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Reviews: Beethoven: Violin Concerto, Romances - Mutter/Masur

Reviews: 4

Review by SimonTJU June 30, 2003 (2 of 5 found this review helpful)
Performance:   Sonics:
Respectably disagree with "pann". I love her interpretation: added texture, some mannerism. Typical mutter!. Sound is good to very good. Certainly its a keeper!!!

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Review by Dan Popp January 15, 2004 (2 of 5 found this review helpful)
Performance:   Sonics:
Don't let the "PCM" source scare you. The booklet says the original recording was 96k/24-bit, and it sounds hi-rez all the way. The dynamics, especially in the pianissimo end of the scale, are amazing. The violin sounds warm and blends into the sonic landscape of the orchestra better than some other works I've heard on "all DSD" recordings.

If you're not familiar with this particular Beethoven piece, it has a rather "modern" 5-note motif that is initially startling, sounding (to my untrained ear) out-of-place in a romantic work. But the as the composer returns to this phrase, he weaves it into the fabric of the concerto so masterfully that by the end of the first movement, it becomes beautiful and comforting. So much for my amateur music criticism.

The two "Romances" are short pieces that are more traditional, and easier to like on first hearing.

As for Mutter's playing, perhaps ignorance on my part is bliss. Her rubato doesn't bother me, although there are a couple of places that I do wish she had called less attention to herself and let the music sing. Overall, a very satisfying listening experience.

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Review by JDlog February 12, 2004 (4 of 11 found this review helpful)
Performance:   Sonics:
What a let down! This, in spite of having read the previous reviews here, especially the one at the bottom of the page (the most accurate, BTW). So then, I knew that while I usually like Anne Sophie, I was risking a dissapointment of sorts in terms of preformance. But, in my quest to give hirez PCM a fair chance to show it can equal SACD, I figured this could be a good recording to compare. I had already found old analog transfers to SACD to be usually VERY satisfying. So, PCM 24/96 to SACD could give me some idea of what I will get when good DVD-As get in my hands...not this time.

Folks, the best I can say about the recording's sound is that it is better than normal CD. That's it. Punto. No more. (SACD is still way ahead, if compared to this disk.)

That would have been fine except for Anne Sophie's performance. Beethoven must be turning around in his grave everytime someone plays this disk. There is simpy no way I can include all the things that are wrong. If I didn't know better, I would have not accepted that she was the soloist. To make matters worse, the conductor is also an accessory to the murder of this performance. Mr. Masur slows it down so much that the resulting extended time becomes an unbearable torture.

So, I didn't put it on eBay, like someone alse said he did,
I simply GAVE IT AWAY.

My kingdom for a good hirez transcription of the concert by Stern, Heifetz, Perlman or Oistrakh!

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Review by Iet January 7, 2006 (2 of 7 found this review helpful)
From a performance perspective a controversial recording (sonics are well, but not outstanding). Unless you are devoted to the over-romantic and (in my understanding) too affected Beethoven interpretation of Mutter, I think you clearly should avoid this SACD and try for instance the fine Beethoven violin concert SACD version of Mullova and Gardiner (Philips Classics). However, if Mutter's style is right your taste this SACD could be a 'must have' (I can't judge).

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