European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 21, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse 3 Start any Lor 10 sic but photo Anthony Crickmay of Eutha Guam Sophon mostly i just read and go to the Cinema. I Don t like social life too much. I m not a person who likes to be with hundreds of people a few friends and that s just about it. I like to Lead a very quiet she expects marriage to make a big difference in my life she says because i have the idea that getting married and having someone standing behind you in front of you beside you someone you love and you Admire makes you very Strong. Otherwise i Don t expect too much change. I think 120 concerts is too much so i won t do quite so Many and maybe i won t make Tours of two or three months in the United states just come Over for a Short visit two or three limes a year but that s about it. My husband happens to be very Busy too so it s not a mutter s parents Are not musicians her father formerly a reporter is now the editor of one of West Germany s leading daily newspapers the us Durier. She says her parents knew they had something unusual on their hands by the time she was s years old and demanding violin lessons. They made me Start with the piano because they thought it would be better than violin for a 5-year-old," she says. But that lasted Only a few von Karajan introducing the 13-year-old mutter to the world described her As the most important violin Prodigy since Yehudi Menuhin. Like him and unlike some musicians who Start their careers Early mutter has continued to grow artistically and has weathered the transition irom Wunderkind to mature performer with Grace and poise. In an interview she relaxes easily laughs frequently and answers questions without reservations. She says she is never nervous before a concert and was not even when she was a child. There was no cause to be nervous. I am always prepared to the Best of my ability. I remember Karajan asked me before our first concert Are you nervous and i said no and he was very surprised he looked at me As though i was some kind of a Green Man from one question makes her pause with a puzzled Little frown on her lace docs she think that her striking Good looks have helped her career honestly. I be never thought about that she says. The Only thing i have thought she hesitates about visual effects during my recital tour is that i will never go on stage in a chamber music program like a recital wearing a brightly coloured dress. We Are Only two on the Slage and that Wouk distract visually too much. So i will Only Wear or Gray. That is the Only Lime i seriously think about being on Slage As a woman. Otherwise i think of myself As a musician completely Neutral on after mutter passed her 21st birthday the gowns she wore Lor performances with orchestra changed notably from an almost victorian High necked style to strapless Decol Lelage. She describes this As an artistic decision. Since i am 16 or 17,1 have different types of dresses but i always have dresses without sleeves. There Are Good reasons first of All it s much too hot. Second tight clothes can distract you and get in your Way. Third the violin sounds better if there is not a fabric Between it and your at the suggestion that in that Case perhaps men should Start playing the violin with Bare shoulders she Breaks into cascades of giggles. Thank god they Are not doing it she says. Can you imagine Isaac Stern in an open to shirt i think that would be much More distracting than any decollete of and not nearly As artistically satisfying she might have added but politely refrains. The word Star gets As emphatically modest a response from her As questions about concert costume. I think of myself As just one of the performers. I Don t think of myself As a Star that s a very empty word Star when i play a concerto. I am simply the composer s interpreter Beethoven is the Star not in her current North american tour mutter will make her recital debuts in Washington new York los Angeles san Francisco Montreal Toronto and other cities. She has been playing recitals in Europe since she began performing internationally but until now All her performances in North America have been with orchestras. The delay was just a question of scheduling she says. I love to play recitals. For one thing i have More control of the program and of the musical expression the sound the phrasing also the dynamics. It is a much More Lively Way to make music much More she has Only one regret about the program i would have liked to include something contemporary like the Partite of Wilold Lutoslawski. Next time i will do a More Avant Garde one thing she likes about contemporary music is being Able to talk to the composer. She has recorded two of Lutoslawski s works for violin and orchestra Partite and Chain 2," for Deutsche Gramm Phon. When she played the music for the composer she says he approved of the Way i played the music but to was unhappy with the second movement of Chain 2 the Tempo was wrong so he changed it. But he already had the wrong metronome Mark in the published score. So anyone who wants to know the proper Tempo will have to listen to the. Ahem. Definitive when she gets into a discussion of such topics As Lutoslawski s music mutter s artistic seriousness quickly becomes Clear. I like the enormous expressivity which is always based in what we already know in Beethoven Brahms and Mozart she says. But he uses it for a unique language of his own. Very expressive. He s my most favorite Avant Garde composer also because of his of sound colors. He moves you that s what music should a Tew minutes of such conversation and you begin to feel that this woman is As smart As she is pretty and musically talented. And you begin to wonder about the Basic fairness of life. Aim me Sophie essay december 21,1988 the stabs and stripes Page 15
