This SACD transfer of Anne-Sophie Mutter’s Beethoven violin sonatas, taken from a series of live recordings from 1998, does not transcend the questionable interpretations. In each of these famous sonatas, Mutter takes excessive liberties with respect to dynamics and phrasing, and while some listeners may appreciate the thought and care she puts into these readings, it sounds as if she is trying a bit too hard to be “musical”. For example, just before the exposition repeat of the “Spring” sonata, several instances of disproportionate agogic pauses, inconsistent use of vibrato, random adherences to sforzando markings, and a sporadic disregard for (or recasting of) dynamics combine to produce an overly fussy performance that lacks momentum and a sense of direction. The rest of the sonata features similar iterations of these mannerisms, and this is too bad since both she and pianist Lambert Orkis produce some beautiful sounds. The “Kreutzer” fares somewhat better, since Mutter is attuned to the inherent energy of the piece; but again, her effort to read too much into this work, to “over-interpret”, ultimately dissembles the whole event.
For reasons unexplained, Deutsche Grammophon decided to re-issue this disc in Super Audio format using a 44.1 kHz/24-bit PCM source for both the stereo and multi-channel mixes. There is virtually no improvement in stereo compared to the original CD, and the surround mix, while still unnatural spatially, is not as objectionable as some others, offering a warm 3-D image. Curious audiophiles may start to note the discrepancies in both sampling rates and bit lengths in the original source material Universal employs for these re-issues. It makes no real difference at the limits of human hearing, but it does call into question the purpose of SACD, which at this point is looking less like the “next new thing” (in fact DSD, the underlying technology, itself is an “old” technology) and more like a slightly better-sounding delivery medium than CD that ultimately may appeal only to an extremely limited population. At least we have a hybrid option here, at a more competitive price, to help us draw our own conclusions.
