A Memorable Week with Violinists Itzhak Perlman and Anne-Sophie Mutter
/By Truman C. Wang
1/30/2024
Violinist Itzhak Perlman returned to Disney Hall on January 23 to play a new program and reprise his comedy, plus some favorite encores from his last appearance here. Rohan De Silva also returned as his pianist partner in crime. A most obliging fellow who doesn’t mind playing a straight man to Perlman’s comedian (or shall we say ‘wannabe comedian’), De Silva is a fine pianist with a command of silky legato and sensitive phrasing. Mr. Perlman’s violin playing in the three main works on the program was impeccably voiced and playful (the LeClair D-major sonata), bracing (the Beethoven A-Major “Kreutzer” sonata) and, in the Schumann Op. 73 Fantasiestücke, mixing fantasy with precision. There was no over-sentimentaling or milking a phrase; every note sounded pure and unvarnished by over-interpretation. The encores (I counted 7) could be a mini-concert or comedy show in and of themselves, filled with such bonbons as Kreisler’s Liebesleid, Wieniawski’s Chanson sans paroles, and the theme from Schindler’s List (played by Mr. Perlman in the same unsentimental vein.)
In the same week, German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter played Brahms Double Concerto with her protégé and collaborator, cellist Pablo Ferrández. The generational gap between Mutter (b.1963) and Perlman (b.1945) was immediately apparent. Over the years, Mutter has gotten into the (bad) habit of milking and over-articulating a phrase like so many of today’s performers, placing unwanted accents on notes that should be connected with unbroken legato. (Listen to her recordings from 30-40 years ago and none of this was an issue.) As a team, Mutter and Ferrández worked well together, him taking the lead in introducing the themes, and her matching the cello in warmth and brilliance. Conductor Dudamel’s brisk tempi helped things along nicely, although he did manage a beautifully hushed ending in the slow movement. After the intermission, we heard Bruckner’s rarely-performed Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, not exactly a youthful work despite its number (Bruckner was a late bloomer) – a work the composer called “the saucy maid”, that was given a grandly exuberance by maestro Dudamel and the LA Phil players, with moments of bittersweet lyrical repose before its fiery finale.
Truman C. Wang is Editor-in-Chief of Classical Voice, whose articles have appeared in the Pasadena Star-News, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, other Southern California publications, as well as the Hawaiian Chinese Daily. He studied Integrative Biology and Music at U.C. Berkeley.