It is no exaggeration to say that Anne-Sophie Mutter makes listening to difficult music easy and indeed quite pleasurable. Could it be partly attributable to the visual dimension she brings to the concert stage? Perhaps. And if so, what a happy result! But more likely, it stems from a deep-seated conviction that contemporary music embodies the same great human emotions that we all feel when we listen to Mozart or Beethoven or Wagner or Mahler.... Only the syntax is different, and like any new language, requires an exertion of effort to understand and appreciate it. As Anne-Sophie Mutter did in learning what is tantamount to a new musical language - an exercise she likens to a favorite hobby, mountain-climbing. Again, what a fitting metaphor! For taking on the mantle of champion of contemporary music is like climbing a mountain. It is risky; it is challenging; it demands focus and discipline; and yet there is in it a degree of freedom that empowers one to soar to new heights... or fall of a cliff.

And from what we have seen and heard, Anne-Sophie Mutter is an interpreter without peer whose artistry is an inspiration to today's great composers* and who will doubtless take the willing listeners among us to yet new heights in music. - GC/FanFaire2000