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Jeff Spurgeon: Sounds of New York City and an invitation to join us tonight on this live broadcast from Carnegie Hall. We have an exciting program for you, some very familiar works and some lesser-known ones guiding us through the evening is violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, and her Mutter Virtuosi Ensemble. I'm Jeff Spurgeon.

John Schaefer: And I'm John Schaefer. The uh, German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, like many leading virtuosos, has been performing on concert stages all over the world for many years, but she's also been doing something a little different for more than a quarter century. She's run a foundation that mentors young musicians and one of the branches of that foundation is the group that Jeff just mentioned, The Mutter Virtuosi.

They started a little more than 10 years ago, made up of current and former scholarship students from Anne-Sophie Mutter’s Foundation. And the idea is to give these young musicians the opportunity to play all over the world with musicians from all over the world. This is only the second time they've played at Carnegie Hall. It's the first time for several of its members. And Mutter told us a little bit more about the mission of this ensemble

Anne-Sophie Mutter: Well, everybody is, you know, bringing his or her ideas, also their cultural background. Uh, now on tour, I think we have about 10 different nations playing and talking to each other and sharing their views on life, on politics, on the arts, on love, on cooking, on, you know, whatever. And it's, it's wonderful. Uh, it has much to do with bringing people together from different parts of the world and building bridges and having a loving and respectful conversation with each other.

Jeff Spurgeon: Anne-Sophie Mutter compares the ensemble that she supervises, the Mutter Virtuosi, to the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, the Daniel Barenboim oversees, giving an opportunity for these musicians of many different backgrounds to do more than just play music together. Also, to really get to know each other's history and cultures. All the works on this program tonight will give the members of the Mutter Virtuosi a chance to shine. We have a Vivaldi concerto for more than one featured instrument, a new work from Korean composer Unsuk Chin, and another concerto from the Chevalier de St. George Joseph Bologne, the composer of African descent, a contemporary of Mozart, and a great star during his lifetime in Paris.

John Schaefer: Yes. And and sometimes known as the Black Mozart. Although perhaps we can call Mozart the white Joseph Bologne because Bologne was older. He came first. And as we will hear when we get to Bologne’s, uh, violin concerto, Mozart might have heard some things in Bologne’s music that he liked. Anyway, that's just the first half of the program.

We'll also hear the Four Seasons by Vivaldi in the second half of the concert. Little bit about Anne-Sophie Mutter: she was born in 1963 in what was then West Germany, and at the age of 13, she was invited by the legendary conductor Herbert von Karajan to perform with the Berlin Philharmonic.

Jeff Spurgeon: She made lots of milestones in her teenage years. At 14, a debut at the Salzburg Festival with Daniel Barenboim in the English Chamber Orchestra. And the year after that she recorded some Mozart concertos with the Berlin Philharmonic and von Karajan. And in her late teens, she made her first US appearance with Zubin Mehta and the New York Philharmonic.

John Schaefer: She made her Carnegie Hall debut in 1998 with a recital program that included her longtime musical partner, the pianist Lambert Orkis. Uh, Lambert Orkis, like Anne-Sophie Mutter, big champion of contemporary music and an absolute monster at the keyboard.

Jeff Spurgeon: Yeah, he's an amazing, amazing artist.

John Schaefer: Uh, and Mutter has, you know, not only supported contemporary composers, she's actually had many works written for her. And one of them is the piece that, that we'll be hearing in the first half by composer Unsuk Chin. Her Gran Cadenza will be the second work on the program.

Jeff Spurgeon: And the, uh, sounds that you're hearing in the background here are the Mutter Virtuosi. John and I are backstage at Carnegie Hall and around us are the 13 members of this ensemble. Do you need to tune? Go ahead and tune! No, that's, don't wait for us. We're not going to stop.

John Schaefer: We, we actually prefer you to be somewhat in tune.

Jeff Spurgeon: Yeah. You need to tune. Don't wait for us because we're, we're going to keep going until you go out. So, you tune.

John Schaefer: Interesting thing, um, about the Mutter Virtuosi. Wow. They are really tuning loudly, aren't they? Well, well maybe we told them.

Jeff Spurgeon: Maybe, John, we should hear from Anne-Sophie Mutter then, uh, about the first work that we're going to hear in just a couple of minutes. It's a Vivaldi concerto for four violins and Anne-Sophie told us this is a perfect piece for the ensemble because it gives so many musicians a chance to shine.

Anne-Sophie Mutter: We are taking the Vivaldi concert for, four fiddles, because one of the main aims is I do not want to have the group only accompany me, although music making is music making no matter in which row, but I want to also showcase their abilities. And so, the concert for, for fiddle seems to be the perfect, uh, piece because we will change the co-violinists in two, three, and four, almost every evening so that all of the eight fiddle players, you know, have their exposure with each other and getting into a musical conversation.

Jeff Spurgeon: And that's going to happen in just a couple of minutes. Right now, some of the musicians are in conversation backstage. It's really wonderful to have all these musicians around us. They are clearly excited to be on this stage for this concert.

John Schaefer: And they will be, for the most part, standing on the stage. Uh, this is not a, a seated ensemble, rather sort of going back to the way a lot of music was made in the days of Vivaldi in the early baroque where, you know, you would have musicians standing and of course the harpsichordist will be seated

Jeff Spurgeon: And the cellist might be able to take a chair. But yeah, it certainly adds to the excitement of a performance. You are on your feet, literally. And it absolutely brings a different, um, note of alertness to a performance. And now the stage doors are open and out they go, led by Anne-Sophie Mutter. The Mutter Virtuosi. Warm applause from a very full Carnegie Hall tonight.

And we are ready for the Mutter Virtuosi led by Anne-Sophie Mutter to bring you Antonio Vivaldi’s Concerto for Four Violins in B Minor. You want to look it up in the catalog. It's number 580, and you're about to hear it from Carnegie Hall Live.

MUSIC - Vivaldi: Concerto in B Minor for Four Violins, Strings, and Continuo, RV 580

John Schaefer: That's music by Vivaldi starting this concert by the violinist, Anne-Sophie Mutter and the Mutter Virtuosi, the Vivaldi Concerto in B Minor for Four Violins plus additional strings and continuo in the form of two cellos and harpsichord. The Mutter Virtuosi on stage at Carnegie Hall. And, um, if you are a big fan, and you would have to be a big fan of Bach to pick this up, uh, if, if you're a big fan of Bach and something about that music was nagging at you, it's possibly because Bach borrowed -can you hear me do the air quotes? - borrowed that piece from Vivaldi and turned it into his own concerto for four harpsichords.

Jeff Spurgeon: This piece is a little lighter on its feet because the violins weigh less. Four stars of that performance, we're just back on stage for an extra curtain call. Uh, the violinists, uh, Mikhail Ovrutsky from Moscow, Samuel Nebyu of Ethiopian Hungarian extraction, Ryan Meehan from Florida, and Ms. Mutter as well. So a stage change is happening now, uh, happening now at this concert that you are hearing from Carnegie Hall Live, um, because we're going to reduce forces from the powerful group of 13 down to just two for our next work.

John Schaefer: Yeah. We mentioned earlier that Anne-Sophie Mutter has long championed contemporary composers and up next is a piece by Unsuk Chin, South Korean born composer who most of her career has been in Germany. And, uh, this piece called Gran Cadenza was commissioned by Anne-Sophie Mutter in 2021. And, uh, she said it's an interesting ride both for the audience and the performers.

Anne-Sophie Mutter: It's quite an amazing eight-minute colossal virtuosic piece. We all seriously worked on it for months. You wouldn't believe it. I mean, eight minutes can feel like for the players, like eight hours.

The good news is it's over in eight minutes. So, I always, you know, try to, to make a, a kind of encouraging announcement at the beginning of the piece so the audience knows, first of all the length, secondly that in the middle part there is this kind of Bach Chorale where we meet. Other than that, the two fiddles are kind of a friendly duo where we kind of show off each other’s, you know, each other, how skillful we are.

Jeff Spurgeon: So, you’re getting ready to hear a friendly duo for two violins. Well, I love that description. Because that’s what it very well may be. It’s a, it’s a chance for it, each of them to bounce off the other, share some musical ideas.

John Schaefer: And the specter of Bach once again, looming over the proceedings. Uh, the, the two are Anne-Sophie Mutter and Nancy Zhou, who, uh, will represent the Mutter Virtuosi in this performance of the Gran Cadenza by Unsuk Chin about to get its New York premiere performance on stage here at Carnegie Hall.

Anne-Sophie Mutter: Ladies and gentlemen, get ready for a space voyage in musical terms. Uh, this Gran Cadenza of Unsuk Chin who has written a fabulous violin concerto, sadly not for me, but still a wonderful piece and an opera called Alice In Wonderland. Um, I asked this commission of her because I wanted, after listening to a violin concert, something which would really push, um, yeah, our understanding, um, of what a violin can do, what two violins can do, uh, to a new level. And in fact, when Grand Cadenza arrived, it has been premiered in Europe last year, and it had its American premiere in West Palm Beach a few days ago. Um, I was shocked at, uh, the difficulties of the piece, and I think it's mainly to do with the fact that Mrs. Chin's philosophy is that she writes music, she doesn't mind for what instrument, and now of course you can figure what that means in practical terms.

So, um, this piece, which is written in the style of a cadenza, so it's very much a fantasy. It is a dispute, it's a conflict, it's a dialogue. In the middle of this eight minute long, um, piece, we are meeting up in a kind of, um, Bach choral moment of peace before, um, flying off to new heights of technical difficulties and, uh, enjoyment.

You must understand that the first, uh, violin is a kind of flute. Um, I think it's, it would've been really easy to play on the flute and there, as Nancy is joining me, um, as being the more percussive, um, part in this wonderful endeavor.

MUSIC - Unsuk Chin: Gran Cadenza for Two Violins (NY Premiere)

Jeff Spurgeon: The Gran Cadenza, a work for two violins composed by Unsuk Chin. You've just heard its New York premiere on a concert coming to you from Carnegie Hall Live, performed by Anne-Sophie Mutter and Nancy Zhou backstage. I'm Jeff Spurgeon, alongside John Schaefer. You know, uh, John, it was one of the stagehands who mentioned that he had never seen in his history of working for more than 30 years at Carnegie Hall, two page turners for string players on a concert with the two performers.

John Schaefer: And each of them standing about six feet behind the respective violinist. So, to be able to see where to turn the page from six feet away, that is eagle eye vision like I wish I had.

Jeff Spurgeon: You bet.

John Schaefer: Um, very impressive on on all accounts.

Jeff Spurgeon: On all parts. Yes, we should give some credit to the people who played the music too.

John Schaefer: Yes. Uh, the work was written for Anne-Sophie Mutter and of course she played one of the two violins, and as you mentioned, Jeff, Nancy Zhou, the other, a member of the Mutter Virtuosi, the chamber ensemble/ chamber orchestra that is performing on stage here at Carnegie Hall. Dazzling displays of virtuosity at the beginning and the end, and in the middle, a kind of half remembered dream of a Bach Chorale.

Jeff Spurgeon: Yeah. Just beautiful. Well, there's one more piece on the first half of this concert, and that is a concerto by the composer known as the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Joseph Bologne. An interesting figure, born Bologne, on the island of Guadeloupe, uh, which at time was a French colony. His father was a wealthy landowner, and his mother was an enslaved woman of Senegalese descent.

John Schaefer: And at the age of seven, he was sent to live in France where he studied and excelled both at the violin and fencing. And it is in fact, because of his fencing skills that he was given the title of Chevalier because he was so good with the sword that he was employed at the Royal Court, and that position came with the title of Chevalier, uh, like a knighthood.

Um, he wrote a lot of music -  operas, symphonies, concertos, chamber music. He knew Mozart. Mozart certainly knew his music. And Anne-Sophie Mutter told us that the fencing part of the Chevalier's story seems to have worked its way into his compositions.

Anne-Sophie Mutter: Sometimes you have like two pages of runs and I, I, I was even considering taking up fencing to be more, you know, equipped for this repertoire.

So, it's great fun. The audience is going to love it. It's very coloratura because this guy has written one octave higher than Mozart. So, it's, it's really up there. It's amazing, particularly for the 1800s before Paganini. Outstanding virtuosity.

Jeff Spurgeon: Anne-Sophie Mutter speaking of the music of Joseph Bologne, one of whose concertos we're about to hear on the stage at Carnegie Hall from Anne-Sophie Mutter and the Mutter Virtuosi. There's a movie coming out in April about, um, Bologne. So, it, uh, a major feature -there've been a couple of films about him- but it's a big one that's, uh, heading, heading for theaters in April of this year. So, everyone will get to know, uh, the Chevalier de Saint-Georges a little bit better this year.

John Schaefer: The women of the day apparently knew him quite well.

Jeff Spurgeon: Yes, too.

John Schaefer: Well if stories of of his exploits are to be believed

Jeff Spurgeon: that's, that's why it's going to make a good film. You'll get music, you'll get some swordsmanship, and you'll get a little,

John Schaefer: and you'll get the other swordsmanship.

Jeff Spurgeon: Yes. All of that. Marching on stage now, the 13 members of the Mutter Virtuosi, which include Anne-Sophie as well. Getting ready to bring you the Violin Concerto in A Major, the Opus 5, Number two. Bologne wrote a great deal of music, but we're going to hear this particular concerto tonight from Anne-Sophie and the Mutter Virtuosi from Carnegie Hall Live.

MUSIC - Saint-Georges: Violin Concerto in A Major, Op. 5, No. 2

Jeff Spurgeon: Well, how much applause can we have to go around after a performance like that? But you're hearing from Carnegie Hall Live violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and her ensemble, the Mutter Virtuosi, and a violin concerto by Joseph Bologne, the Chevalier de Saint-Georges. Applause very warm from the audience as you heard. And, uh, a lot of supportive applause from the members of the ensemble, for each other, and that soloist back on stage.

John Schaefer: And doing whatever minimal conducting was required.

Jeff Spurgeon: An interesting thing for Anne-Sophie who spent most of her life not doing that, we may have a chance to ask her about that aspect of this work.

John Schaefer: Yeah. And, uh, the Chevalier de Saint-Georges himself, while famous as a violinist and as a fencer, um, was also considered one of the great conductors of his day.

Jeff Spurgeon: Yeah. And he was an impresario too, organized concerts and commissioned works. He was the whole deal and we’re just beginning to become familiar with him. And what a wonderful concerto that was. Think you could plug that into any spot that you'd hear a Mozart concerto and as this audience is, you would be just as delighted.

John Schaefer: Absolutely. Joseph Bologne, the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, probably the first Black composer to have consistent, lasting success in the Western classical music field. But he did have, you know, racism to deal with. I mentioned he’s, he was a great, considered one of the great conductors of his day. Never got the position that he wanted, uh, as a conductor.

Jeff Spurgeon: Yeah. You, and you wonder why. Right? And so, this is part of the story. Well, maybe the, uh, movie that’s out in April, uh, Chevalier it’s called, is going to be, uh, telling some of that story. Those, those movies are never completely truthful, but we’ll look forward to what we can get when Kelvin Harrison Jr. plays that role in a major motion picture about this guy.

So, um, Anne-Sophie told us that she hadn’t known very much of Bologne’s music before this either, and it’s a whole new wonderful life that she’s getting to enjoy learning this music. I think that’s, I am I recalling correctly? That’s what you..

Anne-Sophie Mutter: Absolutely. Yeah.

Jeff Spurgeon: Yes. She's, she's…

Anne-Sophie Mutter: He was very new to me, that man.

Jeff Spurgeon: Okay. Right, right. So, so Anne-Sophie, everybody's eavesdropping tonight on this broadcast. We are at intermission of this concert from Carnegie Hall Live. And, uh, while the audience takes a break, uh, perhaps you'll get up and get a sandwich or, uh, get another hot drink to deal with in this chilly January air in New York, we're going to meet a couple of the members of the Mutter Virtuosi.

This is Classical New York, 105.9 FM in HD, WQXR Newark, and 90.3 FM WQXW Ossining. I’m Jeff Spurgeon, alongside John Schaefer with you at Carnegie Hall, and we have a couple of guests before us.

John Schaefer: Elias Moncado is, uh, one of the violinists in the Mutter Virtuosi. Welcome.

Elias Moncado: Hello. Thanks for having me.

John Schaefer: And Sara Ferrandez, one of the violists.

Sara Ferrandez: Hello.

John Schaefer: Sarah. Where are you from?

Sara Ferrandez: I'm from Madrid, Spain.

John Schaefer: Elias, where are you from?

Elias Moncado: I'm from Germany.

John Schaefer: Okay.

Jeff Spurgeon: And, and, um, uh, Sarah, you started to play the viola at age three?

Sara Ferrandez: Yes.

Jeff Spurgeon: I, I'm not the first person who's asked you. How did you, the viola at age three, what was the attraction?

Sara Ferrandez: It is quite unusual to start with viola. That's true. Um, I obviously didn't choose it for myself as I was too young, but it was my mother who put me directly on the viola. Uh, she played a little bit of violin at the time, and her violin teacher told her that if she would put me in the violin, I'd maybe be unhappy at some point because there's way too many violinists. And he suggested the viola and she liked it.

Jeff Spurgeon: Did you like it? How long did it take you to like the viola?

Sara Ferrandez: I actually always liked the sound of the viola, so I was lucky that it happened like this.

John Schaefer: So how long have the two of you been with, uh, with Anne-Sophie, with the Mutter Virtuosi?

Elias Moncado: So, for me, it is my first time being part of a Mutter Virtuosi tour. And, um, I, I've, um, known Ms. Mutter since a few years. Um, and I've also played for her and she's just one of, has always been one of my childhood idols, and that's why it's like a dream come true. Like being able to sit, share the same stage with her. It's just, it just feels unreal.

John Schaefer: And how did you get to be a member of this ensemble? What's, what's that process like?

Elias Moncado: Well, um, I would say that definitely the, all the members have had some kind of connection with Ms. Mutter. Like either maybe an audition or, um, just, uh, um, knowing you from competitions or like um, it's obviously, it's, um, the process is, um, like to getting to know her and like un until you finally are part of the Virtuosi it's, it is, um, kind of a long process and it, it just like, um, merges, um, in into one and like from then..

Jeff Spurgeon: was it something

Elias Moncado: all of a sudden, I will, I'm suddenly part of the Mutter Virtuosi.

Jeff Spurgeon: Was it something you wanted to do because you've been, you've been winning prizes on the violin since, since you were a young, very young person too. So is, is this part of the career goal or is being in the Mutter Virtuosi just a wonderful thing that's happened along the way?

Elias Moncado: Well, it's definitely a wonderful thing, but then again it is, um, since it is such a fine soloist ensemble, it was always obviously a dream to be part of it. And just like, because it is such a small and, uh, ensemble, we all of us members, we feel almost like a family. And it is just, um, I I I, I feel like you, you can tell in the music, we, we are very flexible, and we try to, um, just make great music together on stage.

Jeff Spurgeon: That sensibility absolutely comes through. We can feel it backstage even before you go, even before you go on and, um, and Sarah, you've had another really fascinating experience because you've been a member of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra too.

Sara Ferrandez: Absolutely, that’s correct.

Jeff Spurgeon: Now that is an ensemble founded on the idea of of getting people together and just figuring things out through music. This is a much different thing. And yet you are also from different parts of the world, different cultures. How has this experience been?

Sara Ferrandez: To be honest, I was thinking about this these days, how amazing it was to also work with Maestro Barenboim. And how he has this concept about putting all of us together and make music and as well as Ms. Mutter being two completely different concepts and yet how they manage to, to make this wonderful thing happen. And, and yeah, I don't know. It's really incredible experience music making with all of these colleagues.

John Schaefer: Well, but it's also music making as a part of a wider picture of life, of being a good person and dealing with other people in your community and, you know, respecting differences and acknowledging them. But working with them.

Sara Ferrandez: Oh yes. I learned so much in the Divan from other cultures. I had no idea because I grew up in Spain where we don't have this kind of problems. Um, we have other problems, but each culture is different right? So, I was very happy to be educated in that way actually, and to learn, uh, from them directly. It was really, really amazing.

John Schaefer: And how long have you been with the Mutter Virtuosi?

Sara Ferrandez: I met Ms. Mutter in 2017. I was, uh, emailing her assistant for a very long time until I got a response, I really wanted to play for her. And it took a while until I got an answer. You know, it's never, it's never that easy. But I kept trying and, uh, of course she's always very busy, but she had one day, uh, for, to listen to me a little bit and she said, okay, if you come to Munich, I have this much time and I can listen to you.

And then I went, I took a flight and I played for her, and she invited me then to play two concerts with her in, uh, Austria and in Germany. And then, uh, it didn't work out to play together again until now. So, it's like you said, like it really works different for all of us. It really depends on many things, what's happening in the moment in all of our lives, but yeah.

Elias Moncado: Yes. And at some time, all of us have once like auditioned for her and just like, um, found the time to play for her, which is already an, an honor in itself. And like, it's just, um, the music world is so small, and everything happens in such a fast pace, and it's just like...

Jeff Spurgeon: so, what, what is your, what is your, your day on tour, you arrive in the venue, you rehearse and, and you have to keep your own stuff up, your own individual technique up, and then you have to, to work together.

Does she run all the rehearsals? Do you guys do things alone? How does it work?

Elias Moncado: So obviously a big part for all of the Virtuosi members, is like to be, um, very well prepared in advance, but then as soon as Ms. Mutter and all of us come together, we actually rehearse almost every single day. So, it, it of course depends like how busy the schedule is.

For, for example, we were very fortunate, um, to have started in Iceland where we had about one or two days off. So, we managed to get to see the wonderful nature and the, the beauty of the country. And then obviously then on the other hand, there were also like very, very tight schedules. Like, for example, today in New York, we, we just performed in Atlanta yesterday, and then we, we just flew in today, and then tomorrow we'll be off to Chicago.

So, so in these kinds of, um, situations, we should of course spare energy in, like, um, practice wisely. During rehearsals, we try to minimize the, the physical, like, um, the physical aspect, but we are of course very focused. And so we try to, uh, until the concert and during the concert, obviously we, we try to play our very best and just have fun on stage.

John Schaefer: First time at Carnegie Hall for both of you?

Sara Ferrandez: It is actually my second time. I had the great pleasure to play in one of the small halls, uh, like a year, year and a half ago. Yeah.

Elias Moncado: For me, it's my first time. And so, I, I can take off Carnegie Hall from my bucket list.

Jeff Spurgeon: That’s just wonderful. Two of the members of the Mutter Virtuosi violinist Elias Moncado and violist Sara Ferrandez. Thank you so much for spending a little of your time with us.

Elias Moncado: Thank you so much.

Sara Ferrandez: Thank you.

John Schaefer: And we’ll look forward to seeing you in a few minutes out on stage.

Jeff Spurgeon: Yes. Some more Vivaldi as this broadcast from Carnegie Hall Live continues. We finished the first half of the concert with a work by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges.

And uh, now with a few more minutes left in intermission before Vivaldi’s Four Seasons comes to you from the Carnegie Hall stage, we’re going to hear another of the Bologne works. This one for flute and harp. It was recorded in WQXR’s ground floor performance venue, The Greene Space, and it features flutist Brandon Patrick George, uh, one of the first members of our Artist Propulsion Lab at WQXR, the radio station’s recent program, identifying some new and mid-level career musicians, giving them the opportunity to, uh, expose their talents to greater audiences.

So we’ve enjoyed what the musicians of the Artist Propulsion Lab have been doing, including Brandon Patrick George here with harpist June Han in music by Joseph Bologne.

MUSIC – Bologne: Sonata for Flute and Harp

John Schaefer: Another work by the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, born Joseph Bologne -  Sonata for Flute and Harp, performed by Brandon Patrick George, the flutist, and harpist June Han recorded live in WQXR's ground floor performance venue, The Greene Space. And you can find out more about all the great things happening in The Greene Space by going to their website, which is the greene, with an e at the end, thegreenespace.org.

And uh, we are at intermission in this concert featuring the violinist, Anne-Sophie Mutter, and the Mutter Virtuosi, uh, a remarkable, uh, collection of individuals, Jeff, some of whom, uh, are actually playing instruments loaned to them by Anne-Sophie or her foundation.

Jeff Spurgeon: Yeah, some of these instruments have, uh, very, uh, significant pedigrees to them. So yeah. Uh, it’s another part of the experience of performing with this top of the class violinist around the world, uh, to get to play these great instruments too. Um, one of the things we spoke about with Anne-Sophie when we talked to her a couple of weeks ago about this concert was the inevitable question about what do you do with an ensemble that you bring together to perform for people during a pandemic?

So, we asked her, what did they do, and she told us that they found a way to give back to community organizations.

Anne-Sophie Mutter: Uh, we went into churches just to rent a service. We also had to do that because we started to go crazy, not being able to make music together. And also, I felt this was the time to thank people that they had been so wonderful, you know, in my life for the last 40, 45 years.

And we went to old people's homes and, uh, orphanages and uh just try to connect on a, on a very, although with masked distance, but, but connect on a different level. Just being there for, for people in times where communication was such a, a treasured but very, very rare, uh, possibility.

John Schaefer: Anne-Sophie Mutter and, uh, “How I spent my pandemic” with the, uh, the Mutter Virtuosi who will finish up the program this evening with Vivaldi's Four Seasons, one of classical music's greatest hits. And Anne-Sophie told us she just had to include this work

Anne-Sophie Mutter: Unavoidably, we need to do the Four Seasons because it's the Baroque music's boldest, uh, piece ever. And if you consider, you know, I think it has been written in 1725 and nothing quite like that has been written for the violin. The idea alone that Vivaldi would write his poems over the four seasons, then set music to it, and that you actually could read in the score.

Um, let's say the shepherd is, you know, dreaming and his dog is making noises, or you sit at the fireplace and the raindrops are knocking against, um, the glass, the window. It's so poetic and it's so incredibly colorful that neither do I grow tired of it, nor is it, is it ever a piece which, uh, is not, you know, amazing you, because there's also such a high energy level in it.

Jeff Spurgeon: Anne-Sophie Mutter speaking of Vivaldi's set of concertos, The Four Seasons, that we are about to hear, although really John, and we don’t really need to hear four of them because we could just do spring and summer and fall and then open the doors here at Carnegie Hall because the temperature tonight, as you’re hearing this concert in Central Park is 11 degrees.

John Schaefer: And the windchill making it feel much, much colder so.

Jeff Spurgeon: And, and yet the atmospheric effects in Vivaldi’s music will make Spring appear before you. With all that bird song, you’ll hear an astonishing and devastating summer storm and then a great party in the fall for Autumn when we get to eat. And then things will wrap up again with a, with a visit to winter happening outside in New York City tonight and inside Carnegie Hall, the Mutter Virtuosi, 14 musicians with Ms. Mutter ready to bring you this great set of popular works by Antonio Vivaldi. The Four Seasons coming to you from the Mutter Virtuosi and a very affectionate audience as you hear the music from Carnegie Hall Live.

MUSIC – Vivaldi: The Four Seasons

John Schaefer: Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, a set of four violin concertos. Yes. One for each season. You could practically hear the teeth chattering in the wind in the last movement of the winter concerto. Anne-Sophie Mutter playing the violin and leading the Mutter Virtuosi live on stage here at Carnegie Hall. The Four Seasons is actually just the first four in a set of 12 violin concertos that were all published together. But these four, uh, were accompanied by little sonnets. And it's thought, Jeff, that Vivaldi himself wrote those.

Jeff Spurgeon: Yeah. Right. So, the descriptions that are in the works are, are very detailed and they come through in the performance. So, there's talk of, as you said, chattering teeth and icy steps and uh, and in summer of hot weather and dangerous storms. And the music is full of those images as well.

Anne-Sophie Mutter taking center stage now. All the members of her ensemble on their feet. She's gone around and hugged every one of them in the time that we've just been talking about the Vivaldi, and now they're all up on their feet before this audience.

John Schaefer: Of course, most of them have been on their feet the whole time, right? As we mentioned earlier, uh, with the exception of the harpsichord and cello players, uh, all the violinists, Anne-Sophie herself playing in a standing position throughout the concert, which has included, uh, a number of works from the Baroque period, as well as a New York premiere of a piece by Unsuk Chin.

And the audience here at a, uh, pretty chock-a-block, Carnegie Hall. I don't see any empty seats. Uh, they are not quite ready to let Anne-Sophie Mutter go. She's back out on stage for another bow.

Jeff Spurgeon: She came back on stage. She had a lot of, um, horse hairs hanging from her bow. Yes, they just, as it happens once in a while. So, she was tearing those off. Uh, which I suggest implies that she may be willing to play the violin again before she's done tonight.

John Schaefer: It does suggest that she's not done with the instrument just yet, and the members of the, uh, the Mutter Virtuosi on stage here at Carnegie Hall, applauding her, applauding the audience, who are many of them on their feet as well.

And Anne-Sophie Mutter returning to center stage. The stage door is closing. And you know what that means? We're going to have an encore.

Anne-Sophie Mutter: Ladies and gentlemen. No panic, no more Unsuk Chin, but another contemporary composer, one of the world's greatest icons, certainly America's greatest musical icon, John Williams.

It is such an incredible honor and pleasure to be here on the stage of Carnegie Hall, and when I mentioned John Williams, I have to think of Andre Previn. And who usually sat up there whenever I played here. And Andre and John were the closest of friends since they were 16 years old. And it was Andre who introduced me to the great John Williams about 10 years ago.

And that was one of the greatest gifts really Andre could give me other than his own wonderful music. And so John Williams agreed to, uh, write a violin concerto for me, which I played a few months ago here on the stage of Carnegie Hall with the great conductor. But he also rearranged about 16 or 18 of his most iconic film themes, and he did so also for my wonderful, wonderful colleagues here in the ensemble.

Um, he rearranged the Long Goodbye for string ensemble for Mutter Virtuosi. And this is what we are going to play for you now.

MUSIC - Williams: The Long Goodbye

Jeff Spurgeon: The music of John Williams casting a spell over this Carnegie Hall audience playing a special arrangement of John Williams's music that he wrote for a 1973 Elliot Gould film called The Long Goodbye based on a Raymond Chandler novel from the 1950s. Williams wrote that music in the 1970s, but recently rewrote the piece for the musicians you just heard play it - violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and her Mutter ensemble in this concert you're hearing from Carnegie Hall Live, an encore on this program.

John Schaefer: Right. Anne-Sophie mentioned in introducing it that she had played John Williams’ second violin concerto on this stage. We were here for that program.

Jeff Spurgeon: Another concert that you heard from Carnegie Hall Live. Yes, in this recent season, and Anne-Sophie Mutter back out on stage applauding the ensemble, the Mutter Virtuosi, and now turning and bowing to the audience, most of which is on its feet.

John Schaefer: You heard the, the, the cry of "brava" as soon as she finished the, uh, that arrangement of The Long Goodbye, a much-loved figure here at Carnegie Hall, Anne-Sophie Mutter, both as a violinist and as the person who founded and runs the Mutter Virtuosi. Um, well that was quick. A quick visit to our station here in the wings, and now she's back out on stage still with the violin in hand.

Jeff Spurgeon: Yes, she, she re-tuned as you heard there for a moment implying once again that the performances are not yet concluded in this concert. So yes, the Virtuosi and Anne-Sophie are back on stage and the audience is settling back into its seats. Another encore we're about to enjoy.

MUSIC: Vivaldi: The Four Seasons

John Schaefer: A reminder from Anne-Sophie Mutter and company that the word “encore” literally means to hear something again. And you just got another blast of winter wind from Vivaldi's Four Seasons in that encore by the Mutter Virtuosi, led by violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter.

Jeff Spurgeon: The concert you're hearing from Carnegie Hall Live. Backstage, I'm Jeff Spurgeon and John Schaefer is here as well. And, uh, well, who knows what's going to happen, but as you just heard those notes from the violin were Anne-Sophie retuning. Just checking once again. Back out she goes. I think I, I don't think we're done, John.

John Schaefer: Uh, it seems like neither the audience nor the musicians are quite ready to, uh, let the evening end. Anne-Sophie back out center stage. A quick, a quick bow of the audience, now headed our way, and we will just have to wait and see what happens next.

Jeff Spurgeon: The Mutter Virtuosi, uh, the Mutter Virtuosi in the middle of a, a tour of, uh, North America, Canada, the United States, and Iceland. They spent some time in Iceland a few days ago as well.

John Schaefer: so, they're, they've, uh, they've gotten a, a blast of winter in the last few days.

Jeff Spurgeon: Indeed.

John Schaefer: Anne-Sophie Mutter is now back at center stage and looks like we'll get another encore.

Anne-Sophie Mutter: Amongst the many beautiful themes John Williams has rewritten for a violin is maybe, it’s very difficult to say that it's my favorite, but I have always loved jazz.

And this jazzy theme from the movie Cinderella Liberty, which is a movie from the seventies, um, is particularly close to my heart. And once again, it's just a great gift having John Williams in all our lives. Um, so we are going to play from Cinderella Liberty – “Nice To Be Around”.

MUSIC - Williams: Cinderella Liberty, "Nice to Be Around"

Jeff Spurgeon: “Nice To Be Around” is the title of that work from the score from the 1973 film, Cinderella Liberty. James Caan, and Marsha Mason in that movie. The music was written by John Williams, and you just heard that moment from that score played by Anne-Sophie Mutter and the Mutter Virtuosi from Carnegie Hall Live.

Anne-Sophie Mutter has, uh, a lot invested in John Williams really, she, as you hear, she's a super fan. And, and, uh, has enjoyed some special artist access to John Williams, who, as she said on the stage, has rewritten about a dozen and a half of his great melodies for her and for this ensemble. Back on stage she goes. Anne-Sophie Mutter with applause from her, for her colleagues on stage, and from the audience obviously, and also from the members of the Mutter Virtuosi. It is clear that this audience has really enjoyed this evening of Carnegie Hall.

John Schaefer: The first, uh, encore that Anne-Sophie played was The Long Goodbye, and that has turned out to be the literal case. Uh, this is a concert that ended some time ago, but Anne-Sophie Mutter and the Mutter Virtuosi with a generous portion of encores to, uh, send the audience home happy, if not warm.

Jeff Spurgeon: Well, it's a, it's a cold night in, in New York, but it is a warm night for sure here at Carnegie Hall. And, and these are the, uh, musicians right in front of us.

John Schaefer: You can, you can hear the warmth, the communal warmth of music making and perhaps relief that the big night at Carnegie Hall, the first for many of these young musicians, has gone so well.

Indeed, indeed.

And it's, it's a little bit like, um, the coach gathering the, the team after the game, right after the big game.

Jeff Spurgeon: It's, it's very much that, in fact. Yeah, that's exactly right. They, they've come off the field and, uh, and are looking back a little bit right in front of us talking about what went on stage tonight and how things, uh, how things proceeded, uh, in this concert that we heard that consisted of a Four Violin Concerto by Vivaldi, a brand-new work by, uh, composer Unsuk Chin and, a concerto, beautiful concerto by Joseph Bologne. And then The Four Seasons of Vivaldi,

John Schaefer: and then the Four Seasons, and then a parade of encores. And, you know, uh, one of the, the striking things about the second half of the, the program, the Four Seasons, we think of that as one of, one of THE most famous, one of the most popular classical music pieces. Even people who are not necessarily fans of classical musical recognize bits and pieces of it. In the printed program tonight, it notes that the first performance of Vivaldi's Four Seasons at Carnegie Hall didn't take place until 1951, which means the latter part of the 19th century when Carnegie Hall was open and the entire first half of the 20th century, nobody played the Four Seasons here.

Jeff Spurgeon: It's quite something.

John Schaefer: It was, it was simply not the, the same kind of favorite that it is now, and it shows how tastes change. And so, you know, I'm wondering, the Joseph Bologne, the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, now that we're beginning to hear his music, maybe we'll get a chance to sort of reconfigure where he fits.

Jeff Spurgeon: I think it's quite likely. I mean, part of The Four Seasons story, I think for at least audiences in this country was the movie in the early 1980s, Carol Burnett, Alan Alda, the movie that was called The Four Seasons.

And they used those concertos all through it. And I'm sure that helped with its popularity as well. But we have at the microphone now, Anne-Sophie Mutter, congratulations. What a wonderful concert.

Anne-Sophie Mutter: Thanks.

Jeff Spurgeon: I think you had a very good time. Your musicians appeared to have a really wonderful time playing.

Anne-Sophie Mutter: We had all a wonderful time. I mean, Carnegie Hall is ever so special. Whenever I go out on stage, all the great musicians of the past are present and it's, of course, it's in a way, you know, the pressure is on. But it's very inspiring and it's a very humbling experience and it's such a wonderfully sounding hall. It's, you know, you are with your Strad inside a Strad, and you can do anything, anything, any whisper, anything. This hall is tremendous and the audience. I just love it here.

Jeff Spurgeon: You had it, you, you've brought us so much. Now you are doing something that you have not done as much of with the Mutter Virtuosi, which is leading a little bit of conducting and some coaching. So how is that experience for you? Because you have to have a part of your brain, uh, spread out a little more during a performance.

Anne-Sophie Mutter: Yes, definitely. Yeah. Um, yeah, taking notes for the next rehearsal, absolutely. But, uh, I started leading in, in the year 2000 actually with the Vienna Philharmonic of all orchestras. I don't know why I did that, but, it was a jump in the hot and cold water.

John Schaefer: You have to start somewhere, right?

Anne-Sophie Mutter: Yes, exactly. And, you know, I have this foundation since now 26 years in eight of young string players. And so, Mutter's Virtuosi consists of, uh, players of I think 10 or 12 different, uh, countries. Uh, we have quite a number of American violinists, uh, on board. Um, Nancy, who was my partner in, um, in the Unsuk Chin is American, and lots of Europeans obviously. So, the goal really is to bring the very young, less experienced ones together with former scholars of my foundation, like Misha Ovrutsky who played the second fiddle in the Vivaldi.

And, uh, it's basically learning through doing, um, teaching is one thing, but playing together, making music together, being on tour, learning from each other, um, you know, thriving under pressure is, is part of growing up, I guess, and growing as an ensemble together. And there's a wonderful camaraderie also between all these musicians and that's very, very moving to see, I find.

Jeff Spurgeon: I think it's very apparent too. We felt it backstage before they ever went out, and certainly the audience responded to it as well.

John Schaefer: And, and when you were mentioning, Anne-Sophie, that being here on this stage and, you know, the, the musicians of the past all being present, you're bringing the next generation of those musicians. And I'm just wondering what was it, I mean, it's not like you were lacking things to do and needed to fill your time.

Anne-Sophie Mutter: No, not necessarily.

John Schaefer: So, so what was it that made you, that drove you to create the, the Virtuosi?

Anne-Sophie Mutter: Uh, I love people. Uh, I love children. I mean, these are not children, but I just love communicating and sharing. Um, and I had a wonderful violin teacher. She was a pupil of Carl Flesch, very close to, um, uh, Henryk Szeryng. And of course, I knew the great, uh, Isaac Stern and, and they all, you know, gave to the next generation. And whatever you learned from your great teachers, from muses like Lynn Harrell or Mstislav Rostropovich with whom I used to play when I was very young, string trio. They were such great personalities in my life who shared their wisdom and also their political awakeness and, uh, their philanthropic heart. And that's also a big part of the Mutter's Virtuosi; we do quite a number of benefit concerts. We did a lot for the Ukraine. We will go on doing that. So, we work for the International Red Cross and Save The Children, that's also part of being a musician, but we, I'm learning from the past, and so I hope they learn from the past and the present as every generation of human beings is doing.

Jeff Spurgeon: That's wonderful. And, and you have encompassed so much because, as you say, um, the musicians of the past and, and the musicians who are with you out there as André Previn is out there all the time. That's a, that's a lot of emotion to carry into a performance too. Does that inform your work, or does it press you?

Anne-Sophie Mutter: Yeah. Actually, the first few times when I came back to Carnegie Hall after, uh, Andre had passed away because even before we got married and after we got divorced, he always used to come to my concerts. He always sat at that balcony on, on my right top side. If I look up, it was really difficult, uh, realizing that he physically wasn't there anymore.

But, you know, he has left me a beautiful gift. Uh, 12 works for Violin orchestra, violin, solo, whatever, and he has introduced me to John Williams. And John Williams, the collaboration with that musical genius has become really one of the greatest gifts in my life. I cannot begin to tell you what John's music means, uh, to me, but also to the vi-violin world in total. The violin concerto is just an amazing piece of music and his ongoing rewriting of film music, and hopefully writing more, in general.

John Schaefer: Well, we were we, Jeff and I were here broadcasting when you were last on this stage, playing that violin concerto by John Williams. It's been great having you and the Virtuosi here with us tonight.

Anne-Sophie Mutter: Thank you for having us. Thank you.

Jeff Spurgeon: A fabulous thrill. Thank you so much.

Anne-Sophie Mutter: Thank you very much.

Jeff Spurgeon: Anne-Sophie Mutter with us at the microphones tonight from Carnegie Hall Live. As we get ready to wrap up this broadcast with thanks to some of the people who've made it possible: Clive Gillinson and the staff of Carnegie Hall, the WQXR engineering team, Edward Haber, George Wellington, Chase Culpon and Bill Siegmund.

John Schaefer: and the production team, including Eileen Delahunty, Lauren Purcell-Joiner, Laura Boyman and Aimée Buchanan. I'm John Schaefer.

Jeff Spurgeon: I'm Jeff Spurgeon. This program is a collaboration of Carnegie Hall and WQXR in New York.

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