18 GRAMOPHONE SEPTEMBER 2019 gramophone.co.uk
ANNE-SOPHIE MUTTER
tostretchMutterasmuchashecould,resultinginasuitably
fiendishexpansionof‘Hedwig’sTheme’fromHarryPotter,
asix-minuteworkoutwhichMuttercomparestoSarasate’s
CarmenFantasy.‘ApparentlyhecalledJohnupandsaid,“Ithas
tobemorevirtuosic!”SoJohnpiledupmoredifficulties,more
double-stops.Itwaslikeajointventurebetweentwocomposers,
andthentherewasme,gettingthescoresandsweating.’
DoesMutterthinkthatPrevinsufferedinsomequarters–
especiallytherarefiedsymphonicworld–forworkingacross
film, jazz and classical music, and treating all three with
equal importance? ‘I think that, musically speaking, he did
what he felt he needed to do. He was a complete musician,
and that is what I want to be too. I don’t see any division
between a greatly crafted score for a film, which can stand
perfectly fine by itself without the pictures or storyline, or
another piece of music which has no programme. Strauss’s
Don Quixote is music that might have a storyline, but even
if you don’t know the story, and the two main characters of
the viola and cello, it’s great music and you can enjoy it for
what it is.’ It was Previn, she asserts, who taught her which
side she wanted to be on when it came to this question:
‘Are you a specialist and soloist purely, or are you instead
a musician who wants to see the entire cosmos rather than
justasmallbitofit?’WorkingdirectlywithWilliamshasbeenaneye-openerfor
Mutter.Owingtoanunexpectedpauseonshootingthelatest
StarWarsfilm,thecomposer‘properly’rewroteallthethemes
recordedonthealbum.Thetwoworkedinthestudioto
gooverthefresharrangementsandorchestration.‘Andwhat
heknowsaboutmusic,aboutviolinplaying,aboutbowings,
phrasing...Iwasreallytakenaback.BecauseIdon’tknow
anynon-violinistwhoisthatinsightful.’Shechalksthisupto‘What John knows about music – violin
playing, bowings, phrasing ... I don’t know
any non-violinist who is that insightful’
‘He really knows how to orchestrate’: Mutter is in awe of Williams the composer
Williams conducts Mutter and the Los Angeles Recording Arts Orchestra during sessions in a Culver City studio where the late André Previn’s ‘spirit was de initely in the air’