It has been fascinating to study Mutter's live recording of a performance I heard in the Grosses Festspielhaus at Salzburg only last August. In 1987 Karajan's rapt Wagner performances in one of the most memorable concerts I can remember were similarly recorded at the Salzburg Festival in the Vienna Philharmonic's annual Assumption Day concert, and DG have understandably been keen to follow up the success of that project. Each year that Assumption Day concert on the morning of the Monday bank holiday has a feeling of dedication that is almost religious. This year was no exception, although the occasion failed quite to rise to the heights of 1987, and for me the Schumann Fourth Symphony after the interval was more memorable than the Concerto.
Not that I would recognize the atmosphere of the occasion from this disc. Where in the hall Mutter's tone seemed smaller than one expected, close microphone balance here makes it full and forward in a way favoured by the DG engineers, and Mutter's artistry, her many individual touches of imagination, understandingly followed by the solicitous maestro, can be appreciated far more immediately than at the concert.
Those who prefer records of live performances will no doubt be delighted, but I fear that with Mutter not quite on top form, the flaws would for me deter repeated hearings. In the first movement her relatively slow tempo for the Allegro moderato brings a tendency to be over emphatic, with obstrusive underlining, in a way that I cannot imagine she would allow in the studio. The double-stopping, too, is—understandably—more erratic in rhythm than it would be in a studio performance, and sometimes the result is a little perfunctory. Worst of all for me is the ugly little slide which comes at the start of the second subject something which on replaying I would be flinching at.
Mutter's portamentos in the slow movement are more acceptable, and close as the violin is, the gentleness of the playing comes over very well. In the finale, too, Mutter's pianissimo playing in the occasional moments of repose is ravishing, but again I am sure she would have played with markedly more polish in the studio. Here in places the lovely tone grows edgy under stress. Karajan and the Vienna Philharmonic accompany with understanding and refinement, but with the most ungenerous time-length I have come across from a major company in years (and almost two minutes of it applause—separately banded), this is more a souvenir of Mutter and Salzburg than a competitive version of the Tchaikovsky.
The version of the same concerto from the young French violinist, Augustin Dumay, does at least have a generous coupling in the Mendelssohn, but the performances and recording are erratic enough to have had me wondering whether they were done in straight studio takes, with no editing. Dumay, closely but very well recorded in vividly atmospheric sound has a ripe, fruity tone to sustain seamless legato lines. He is imaginative in both works, but often impulsive with it, and ensemble is then impaired, with Emil Tchakarov often perfunctory too.
What for many will be an irredeemable flaw—which more than anything made me suspect unedited performances—is an intrusive sound which punctuates each movement. I thought at first it must be someone sniffing, but I now deduce that it comes from the soloist—or conductor—making sharp intakes of breath. Anyone who can ignore it will be able to enjoy these warmly expressive if erratic accounts of both works, but Chung's Decca disc of the same coupling is far preferable, among the finest versions of all in both works.
Both of Chung's performances, and also Joshua Bell's version of the Tchaikovsky (also on Decca), have a freshness of approach and of tone too which make those of Dumay and Mutter sound wilful or even sugary. The Chung performances I have long loved for their consistent imagination and flair, but I am glad to have had the chance to sample the Bell again so soon, clean and direct but never lacking individuality. Well coupled with the Wieniawski Concerto No. 2 and very well recorded, it is extremely competitive indeed. Bell observes the tiny traditional cuts in the Tchaikovsky finale, as Mutter does, where Chung and Dumay open them out.'