Anne-Sophie Mutter is certainly an exceptional violinist. The way she tosses off the first section of the finale of the Debussy leaves us breathless, her range of tone is astounding and her technical control seems to be absolute. Yet this command of the instrument continually leads her into interpretative extravagances. The great players of the past – Kreisler for example – would stamp their personality on every bar by means of inflexions of tone, rhythm and volume. With Kreisler, this is balanced by a disciplined sense of the ongoing flow of the music; it’s this balance that I miss with Mutter. In the first movement of the Franck the continual dwelling on individual notes distorts the rhythm, whilst the very prominent vibrato draws too much attention to itself. By the end of this recital, I was longing to hear a phrase played simply and directly.
Apart from a few audience noises, one would not guess this to be based on a public performance – applause has been edited out – and the recording quality is superb, with the piano not at all backward, yet never swamping the violin. Orkis’s playing is very impressive, with some of the naturalness lacking in Mutter’s performance. Zimerman in the Franck, however, has much more character – his controlled virtuosity is outstanding. And Kaja Danczowska is a fine player, with clear, penetrating tone, though she’s not as communicative as Mutter or Chung. It’s the Chung/Lupu recording I’d turn to for a perfectly matched performance of the Franck. And their Debussy is every bit as fine.'