Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter | VC 20 Questions Interview

[@howunoriginal2]

"Actually I don't like to practice." XD

[@Musicienne-DAB1995]

That's the second or third time I have heard a violinist say that. But I think professional violinists realise that whilst they may not like something, it is still necessary for their success.

[@dmitridmitrijevitsjsjostak3627]

i was really in shock when she said that because she was a prodigy as kid xD

[@logojimmy]

@@dmitridmitrijevitsjsjostak3627 Not liking is something and doing is something else

[@NICKY752]

It would seem that Anne Sophie is just as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside and she is a rare beauty. She seems so down t earth and friendly and really has her life's priorities in order. A truly wonderful woman a great talent and just an all round genuinely good person. How lucky we are to have someone like her in this world.

[@georgescancan7503]

+Oldfielddesciple ALEXANDER BOOT Author, critic, polemicist Blogs > Alexander's blog > Submitted by Alexander on 24 June 2013 - 12:59pm The other day I listened to something or other on KZbin, and a link to Chopin’s Fourth Ballade performed by the Georgian pianist Khatia Buniatishvili came up. The link was accompanied by a close-up publicity photo of the musician: sloe bedroom eyes, sensual semi-open lips suggesting a delight that’s still illegal in Alabama, naked shoulders hinting at the similarly nude rest of her body regrettably out of shot… Let me see where my wife is… Good, she isn’t looking over my shoulder, so I can admit to you that the picture got me excited in ways one doesn’t normally associate with Chopin’s Fourth Ballade or for that matter any other classical composition this side of Wagner or perhaps Ravel’s Bolero. Searching for a more traditional musical rapture I clicked on the actual clip and alas found it anticlimactic, as it were. Khatia’s playing, though competent, is as undeniably so-what as her voluptuous figure undeniably isn’t. (Yes, I know the photograph I mentioned doesn’t show much of her figure apart from the luscious shoulders but, the prurient side of my nature piqued, I did a bit of a web crawl.) Just for the hell of it I looked at the publicity shots of other currently active female musicians, such as Yuja Wang, Joanna MacGregor, Nicola Bendetti, Alison Balsom (nicknamed ‘crumpet with a trumpet’, her promos more often suggest ‘a strumpet with a trumpet’ instead), Anne-Sophie Mutter and a few others. They didn’t disappoint the Peeping Tom lurking under my aging surface. Just about all the photographs showed the ladies in various stages of undress, in bed, lying in suggestive poses on top of the piano, playing in frocks (if any) open to the coccyx in the back and/or to the navel up front. This is one thing these musicians have in common. The other is that none of them is all that good at her day job and some, such as Wang, are truly awful. Yet this doesn’t really matter either to them or to the public or, most important, to those who form the public tastes by writing about music and musicians. Thus, for example, a tabloid pundit expressing his heartfelt regret that Nicola Benedetti “won’t be posing for the lads’ mags anytime soon. Pity, because she looks fit as a fiddle…” Geddit? She’s a violinist, which is to say fiddler - well, you do get it. “But Nicola doesn’t always take the bonniest photo,” continues the writer, “she’s beaky in pics sometimes, which is weird because in the flesh she’s an absolute knock-out. “The classical musician is wearing skinny jeans which show off her long legs. She’s also busty with a washboard flat tummy, tottering around 5ft 10in in her Dune platform wedges.” How well does she play the violin though? No one cares. Not even critics writing for our broadsheets, who don’t mind talking about musicians in terms normally reserved for pole dancers. Thus for instance runs a review of a piano recital at Queen Elizabeth Hall, one of London’s top concert venues: “She is the most photogenic of players: young, pretty, bare-footed; and, with her long dark hair and exquisite strapless dress of dazzling white, not only seemed to imply that sexuality itself can make you a profound musician, but was a perfect visual complement to the sleek monochrome of a concert grand... [but] there’s more to her than meets the eye.” The male reader is clearly expected to get a stiffie trying to imagine what that might be. To help his imagination along, the piece is accompanied by a photo of the young lady in question reclining on her instrument in a pre-coital position with an unmistakable ‘come and get it’ expression on her face. The ‘monochrome’ piano is actually bright-red, a colour usually found not in concert halls but in dens of iniquity. Nowhere does the review mention the fact obvious to anyone with any taste for musical performance: the girl is so bad that she should indeed be playing in a brothel, rather than on the concert platform. Can you, in the wildest flight of fancy, imagine a reviewer talking in such terms about sublime women artists of the past, such as Myra Hess, Maria Yudina, Maria Grinberg, Clara Haskil, Marcelle Meyer, Marguerite Long, Kathleen Ferrier? Can you see any of them allowing themselves to be photographed in the style of “lads’ mags”? I can’t, which raises the inevitable question: what exactly has changed in the last say 70 years? The short answer is, just about everything. Concert organisers and impresarios, who used to be in the business because they loved music first and wanted to make a living second, now care about nothing but money. Critics, who used to have discernment and taste, now have nothing but greed and lust for popularity. The public… well, don’t get me started on that. The circle is vicious: because tasteless ignoramuses use every available medium to build up musical nonentities, nonentities is all we get. And because the musical nonentities have no artistic qualities to write about, the writing nonentities have to concentrate on the more jutting attractions, using a vocabulary typically found in “lads’ mags”. The adage “sex sells” used to be applied first to B-movies, then to B-novels, and now to real music. From “sex sells” it’s but a short distance to “only sex sells”. This distance has already been travelled - and we are all being sold short.

[@mariodisarli1022]

+Georges Cancan Berliner Zeitung 12.08.2006 von Wolfgang Fuhrmann "Ein neuer Typus hält Einzug ins Klassik - Gewerbe: junge Musiker mit verstärktem Niedlichkeitsfaktor" .... "Die Vermarktungsmethoden, mit denen die Klassikfirmen heute aus ihrer Talsohle herauszukommen versuchen, orientieren sich offener an den glänzenden Oberflächen des Mainstream-Popgeschäfts. Dabei geht es nicht so sehr um den Sex-Sells-Faktor, wie er etwa bei Anna Netrebko eingesetzt wird, wenn deren schwarze Mähne so wild ums Haupt fliegt, dass man förmlich den Praktikanten in den Kulissen mit dem Hochleistungsventilator hantieren sieht. Die neue Strategie der Plattenvermarktung setzt vielmehr auf das Prinzip Schnuckelklassik: eher Knuffigkeitsfaktor als Erotik (was ja auch immer etwas mit Distanz zu tun hat), eher Kylie Minogue und Britney Spears als Christina Aguileira oder Madonna. Noch ist Schnuckelklassik kein Begriff - Google kennt keine Einträge. Aber wir werden um das Wort nicht herumkommen, um diese Marketing-Strategie zu beschreiben. Stars müssen nicht nur so jung sein wie das ersehnte Zielpublikum, sie müssen auch so niedlich und knuddelig wirken, dass man sie am liebsten als Stofftiere mit ins Bett nehmen würde. Dafür dürfen sie auch ruhig Beethoven oder Bartók spielen - und tun es in den meisten Fällen nicht einmal schlecht. Der Glaube, klassische Musiker müssten sich mit Crossover-Projekten für die Pophörer profilieren, ist ein wenig geschwunden. Ruppiger Spätpunker-Charme wie bei Nigel Kennedy und allzu offensive asiatische Sinnlichkeit wie bei Vanessa Mae sind jedenfalls passé. Angestaubt wirken diese beiden Vertreter der 90er-Jahre vor allem auch durch ihre ständigen popmusikalischen Anbiederungen (Elektrogeige und dergleichen). Heute, da der Klassikleiter der Universal Music Group Deutschland, Christian Kellersmann, als Credo verkündet: "Klassik ist die neue Popmusik", hat sich die Beweislast eher umgekehrt, und so wird demnächst Sting ein Album mit Liedern des elisabethanischen Lautenisten John Dowland aufnehmen. Nicht zufällig bei der Deutschen Grammophon (DG), die zu Universal gehört. Und nicht zufällig kommen auch die meisten Schnuckelklassiker bei diesem altehrwürdigen Klassik-Label groß raus. Das ist auch historisch nicht unverständlich. Denn sollte je eine Geschichte der Schnuckelklassik geschrieben werden, würde der Geigerin Anne-Sophie Mutter, Karajan-Zögling und DG-Star, darin gewiss die Rolle der Ahnherrin zukommen - auch wenn sie dem pausbäckigen Wunderkinddasein längst ent- und in die schulterfreie Abendrobe hineingewachsen ist. So ist es nur folgerichtig, dass der Typus des Schnuckelklassikers derzeit in Reinkultur vor allem bei jungen Geigerinnen auftritt. Man denke nur an die Amerikanerin Hilary Hahn, deren immer ein wenig von Jungmädchen-Ernsthaftigkeit geprägtes Antlitz beim Betrachter unwillkürlich den Eindruck entstehen lässt, hier mache sich jemand ganz doll Gedanken über den Zustand der Welt. Im Gespräch kann sie zurückhaltend bis zum Nichtssagenden sein. Tatsächlich aber ist Hahn durchaus - und sehr amerikanisch - offen für allerlei volksnahen Unfug; auf ihrer Internet-Seite findet sich wunderbare "Fan Art"; Selbstgemaltes von Bewunderern (wir empfehlen das lustige Sonnenbild!), außerdem gibt es "Itty Bitty News" (zum Beispiel eine Todesanzeige ihres Meerschweinchens Psyche: "starb am 30. Juli 2004 mit zweieinhalb Jahren an einer rätselhaften Verdauungsstörung") und ein regelmäßig geführtes Reisetagebuch. Die Seite enthält auch Tipps, wie man alleine Zeit in einem Hotelzimmer verbringen kann: zum Beispiel mit "Lesen", "Auf dem Bett auf und ab springen", "Bügeln", "Fernsehen (Filme, ausländische Sendungen, Tierrettungsshows, Sport oder verrückte amerikanische Sendungen, wenn jemand Amerikaner ist und Heimweh hat)", "Alle Möbel umstellen (eine meiner Lieblingsbeschäftigungen)" und so weiter. Außerdem führt Hahn gerne mit Mitmusikern Interviews, wobei immer dieselben Fragen gestellt werden: "Ist Schokolade eine Droge?" - "Lieblingstiere?" - "Was halten Sie von Bach?" - "Schnittblumen?" und so fort. Dass man sie auf ihren Fotos kaum je lachen sieht, ist also erstaunlich; da sie diese Fotos aber selbst auswählt, vielleicht auch erklärbar. Sie sieht sich, wie so manche junge Dame, wohl nicht gern selbst beim Lachen zu. Ein richtiger Wonneproppen hingegen ist Hahns niederländische Kollegin Janine Jansen: Sie strahlt am liebsten von einem Ohr zum anderen. Jansen ist sich auch nicht zu fein, auf ihrer Homepage mit einer Fotogalerie von nicht weniger als fünfzehn Bildern zu prunken, während ihre lettische Konkurrentin Baiba Skride sich gerade mal sechs gestattet. Und wo Skride auf dem Cover zu ihrem Solo-Recital in Jeansanzug vor einem Bretterzaun street credibility einforderte, da sieht man Frau Jansen in abendgerechten Tüll- und Seidenträumen, aber auch im kleinen Schwarzen oder schlichten weißen Hosenanzug. Kurz: eine Frau fürs zarte Geigendiner, wo Skride eher den Typ zum Pferdeausreißen gibt. Die schnuckelklassischste aller Photogalerien aber hat die Berlinerin Caroline Fischer aufzuweisen. Auf ihrer Website präsentiert sich die "Pianistin aus Leidenschaft" auf neunzehn (Rekord!) Bildern in allen Lebenslagen: sinnlich schmollend, verschmust lächelnd, kühn viel nacktes Bein von sich spreizend. Man meint, plötzlich in die Bewerbungsmappe für eine Teenie-Modelagentur geraten zu sein, so ungehemmt trägt Fischer hier ihr Aussehen zu Markte. Und Klavier spielen kann sie auch noch! Die Herren spielen bei der Schnuckelklassik vorläufig noch die zweite Geige. Rolando Villazón, an dessen Charme nichts zu rütteln ist, hat große haarige Raupen statt Augenbrauen, und der junge griechische Geiger Leonidas Kavakos besteht überhaupt nur aus Behaarung. Das mag für Teddybären angehen - die Bedingungen der Schnuckelklassik erfüllt ein freundlicher Klavierknuddel mit lustiger Igelfrisur aber doch besser. Der Mann heißt Lang Lang und hat schon hartgesottene Politik-Redakteurinnen dieser Zeitung in Verzückung versetzt. Und ein ganz heißer Kandidat als erster Schnuckelklassik-Dirigent ist Gustavo Dudamel. Lockenköpfig, liebenswürdig, enthusiastisch wie ein Welpe, laut der Tageszeitung "El Universal" einer der schönsten Menschen Venezuelas - und ein wunderbarer Musiker, der demnächst, so ein Zufall, groß bei der DG rauskommen wird. Herzigkeit sells! Und Klassik ist die neue Schnuckelmusik. ------------------------------ Fotos (5) : Caroline Fischer So entspannt sich die "Pianistin aus Leidenschaft" (siehe www.carolinefischer. com), wenn sie gerade mal nicht in die Tasten greift. Anne-Sophie Mutter Überaus stürmisch geigte die Ahnfrau der Schnuckelklassik schon in jungen Jahren (....). Janine Jansen In französischen Fauteuils ist gut fläzen. Die Geigerin wählt dazu einen duftigen Tüll-und-Seiden-Traum (....). Lang Lang liegt flach im Sand: der chinesische Pianist bei einer Dehnübung. Gleich wird er wieder im Rachmaninow wüten (....). Hilary Hahn Wenn sie mal nicht ihre Geige in Schach halten muss, springt sie gern kontemplativ in Hotelbetten auf und ab (....). Ein neuer Typus hält Einzug ins Klassik-Gewerbe: junge Musiker mit verstärktem Niedlichkeitsfaktor: Schnuckelklassik!!!

[@MyFlorida24]

A wonderful woman with an unbeatable, adorable smile. And remained so normal with the success, just great

[@ms.annthrope415]

Honest, unpretentious, personable, and incredibly talented violinist. I could listen to her talk as much as listening to her play her fiddle. 😌

[@WilliamMSWalsh]

It was my father's final ambition to see her perform Vivaldi's Four Seasons, but that was not to be, so she sent him an autographed copy of her performance and an autographed photo and it was his last wish to hear her play this piece and then he passed...

[@slateflash]

+William “Bill” Walsh that's incredible

[@WilliamMSWalsh]

Yes, it was quite incredible, and Ms. Mutter is also very incredible... I listen to her every day, she brings me great joy and inspiration. She plays, and the gods sit in awe...

[@Cyrilmc222004]

Thank you so much Anne Sophie, I really really enjoyed watching you talk to us all. You are a lovely lovely lady, and I really really love ❤️ your beautiful and gorgeous playing. You are absolutely stunning too. Please stay safe and well too xxx Mags

[@dougwilliams8602]

Anne seems happy being a Mutter! (Mother)

[@Musicienne-DAB1995]

Yes, she is and that makes me very happy. Some people are taught to believe that family should be jettisoned in order for success.

[@violinhunter2]

:-)

[@JosephMayowa-i9c]

Not only happy, but modestly proud too, as "b e i n g a mother" means "bearing a title". This might be new to "snotty boys" who find it whitty to play around with a holy title, which needs to be earned and doesn't just start at the end of a pregnancy. "Funny" boys, it's time to become a little matured ....

[@mosaicclassics]

Anne: "Nobody's perfect." Me: "You are."

[@Beyondabsence]

I've been watching lots of interviews from all the great names of classical music and I must say that not a single one passes as arrogant. Very genuine and kind folks.

[@stevenmeyer9674]

Maybe, but I know of one of these interviewees who came off fantastic in the interview, but is an arrogant jerk in real life. Things aren't always as they seem.

[@RickarooCarew]

danke vielmals Sie sind ein wenig über dich geteilt hast ... eine wunderschöne Frau von innen und außen ... vielen Dank für die schöne Musik ... sie hat mein Leben besser gemacht ... deine Leidenschaft für die Musik hat unser aller Leben besser gemacht

[@aeolianartists]

The heart of a great classical artist seems always so pure, quite a gem of a person is Anne-Sohie; very down to earth and very genuine in her expression, so determined in her path forward to playing violin, a true artist of the highest order.

[@isaiahfrench2290]

I love her spirit.

[@nerocampanella5672]

She is one of my personal proofs why humanity isn't lost.

[@metatron1980]

I always awed with her interviews. She is creative. She is a true artist with taste and she knows what she wants and not. She is elegant and at the same time down to earth with sense of humor. She is everything you could ever imagine as an artist and an icon.

[@maelughran6981]

They tell us that life isn't fair. Ms. Mutter is an example. Anne-Sophie is beautiful AND is an world-class violinist.

[@johnwagner5527]

What a beautiful talent. As a violinist and as a human being. Gracious, lovely. But forgive me, Anne is my favorite 🙂

[@48Nugget]

My favourite violinist. Period.

[@L.M1792]

There is only one way to progress. This is good and concise advise. I have personally never taken a great interest in violin players but this channel has helped to change my opinion of this. Thank you. ☯️

[@aytenwaltermoonmademusic1129]

She is a great human being. Do you know that she has built orphanages in Romania?

[@Musicienne-DAB1995]

Wow.

[@dianabuchete947]

I live there and I had no idea. In other words, what is good and beautiful is not seen so quickly and is not publicized. On the other hand, maybe it's her connection to Dinu Lipatti ...

[@kimlee2946]

I really appreciate that.

[@SuperSynoptic]

Anne Sophie Mutter is truly a remarkable woman, adorned with beauty and intelligence. AAH, but that music she plays on the violin takes any to new heights; above the clouds and across the stars. ♥

[@kanashihana]

Amazing episode with really interesting and honest answers. Anne-Sophie Mutter is a really inspirational violinist!^^

[@seifbashandy5606]

She is a great person really lovely!

[@metatron1980]

You can see and hear most of the time even with that caliber as an artist, she still values her children, family and personal life

[@sorinsviolin4114]

One of the greatest violinists and a wonderful human being…

[@iCyclone]

Omg, she seems so cool. I love her-- how down-to-earth she is.

[@stephanebelizaire3627]

Bravo to our Great Violinist !

[@retohofmann5878]

In almost every interview she mentions the Stucki or the Haskil. Wonderful and humble.

[@pneron2032]

She is so charming, funny and sophisticated.

[@jorgepda]

i love her! thank you very much for such a fun interview with such a great artist.

[@krotart]

Amazing artist ...

[@iaf4454]

nobody is perfect? you are perfect anne sophie!!!

[@kimlee2946]

A great human being before we talk about a great musician.

[@garykuovideos]

I love this series! It’s such a window into the people behind the music!

[@louisgrima3538]

Sophie, 'Simplicity is Blissful' - Life is 👍

[@rosssoutherland8118]

I’m in Love! ❤️ Lol

[@antoniaschaefer1299]

0:43 most German ohh

[@edwardgeorge4881]

💐It is a formidable experience to hear a clear mind express its thoughts. Sophie-Anne, I accept your generosity offering praise for the sensuality of a piano - however, it is naturally always out of tune. The violin takes two lifetimes to learn well; you have accomplished it in less than one. Congratulations! 💐🇦🇺

[@robotnik77]

I've watched 3 of these and they all mentioned Oistrakh !!

[@Musicienne-DAB1995]

Yes-- I am always watching for common wisdom among violinists and they seem to see Oistrakh as the man. I've watched him play Bach's Double Violin Concerto with Yehudi Menuhin many times.

[@Mandinga5112]

the background music interfere with the interview.

[@nathalieBr]

Who performs the Stravinsky´s Divertimento that is played in the backround please?

[@baileyreidrickman]

Viktoria Mullova is the violinist, and Bruno Canino is the pianist. :)

[@marxismisevil839]

She looks really great for her age. Very beautiful, clever and attractive woman!

[@dkvikingkd233]

what a lady!

[@soebredden]

She is so beautiful

[@oxyiscool]

What is Bruckner 4, a symphony or concerto?

[@nicholasschroeder3678]

A symphony. My favorite piece as well. Recommend the Karajan/Berlin recording on EMI. It's....oh, just get it!

[@y9w1]

Nice but the music in the background... not sure it was necessary (it takes too much place).

[@colinmontgomery5492]

What an absolutely beautiful woman.

[@EndoftheTownProductions]

Great taste in opera: Boheme with Freni and Pav.

[@kihokahoka]

Dinu Lipatti, yeah

[@sandrahazra5447]

Jesse Darja ,

[@theloniouscoltrane3778]

she's reading what? did anyone understand what she said. please share thanks

[@Sultanetta]

She simply said ... none 😂

[@pippikrumeluss5167]

She said: I am reading the Berg violin concerto for the hundreth time

[@tfh5575]

"actually i don't like to practice" omg lol neither do i. i like when i have it right and can just have fun playing the piece, for that's true artistic expression. we violinists really have to work hard for the reward, though the hard practice is surely (in part) what makes the "final product" (although let's be real, we always try to improve on a piece or try new things) so rewarding anyway

[@patrickgroenendijk8434]

The interviews are nice but the music is way too loud!

[@js-miep2025]

0:56 What things do you not like to do? ------------- Actually I don't like to practice What????😄😄😄

[@basamak]

beautiful woman

[@teamTERF]

Cant hear over the music

[@fernandowanderley8269]

ANNE-SOPHIE MUTTER!!! Sorry guys, I was just a little astonished when I found this.

[@off-season6341]

I love Hot Dogs too !👍

[@frederikad2456]

Fun to watch, despite the "cliché" quality of her answers.

[@violinhunter2]

It is very, very difficult to be honest about one's errors - to be self-critical - but her choice of partner in Antonio Meneses doing the Brahms Double was a horrible mistake. She recorded it again with someone else and that was 10 times better. I believe there is a video of her doing the Carmen Fantasy by Sarasate here on KZbin and that is pretty horrible. We try to forget our failures as soon as we can. It serves no purpose to think about them. As the great Englishman said, what's done cannot be undone. She is clever: it would be impossible to answer the question at 3:24 without making enemies. :-)

[@망히-z9z]

What is there under the bed? Dust. Cho Liang Lin ㅡ "Remote control"

[@Petroschristidis]

VORWARTS :-)

[@charlespeterson3798]

Lots and lots of luck on the future and genuine thinkers. In 20 years she will hardly remember what one looked like.The Kreutzer Sonata. The Whutta Whooa? Count what? Is this a trick question ridiculing my culture and my ignorance? How dare you.

[@AudioPervert1]

Ironic we always have to hear the Pros... A lame label as is. And that too with no particular value for those who are Non-Pro (The Vast Majority who did not make it to the esteemed list). What is pro? An industry approved model...

[@thArt-ei5yf]

she's got old.... beautiful smile though.

[@nicholasschroeder3678]

You will too.🙄

[@donaldcook3112]

. . . That is a matter of opinion… looks, sounds and lives like someone with much ahead of herself , to myself .