concert Andris Nelsons conducts Sibelius and Shostakovich — With Anne-Sophie Mutter Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

“Stradivari on eight cylinders” was the headline for the rich cornucopia of sound that Anne-Sophie Mutter poured out in this rendition of the virtuosic Sibelius Violin Concerto. “Her Stradivari lets her sing the arches of melody with warm vibrato and lends real fire to her double-stopping; she stages great leaps as soaring stairways to heaven or headlong descents to hell and fills the slow movement with yielding warmth,”; the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported with admiration. In a word: “It can be played differently, but not better” (Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung). Mutter’s violin concerto is wonderfully complemented by Shostakovich’s intense Tenth Symphony, in which Andris Nelsons truly triumphs, leading the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra expertly through its forceful rhythms and elegiac pathos.