Anne-Sophie Mutter and Friends
Part of: Beethoven Celebration
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Performers
Anne-Sophie Mutter, Violin
Daniel Müller-Schott, Cello
Lambert Orkis, Piano
Program
BEETHOVEN Violin Sonata No. 5 in F Major, Op. 24, "Spring"
BEETHOVEN Piano Trio in D Major, Op. 70, No. 1, "Ghost"
BEETHOVEN Violin Sonata No. 9 in A Major, Op. 47, "Kreutzer"
Encores:
BEETHOVEN Allegro in G Major from Five Pieces for Mechanical Clock, WoO 33, No. 3 (arr. Willy Hess)
JOHN WILLIAMS "Nice to Be Around" from Cinderella Liberty
Event Duration
The printed program will last approximately two hours, including one 20-minute intermission.Lead support for the Beethoven Celebration is provided by The Morris and Alma Schapiro Fund.
Public support is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.
In honor of the centenary of his birth, Carnegie Hall’s 2019–2020 season is dedicated to the memory of Isaac Stern in recognition of his extraordinary contributions to Carnegie Hall, arts advocacy, and the field of music.
At a Glance
BEETHOVEN Sonata for Piano and Violin No. 5 in F Major, Op. 24, “Spring”
Of the 10 sonatas for violin and piano that Beethoven composed between 1797 and 1812, none is more enduringly popular than the “Spring” Sonata. Contemporary with such works as the Op. 18 string quartets, this evergreen masterpiece reflected Beethoven’s growing confidence and maturity as a chamber music composer. The slow movement, in particular, is one of his loveliest lyrical creations.
BEETHOVEN Trio for Piano, Violin, and Cello in D Major, Op. 70, No. 1, “Ghost”
The “Ghost” Trio is suffused with the adventurous spirit of Beethoven’s so-called middle period. Even by his elevated standards, the first of the two Op. 70 trios is music of extraordinary dynamism and compression. Ear-opening modulations lie around every turn. Brief motifs are ingeniously combined and recombined, telescoped and expanded, and volleyed back and forth between the violin, cello, and piano.
BEETHOVEN Sonata for Piano and Violin No. 9 in A Major, Op. 47, “Kreutzer”
The bravura “Kreutzer” is the last of nine sonatas for violin and piano that Beethoven composed between 1797 and 1803. (Another nine years would elapse before he wrote his 10th and final violin sonata.) By rights, it should be called the “Bridgetower” Sonata, since Beethoven wrote it for the celebrated English violinist George Bridgetower; after the two men had a falling out, however, the composer switched the dedication to French virtuoso Rodolphe Kreutzer—who, ironically, never played it in public.
Bios
Anne-Sophie Mutter
Anne-Sophie Mutter has been an international figure in the world’s major concert halls for more than 40 years, making her mark on the classical music scene as a soloist, mentor, and visionary. The four-time Grammy Award winner is equally committed to traditional works and the future of music, having given world premieres of 27 works by composers who include Unsuk Chin, Sebastian Currier, Henri Dutilleux, Sofia Gubaidulina, Witold Lutosławski, Norbert Moret, Krzysztof Penderecki, Sir André Previn, Wolfgang Rihm, and John Williams. She also dedicates herself to supporting future generations of musicians through benefit projects and the world-renowned Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation.
Ms. Mutter’s 2019–2020 season is dedicated to commemorating the 250th birthday of Beethoven, with performances of his Violin Concerto and Triple Concerto with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal; Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, London, and Danish National symphony orchestras; West-Eastern Divan Orchestra; and San Francisco Symphony, among others. In January, she returns to the US for a five-city recital tour, playing Beethoven sonatas with her longtime artistic partner Lambert Orkis.
Last August, Ms. Mutter released her most recent recording, Across the Stars, featuring new adaptations of selections from John Williams’s greatest film scores, prepared for her by Williams himself.
In October and November 2019, Ms. Mutter took The Mutter Virtuosi—the ensemble of the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation—on its debut tour of South America, playing works by Bach, Mendelssohn, and Vivaldi.
In March 2018, Ms. Mutter became the first German artist to receive Poland’s Gloria Artis Gold Medal for cultural achievements. In June and October 2019, respectively, she received two of the most prestigious international arts awards: Sweden’s Polar Music Prize and Japan’s Praemium Imperiale. She has also been awarded the German Grand Order of Merit, French Legion of Honour, Bavarian Order of Merit, and Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria.
Daniel Müller-Schott
Daniel Müller-Schott is celebrated as one of the most sought-after cellists in the world. He has collaborated with notable conductors who include Thomas Dausgaard, Christoph Eschenbach, Iván Fischer, Alan Gilbert, Gustavo Gimeno, Bernard Haitink, Neeme Järvi, Dmitrij Kitajenko, Susanna Mälkki, Andris Nelsons, Gianandrea Noseda, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Kirill Petrenko, Vasily Petrenko, Sir André Previn, and Krzysztof Urbański.
Mr. Müller-Schott works with orchestras such as the Berliner Philharmoniker, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Bayerisches Staatsorchester; the radio orchestras of Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, and Hamburg; Philharmonia Orchestra; Oslo Philharmonic; Orquesta Sinfónica de Barcelona y Nacional de Catalunya; the orchestras of London, New York, Boston, Washington, Cleveland, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Vancouver; and others in Asia and Australia.
In the 2019–2020 season, Mr. Müller-Schott serves as “museum soloist” of the Museum Society Frankfurt in six appearances, including with the Frankfurt Museum Orchestra under Giancarlo Guerrero. Further season highlights include concerts with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Welsh National Opera Orchestra, Tonkünstler Orchestra, Dresdner Philharmonie, Seattle Symphony, China NCPA Orchestra, New Japan Philharmonic, and Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra.
This season, he can also be heard in different chamber music constellations with Kit Armstrong, Bertrand Chamayou, Sabine Meyer, Olli Mustonen, Francesco Piemontesi, Simon Trpčeski, and the Aris and Modigliani quartets, as well as in festivals and venues such as the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, Heidelberger Frühling, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Louvre Museum, and Wigmore Hall.
Mr. Müller-Schott’s latest recording for Orfeo features works by Richard Strauss with pianist Herbert Schuch and Don Quixote with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Sir Andrew Davis. Other releases include his recent solo cello disc #CelloUnlimited, and a Beethoven box set by Deutsche Grammophon that features Daniel Hope and others.
Mr. Müller-Schott benefited early on from sponsorship by the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation and received the foundation’s Aida Stucki Prize in 2013, as well as a year of private tuition under Mstislav Rostropovich. He also studied with Walter Nothas, Heinrich Schiff, and Steven Isserlis. In 1992, he won first prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians. He plays the Matteo Goffriller “Ex Shapiro” cello, made in Venice in 1727.
Lambert Orkis
Lambert Orkis’s multi-decade international performing career encompasses traditional and contemporary music performed on modern and period instruments, and includes more than 11 years of touring as a partner with cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. For more than 30 years, he has appeared with violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter to capacity audiences in the world’s finest performance venues. Their many recordings and DVDs for Deutsche Grammophon include the complete sonatas of Mozart (Choc de l’année award), Beethoven (Grammy Award), and Brahms.
His distinguished career has included appearances with cellists Lynn Harrell, Anner Bylsma, Daniel Müller-Schott, Amanda Forsyth, and Tanja Tetzlaff; violinist Julian Rachlin; and violist Steven Dann. He has performed with the Vertavo, Emerson, American, Mendelssohn, Curtis, Manchester, Goldner, and Elias string quartets, and Arcadia Winds. As a soloist, he has appeared with conductors who include Christoph Eschenbach, Leonard Slatkin, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Günther Herbig, Robert Kapilow, Leon Fleisher, Kenneth Slowik, and others.
Mr. Orkis has premiered and recorded compositions for numerous composers, including solo works by George Crumb, Richard Wernick, and James Primosch for Bridge Records. With the National Symphony Orchestra’s principal cellist, David Hardy, he recorded—on both modern and period instruments—Beethoven’s complete works for piano and cello for the Sono Luminus label.
A frequent adjudicator, Mr. Orkis has participated as distinguished performing artist, teacher, and juror (most recently as jury chairman) for Musica Viva Australia, and twice served as juror and performer at the Trondheim International Chamber Music Competition and Festival; he has also served as adjudicator for piano competitions at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center Friedheim Award competition. As an honored artist at Taiwan’s New Aspect International Music Festival, he performed and presented master classes in Taipei.
Mr. Orkis appears internationally as an orchestral soloist, performs and has recorded as a member of the Kennedy Center Chamber Players and the Smithsonian Institution’s Castle Trio (period instruments), and holds positions as principal keyboard of the National Symphony Orchestra and professor of piano at Temple University. In acknowledgment of his accomplishments, Mr. Orkis was honored with the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.