East Meets West
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AFTAB DARVISHI / UNSUK CHIN / JORG WIDMANN / THOMAS ADES
East Meets West
Anne-Sophie Mutter (violin) / London Symphony Orchestra, Thomas Adès
[ Alpha Classics / CD ]
Release Date: Friday 27 March 2026
An inspiration to entire generations of musicians and an indefatigable icon of classical music, Anne-Sophie Mutter remains an artist in motion: curious, bold, and open to what music can be today and tomorrow. For decades, she has been commissioning works from today's most exciting composers and supporting young performers. With ASM Forte Forward, Mutter launches her own series of recordings on Alpha Classics. She works alongside musical friends, including both current and former scholarship recipients of the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation.
The first album in the new series, East Meets West, includes works by four composers from diverse origins. The programme moves from solo violin, through duo and chamber repertoire, to a work for violin and orchestra. It opens with Likoo, for violin solo by Iranian-Dutch composer Aftab Darvishi, followed by Gran Cadenza for two violins by Unsuk Chin, a South Korean composer living in Berlin, Jörg Widmann's String Quartet No. 6, entitled Studie über Beethoven; and concludes with Thomas Adès' work for violin and orchestra, Air - Homage to Sibelius, recorded here with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by the British composer himself.
"Here is the first release in a new partnership between Anne-Sophie Mutter and Alpha Classics, and the label is sufficiently chuffed to have signed the godmother of European violinists that it has bestowed a stand-alone brand upon the forthcoming series, ASM Forte Forward. Each album will feature music written for Mutter. This first instalment also comes with a subtitle, 'East Meets West' - a reference to its pairing of works by Thomas Adès and Jörg Widmann with those by Aftab Darvishi and Unsuk Chin.
The programme has the qualities of an exquisitely conceived restaurant meal, moving from solo to duo to quartet to a miniature concerto that returns us to the sound of Mutter's 1710 'Lord Dunn-Raven' Strad on its own. Aftab Darvishi's Likoo takes its title from an Iranian mugham - an improvised incantation, in this instance prompted by grief. It opens with the sort of grinding double-stop that could easily launch a Norwegian fiddle tune. What follows is music that gives the impression of minimal composer interference - something plenty of composers aim for but few achieve." Gramophone Editor's Choice
Tracks:
Aftab Darvishi: Likoo, for violin solo
(Anne-Sophie Mutter)
Unsuk Chin: Gran Cadenza, for two violins
(Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin I
Nancy Zhou, violin II)
Jörg Widmann: Studie über Beethoven (String Quartet No. 6)
(Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin I
Ye-Eun Choi, violin II
Muriel Razavi, viola
Pablo Ferrández, cello)
Thomas Adès: Air - Homage to Sibelius, for violin and orchestra
(Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin
Stephanie Gonley, guest leader
London Symphony Orchestra
Thomas Adès, conductor)
