Anne-Sophie Mutter: Vivace [Blu-ray]

The filmmaker Sigrid Faltin reckoned one would learn more about the artist by observing her in conversation with familiar persons, or those she would find interesting. Asked whom she would like to speak to, Anne-Sophie Mutter spontaneously named tennis star Roger Federer, magician Steve Cohen from New York, conductor Daniel Barenboim, legendary film composer John Williams (Star Wars and others), composer Jörg Widmann and her long-standing pianist Lambert Orkis, “musically my best buddy”. In exchange with these companions, she explains why she identifies with outstanding athletes, how she came to wear her signature concert gowns, and why she regrets no longer playing the piano. She speaks extensively about the early death of her husband, her life as a single parent and the balancing act of squaring all that with a breath-taking world career as a professional musician.

Anne-Sophie Mutter – Vivace is a documentary portraying one of the greatest performers of our times not only as a musician, but also as an athletic, politically and socially active woman. Sigrid Faltin has complemented the conversations with archival footage from five decades, creating a close-up portrait.

Anne-Sophie Mutter – Vivace is a production of SWR, in cooperation with SWR Media Services GmbH, Naxos Audiovisual Division and Deutsche Grammophon.