Violin Goddess Reveals Her Many Faces

The Straits Times, Singapore
Thursday December 4, 1997

Violin Goddess Reveals Her Many Faces

Lionel Choi

Having read in numerous articles and reviews about how gravely serious and intense Anne-Sophie Mutter is, I approached this interview not without considerable apprehension.

But the celebrated German violinist, at present making her second trip to Singapore, was anything but severe and intimidating throughout the half-hour meeting on Monday.

"I'm not such a serious person," she said. "Well, I can be. But I know how to have fun too! So you see, there are various sides to my personality," laughed the 34-year-old.

She revealed a jovial side one seldom reads about or infers from the stern, sophisticated and seductive image she projects on CD covers.

This ability to enjoy life and music, coupled with a tough character, have helped her tremendously over the last two decades, during which she has turned from a precocious child prodigy to what some consider a violin goddess.

Since her famous debut in 1977 at the age of 13 at the Salzburg Whitsun Festival - a date which also witnessed the start to an important relationship with her mentor, the late legendary conductor Herbert von Karajan - she has been catapulted to celebrity status, making her one of the most sought-after violinists today.

While most child prodigies would have burnt out by now, her career continues to develop and grow, even though she has had to deal with single parenthood since the death of lawyer-husband Detlef Wunderlich of cancer in 1995. She has two young children, a boy and a girl.

She attributes her ability to cope with the immense pressures of superstardom in a highly-competitive field to the way she was brought up, particularly during those years she spent with Karajan.

"Karajan is somebody who made people feel very relaxed. On the other hand, the pressure he put on musicians to perform well and to meet his very high expectations was just enormous," she said.

"I grew up on that. And that was probably very good schooling because after that, nothing can really shock you anymore!" she laughed.

And she can never find herself getting tired of what she has been doing so well.

Mutter, who was here in 1995 for a public recital and who played at a concert on Tuesday to commemorate the 25^th anniversary of Deutsche Bank here, has been determined to avoid getting stereotyped as a specialist in a certain composer's music.

"I wanted to be all!" she declared, adding: "That means there is no chance for me to get bored because there is just so much in the repertoire that I am always kept on my toes."

Growing up in Munich in Germany, she led a normal childhood. "Basically, I just did what everyone else did, but my interest was in the violin, and I was very happy doing just that."

And she added enthusiastically: "I was a great soccer player!"

There is no doubt that her well-publicised seriousness or honesty with her art has taken her farin her career, perhaps even earning her a reputation of being difficult.

Some would have heard the story of her walking out of a rehearsal with the great conductor Sergiu Celibidache and the Munich Philharmonic when she was in her early 20s.

She explained what happened: "Celibidache was a dictator, making him absolutely impossible to work with. I'm willing to learn, but I don't want to give up my personality.

"I don't see why I need to subject myself to someone who is trying to break my musical integrity."

There are also reports of her refusing to play contemporary works written for or dedicated to her because they sounded as if they were created by accident.

She elaborated: "I'm a very honest musician. That means I will never go on stage and perform a piece I don't believe in, a piece I cannot bring something very personal to.

"I don't like musical compromises. I'm always looking for the highest possible quality. I always want to be able to stand up for what I'm doing, and in this sense, yes, I guess I can be difficult."

Given her devotion to her art, it comes as a surprise that she was rather tactful when asked for an opinion on Vanessa Mae, whom some in the classical music circle regard as raunchy and artless.

"There are probably many talents out there who are also very gifted and who are not as well-marketed as she is. But she's a very beautiful young woman and why shouldn't she have success? I think it's OK."

Mutter, herself accorded a sultry, glamorous image by the marketing machine, did not think that Vanessa Mae was cheapening the art that she was trying to sell.

But she was this close to saying that the 19-year-old had no art to begin with: "There is a lot of space in the world for all sorts of communication, and if there's a certain audience for entertainment, and your playing is more on the entertainment side rather than being seriously classical-oriented, then that's fine."

On her plans, she reveals she is embarking on a recording project involving all ten Beethoven violin sonatas with her regular accompanist, Lambert Orkis. And she hopes to re-record all the five Mozart concerti with period instrument specialist Roger Norrington ("provided we don't kill each other first!").

And just before going on a year-long vacation in 2000, she will be organising and playing in her own contemporary music festival in New York, London, Stuttgart and Frankfurt, which will offer a retrospective on violin music written over the last 100 years.

But her life is not just classical music, and she talks with passion about mountain climbing ("it's spiritually refreshing, and physically, it gives me strength for Beethoven!"), fast cars and jazz albums of the grand dame of swing, Ella Fitzgerald.

She also devotes much of her time to her children, whom she brought with her to Singapore.

"We're going to have tea with the orang-utans this afternoon, and then to Sentosa island!" she said excitedly.

Back to the full transcription of the interview with Anne-Sophie Mutter