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Anne-Sophie Mutter, perhaps one of the best known of established current violinists, began learning the piano at five but took up the violin shortly afterwards, studying with Erna Honigberger (once a pupil of Carl Flesch). Mutter later continued her studies with Aida Stucki at the Winterthur Conservatory.

At thirteen she was invited by Herbert von Karajan to perform with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, thus starting a fruitful collaboration; their first recording together was Mozart’s Violin Concertos Nos. 3 and 5 in 1978. Since then Mutter has become one of the most recorded of post-war violinists, with over eighty discs to her name. Whilst much of this has been of standard repertory, she has championed a number of more recent works, some written for her, including Henri Dutilleux’s Sur le même accord, Krzysztof Penderecki’s Violin Concerto No. 2 and Wolfgang Rihm’s Gesungene Zeit. In August 2007 Mutter gave the première of Sofia Gubaidulina’s Violin Concerto No. 2 ‘In tempus praesens’ and Witold Lutosławski orchestrated his Partita for her.

Mutter plays two Stradivarius violins (the ‘Emiliani’ of 1703, and the ‘Lord Dunn-Raven’ of 1710) as well as a Regazzi instrument of 2005. Having made a number of experiments in her youth she plays without a shoulder rest and wears the same design of sleeveless dress by John Galliano for most of her performances, finding this most comfortable. Like several other artists before her, Mutter has strong humanitarian interests, especially in alleviating medical and social problems, and often gives benefit concerts.

In her recordings Mutter is a strong-willed and passionate player, with a notable depth and sensuousness of sound. This results in strong, muscular performances of classical repertoire such as Mozart’s K. 218 Concerto (1981) (although the no-compromise post-Romantic sound world may strike some listeners as stylistically anachronistic), and a carefully considered 1988 Tchaikovsky Concerto (which testifies to the deep artistic sympathies shared with Karajan) in a steady, but full-blooded interpretation. Mutter’s playing of such established repertoire is thought of by many as beyond reproach, but one should not ignore her outstanding performances of more recent music. Her Penderecki Violin Concerto No. 2 (1997) is captivating in its white-hot intensity from the very first note, whilst Stravinsky’s Concerto (1988)—often played in a rather laconic manner—is articulated with an almost desperate passion. Arguably, Lutosławski’s Partita, especially in this 1988 version orchestrated especially for Mutter, is rather saccharine (Lutosławski’s stark, ascetic structures working better perhaps with the percussive tones of the piano); but Rihm’s Gesungene Zeit (1992) is performed with an excellent sense of architecture and direction, whilst Berg’s seminal Concerto (also 1992) has great poignancy. In all this music Mutter’s playing has much more to it than a pretty and pleasing tone: there is a sense of profound understanding, and a deeply-felt emotional connection, running through the playing—which is technically superlative. A lighter work, perhaps showing Mutter’s less serious side, is Previn’s Tango, Song and Dance (2003) which she ‘dances’ beautifully with the composer (her then husband) at the piano.

Mutter’s place in the glittering pantheon of players is assured, but it is her contribution to and advocacy of twentieth-century music that is perhaps her most extraordinary achievement.

© Naxos Rights International Ltd. — David Milsom (A–Z of String Players, Naxos 8.558081-84)

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Simone Young has been Artistic Director of the Hamburg State Opera and Chief Music Director of the Hamburg Philharmonic since August 2005. She has conducted here a broad musical spectrum of premieres and repertoire performances ranging from Mozart, Verdi, Puccini, Wagner and Strauss to Hindemith, Britten and Henze. At the State Opera and with the Hamburg Philharmonic, she has been able to achieve great successes with world premieres and several German premieres. Simone Young has made an international name for herself as a Wagner conductor: she was music director of several complete cycles of the Ring of the Nibelung at the Vienna State Opera and the State Opera Unter den Linden in Berlin. She forged her own Ring with great success at the Hamburg State Opera, conducting the complete cycle here as well. Engagements led the Sydney-born conductor to all the leading opera houses of the world, including the Vienna State Opera, the Opéra National de Paris, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, the Bavarian State Opera, the Metropolitan Opera in New York and the Los Angeles Opera. Alongside her extensive operatic activities, Simone Young has also made a name for herself on the concert podium. She has worked with all the leading orchestras, including the Vienna Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Simone Young directed the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra as Principal Conductor from 1999 until 2002 and was Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Australian Opera in Sydney and Melbourne from January 2001 until December 2003. From 2007 until 2013 she also was Principal Guest Conductor of the Lisbon Gulbenkian Orchestra.

Simone Young appears on numerous recordings. For example, alongside recordings from the Hamburg State Opera such as Mathis der Maler, Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung on OehmsClassics, there are also several recordings with the Hamburg Philharmonic. Among others, ten Bruckner symphonies have been issued as well as the Second and the Sixth Symphony of Gustav Mahler and the symphonies of Johannes Brahms.

Simone Young has received numerous prizes and awards. She is an honorary doctor of the Universities of Sydney and Melbourne, Professor at the Academy of Music and Theatre in Hamburg, a member of the Order of Australia and a “Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres” as well as a recipient of the Goethe Medal. She was honoured as “Conductor of the Year” for her first opera season in Hamburg, and also received the Schleswig-Holstein Brahms Prize. In 2009, together with the Hamburg Philharmonic, she made the Hanseatic City into the world’s largest concert hall – from the Michel Tower, she conducted 100 musicians at 50 locations throughout the city.

In 2012 Simone Young, the Hamburg Philharmonic and soloists of the Hamburg State Opera presented Wagner’s Das Rheingold and Mahler’s Second Symphony in Brisbane, Australia, for which Young received the Helpmann Award in the category of “Best Individual Classical Music Performance” in 2013.

Translation: David Babcock

Bruckner’s 200th anniversary: Interview with Simone Young on Symphony No. 6 (Gramophone)

Feature interview: At 200, Bruckner Is More Popular Than Ever With Conductors. Why? (The New York Times)

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Described by the Gramophone as ‘a pianist in full flower of his mature, imaginative artistry’ in 2022, Peter Jablonski is an award-winning internationally acclaimed Swedish artist. He is among the leading pianists of his generation, and during the last 30 years on international stages has performed with over 150 orchestras, given over 2,000 concerts, and has been on 25 tours of Japan. Discovered by Abbado and Ashkenazy and signed by Decca in his 17th year, he went on to perform, collaborate, and record with many of the world’s leading orchestras and conductors, which include the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Kirov (now Mariinsky), La Scala Philharmonic, Tonhalle Zurich, Orchestre Nationale de France, NHK Tokyo, DSO Berlin, Warsaw Philharmonic, Philadelphia, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Cleveland Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Valery Gergiev, Andris Nelsons, Daniel Harding, Kurt Sanderling, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Riccardo Chailly, Daniele Gatti, and Myung-Whun Chung.

He has appeared in concert and recitals in famous venues around the world, which include the Royal Festival Hall and the Barbican in London, Philharmonie Berlin, Suntory Hall Tokyo, Hollywood Bowl Los Angeles, Salle Pleyel Paris, Musikverein Vienna, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, among many others.

He has performed and recorded the complete piano concertos by Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, and Bartók, and all piano sonatas by Prokofiev. During his three-decade-long career he developed a diverse repertoire that includes works by Barber, Gershwin, Szymanowski, Lutosławski, Copland, Stenhammar, with most recent additions of such composers as Alexey Stanchinsky, Ronald Stevenson, and Grażyna Bacewicz.

He worked with composers Witold Lutosławski and Arvo Pärt, and had a number of works composed for, and dedicated to him, including Wojciech Kilar’s Piano Concerto, for which he won the Orpheus award for the world premiere performance at the Warsaw Autumn Festival. He remains a supporter of today’s composers and regularly gives world premieres of new works.

Jablonski’s extensive discography includes recordings he has made for Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, Philips, Altara, Octavia, and Ondine labels. He has received numerous  awards for his recordings, which include the Edison award for best concerto recording of Shostakovich’s First Piano Concerto, Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, and Lutoslawski’s Paganini Rhapsody with Ashkenazy and RPO for Decca. He was presented with the Gramophone Classical Music Award for his Deutsche Grammophone recording of works by Cécile Chaminade with Anne Sofie von Otter and Bengt Forsberg.

He maintains a busy recording schedule, and his collaboration with Ondine has produced a number of well-received recordings. His recording of solo piano works by Grażyna Bacewicz was awarded the French Académie Charles Cros Award in December 2022, and it has been listed among best classical music and best solo piano recordings of 2022 in the Gramophone. Peter Jablonski is the recipient of the Litteris et Artibus medal for his servvices to culture, granted to him by the King of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf. He is also the winner of the prestigious prize Årets Svensk i Världen (International Swedish Personality of the Year), receiving it before ABBA and Astrid Lindgren. In May 2022 he was elected into the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. In 2023, Jablonski became the global ambassador for Karol Szymanowski, in a multi-year project run by the Institute of Adam Mickiewicz and music publisher PWM, during which he will perform Szymanowski’s piano works around the world, starting with the Wigmore Hall recital in September 2024.

www.peterjablonski.com

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