A tour de Force

Ahead of her NZSO concerts, violin superstar Anne-Sophie Mutter tells of her overture to Star Wars maestro John Williams.

- RICHARD BETTS

It started a long time ago in a land far, far away. It's a tale of intrigue, Hollywood trysts and delicious biscuits. It started, as these things so often do, with Star Wars. "John Williams' music has always accompanied my life," says Anne-Sophie Mutter. The legendary violinist, who is on the line from Berlin, is explaining how a girl who grew up in West Germany's backblocks winds up performing a Williams violin concerto with the NZSO in Wellington and Auckland this month.

"In the late 70s, [Williams'] music came even to the remote Black Forest, and I went to see and hear Star Wars. I would never have dared to dream I would meet the man, much less that he would scribble a note for me."

Mutter sounds genuine but it's an unnecessary display of humility from someone who has been a world star for 47 of her 60 years. She's not exactly down to Earth, but nor does she act like she's famous. ("As a classical musician, are you ever famous?") Her playing doesn't sound like she's famous, either.

"She plays with huge intensity without anything that draws attention to herself; it's all about the music," says NZSO concertmaster Vesa-Matti Leppänen, who has been a fan for as long as he can remember and recalls his violin teacher pinning Mutter's posters on the wall at his Finnish conservatoire. "You can see it in her movements, in the way she behaves on the stage, it's not about her. She wants people to focus on what she's playing, which is difficult because she has amazing stage presence."

For all Mutter's protestations about the level of fame she enjoys - and the reverence with which she refers to Williams - she has performed with everyone who's anyone, with all the best orchestras, in all the great concert halls, and for whom the leading composers of our time have written music.