert is American composer-violinist Jessie Montgomery’s Starburst (2012) for string orchestra, full of fiery colours and energy and conducted by the BSO’s Music Director Andris Nelsons. He returns to the stage after the Violin Concerto for Copland’s Quiet City, a score that began life as incidental music for a play of the same name, but found fame as a standalone concert piece. With haunting solo parts for trumpet and English horn, this reflective work paints an atmospheric portrait of a city by night. The programme ends with the suite Stravinsky put together in 1919 from his ballet The Firebird, triumphantly premiered in Paris in 1910. PROGRAM Williams: Violin Concerto No. 2 & Across the Stars; Montgomery: Starburst; Copland: Quiet City; Stravinsky: Suite from The Firebird
Beethoven Celebration Berlin
In 2020, Ludwig van Beethoven is the focus of the Staatskapelle Berlin’s suberb open-air concert. With star violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter playing Beethoven’s Violin Romances Nos. 1 & 2, the composer anticipated the romantic genre of the „song without words“. In capturing the expressive „singing on the instrument“, the virtuoso talent and remarkable art of Anne-Sophie Mutter are once again demonstrated. Daniel Barenboim has devoted his life to Beethoven‘s work and mentality. The musical director, pianist and cultural activist conducts the Staatskapelle Berlin and the State Opera Chorus in this concert. Giving justice to the 9th Symphony with its insistent appeal to humanity and its forward-looking utopian character, are the high calibre artists: Julia Kleiter, Waltraud Meier, Andreas Schager and René Pape.
ACROSS THE STARS – Anne-Sophie Mutter plays John Williams
With ACROSS THE STARS Anne–Sophie Mutter presents some of the most outstanding works of composer and multiple Oscar Award-winner John Williams in the dream-like scenery of Munich Königsplatz. It’s the first-ever open-air concert of Mutter’s unprecedented career. Anne-Sophie Mutter and John Williams have been close friends for many years, which imbues this project with a truly special meaning: “Most of the works I perform with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in Munich have been especially arranged for me – the pieces are absolutely new in this form and are performed at this concert for the very first time!” Mutter explains. The program includes pieces from Star Wars, Schindler’s List, Harry Potter, Dracula, E.T., The Witches of Eastwick, The Adventures of Tintin and Indiana Jones.
New Year‘s Eve Concert 1984
Johann Sebastian Bach is one of the few baroque composers whose works Herbert von Karajan recorded, with the conductor specializing primarily in Classical and Romantic repertoire. This rare footage of the 1984 New Year’s concert features the Berliner Philharmoniker and Karajan in a two-part program. First they perform Bach’s Violin Concerto in E Major with the brilliant Anne-Sophie Mutter as soloist. Then they present Bach’s Magnificat in D Major for soloists, choir, and orchestra, a true audience favorite.
Beethoven Violin Concerto
Premiered in 1806, Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D Major paved the way for three great violin concertos of the 19th and 20th centuries: Brahms, Tchaikovsky, and Sibelius. Extremely expressive and astonishing in it emotional scope, the work nonetheless received an ambivalent response at its premiere. Renowned for his knowledge of Beethoven’s oeuvre, the conductor Herbert von Karajan and the Berliner Philharmoniker are joined by the virtuoso violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter for a masterful performance.