Brahms The Violin Sonatas

Brahms The Violin Sonatas concert. Anne-Sophie Mutter plays violin sonatas with pianist Lambert Orkis. Released in 2010, this disc has 5.0 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: A

For me Brahms is like broccoli---I know it's good for me, but please pass the pizza. Nor am I a fan of the violin sonata---I usually can't hear the violin over the piano accompaniment. So what should I make of an HDVD of three violin sonatas by Brahms that totals just over 68 minutes? Well, I doubt I would relish this performance on a CD. But I found this HDVD, with it's brilliant clear video and voluptuous lossless sound, quite pleasant to experience. I may never become a Brahms groupie, but I can see why Brahms is valued so much by those who possess more mature musical taste than I.

Mutter, the essence of patrician elegance and grace, seems completely convincing to me as the violin soloist. Orkis, highly-respected as a piano accompanist and specialist, plays his part from sheet music as would be traditional for an accompanist. A reviewer on amazon.com knocked Orkis, complaining that these sonatas should be treated more like duets for violin and piano and that the piano part should be handled by an A-list solo piano player. There could be something to this. Even I can tell that the piano part in these sonatas cannot be hidden behind the soloist as background support. The role of the piano here is like that of the full orchestra in a violin concerto with a sharing of responsibility and glory. And to me it looked that Orkis sometimes might be struggling with his part, although it didn't sound like he was having difficulty.

The amazon reviewer also pointed out that the show we see is made of many spliced-together excerpts from two different performances. Of course you can't tell exactly where the splices are. But that splices have been made can be demonstrated easily by observing the two different audiences. Each audience is divided into two groups: in front of the stage is a group of about 250 folks and behind the stage is a group of about 20 in two rows of chairs. At 5:31 you get a clear shot of the front row of "Audience 1." This front row has no men with neckties. Behind the Audience 1 stage to the viewer's left is a lady whom I call "Topknot" (trust me). At 20:38 you get a clear shot of "Audience 2." Seated on the front row are two gents wearing neckties. Facing Audience 2 on the front row and to the viewer's left is a man I call "The Priest" (trust me).

Even in the first minute of the show, we see Audience 1/Topknot disappear at 00.36. Audience 2/Priest appears 2 seconds later at .38, but only to disappear in about 4 seconds at .43 so that Audience 1/Topknot may return. For another example, check out the transitions at 25:25, 25:37, and 26:10. Audience 1/Topknot yields to Audience 2/Priest, and the Audience2/Priest in turn yields to Audience 1/Topknot. There are many other similar changes throughout the disc.

Why do I bring up the subject of splicing together segments of several performances? Well, this illustrates the proposition that what you see in an HDVD is often more than just a record. The creation of an HDVD is itself as full of artistic choices as is the original production of an opera, ballet, or concert. Often what you see is not what happened at a particular time, but rather is itself a fresh work of art created by the TV director and his crew.