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Anne-Sophie Mutter

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Anne-Sophie Mutter is a German violinist, born on 29 June 1963 in Rheinfelden and raised in Wehr in Baden-Württemberg. Nobody at home played an instrument, but everyone loved classical music. She began the piano at the age of five, switched to the violin after a few months and at six won the national music prize. She studied with Erna Honigberger and then with Aida Stucki in Winterthur. In 1976, aged thirteen, she gave her first recital at the Lucerne Festival. The conductor Herbert von Karajan heard her and invited her to the Salzburger Pfingstfestspiele.

Music and breakthrough

In 1978 she made her first record, with two Mozart violin concertos under Karajan and the Berliner Philharmoniker. In the 1980s she recorded the concertos of Brahms, Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Bruch for Deutsche Grammophon, and in 1984 The Four Seasons. In 1980 she made her debut in the United States with the New York Philharmonic. Her repertoire runs from the Baroque to the twentieth century. She also pays a great deal of attention to contemporary music, and composers such as Witold Lutosławski, Sofia Gubaidulina and Thomas Adès have written works for her.

Influence

Mutter has received many awards, including the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize in 2008 and the Polar Music Prize in 2019. In 1997 and 2008 she founded an association and a foundation to support young string players. She shows how a classical soloist in the age of the CD could reach a worldwide audience.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to The Four Seasons in Mutter's recording and notice the contrast between the fast, fierce passages and the calm interludes. Try to hear where her violin paints the thunderstorm or the summer heat.

Discography

Studio albums

Categories: Artists