Tango Song and Dance

Despite the star power of classical music's most famous husband-and-wife duo since Alagna and Gheorghiu, Tango Song and Dance is more than a novelty. Driven by decades of combined recital and concert experience of André Previn, Anne-Sophie Mutter, and her esteemed long-time sideman Lambert Orkis, this handsomely programmed CD flows seamlessly through a wide variety of repertoire all, in one way or another, related to the somewhat cryptic title borrowed from the opening piece, a new work by Previn. The veteran composer's funky, jazz-powered tunes add the "tango:" an eclectic mix of styles from Argentina and elsewhere culminating in a swaggering Czardas that segues neatly into a trio of Brahms' Hungarian Dances. Mutter's violinistic performance is sanguine and sexy, a consciously hesitant tease. Previn, wearing his jazz hat, teams back up with Mutter for a lively gin-and-vermouth reading of a suite of Gershwin numbers adapted from his Porgy and Bess by master synthesizer Fritz Kreisler. "Summertime" is dreamy and somnolent juxtaposed with the steamy Magyarica of the Brahms. We've got the tango and the song, and the dance comes from the unlikely pen of Gabriel Fauré, whose unusually ebullient Sonata is a knockout. Add the couple of Kreisler encores that bridge the gaps, and Tango Song and Dance provides the perfect trousseau: something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue. --David Simmons, WQXR Works on This Recording 1. Tango Song and Dance by André Previn ■ Performer: Anne-Sophie Mutter (Violin), André Previn (Piano) ■ Period: 20th Century ■ Date of Recording: 12/2001 ■ Venue: Herkulessaal, Munich, Germany ■ Length: 15 Minutes 34 Secs. 2. Hungarian Dances (21) for Piano 4 hands, WoO 1: no 1 in G minor by Johannes Brahms ■ Performer: Lambert Orkis (Piano), Anne-Sophie Mutter (Violin) ■ Period: Romantic ■ Written: 1868; Austria ■ Date of Recording: 01/2002 ■ Venue: Herkulessaal, Munich, Germany ■ Length: 3 Minutes 35 Secs. ■ Notes: Arranged: Joseph Joachim 3. Hungarian Dances (21) for Piano 4 hands, WoO 1: no 6 in D flat major by Johannes Brahms ■ Performer: Anne-Sophie Mutter (Violin), Lambert Orkis (Piano) ■ Period: Romantic ■ Written: 1868; Austria ■ Date of Recording: 01/2002 ■ Venue: Herkulessaal, Munich, Germany ■ Length: 3 Minutes 45 Secs. ■ Notes: Arranged: Joseph Joachim 4. Hungarian Dances (21) for Piano 4 hands, WoO 1: no 7 in A major by Johannes Brahms ■ Performer: Anne-Sophie Mutter (Violin), Lambert Orkis (Piano) ■ Period: Romantic ■ Written: 1868; Austria ■ Date of Recording: 01/2002 ■ Venue: Herkulessaal, Munich, Germany ■ Length: 2 Minutes 19 Secs. ■ Notes: Arranged: Joseph Joachim 5. Porgy and Bess: Summertime by George Gershwin ■ Performer: André Previn (Piano), Anne-Sophie Mutter (Violin) ■ Period: 20th Century ■ Written: 1935; USA ■ Date of Recording: 07/2002 ■ Venue: Herkulessaal, Munich, Germany ■ Length: 2 Minutes 13 Secs. ■ Notes: Arranged: Jascha Heifetz 6. Porgy and Bess: It ain't necessarily so by George Gershwin ■ Performer: André Previn (Piano), Anne-Sophie Mutter (Violin) ■ Period: 20th Century ■ Written: 1935; USA ■ Date of Recording: 07/2002 ■ Venue: Herkulessaal, Munich, Germany ■ Length: 2 Minutes 42 Secs. ■ Notes: Arranged: Jascha Heifetz 7. Porgy and Bess: Bess, you is my woman now by George Gershwin ■ Performer: André Previn (Piano), Anne-Sophie Mutter (Violin) ■ Period: 20th Century ■ Written: 1935; USA ■ Date of Recording: 07/2002 ■ Venue: Herkulessaal, Munich, Germany ■ Length: 5 Minutes 3 Secs. ■ Notes: Arranged: Jascha Heifetz 8. Porgy and Bess: My man's gone now by George Gershwin ■ Performer: Anne-Sophie Mutter (Violin), André Previn (Piano) ■ Period: 20th Century ■ Written: 1935; USA ■ Date of Recording: 07/2002 ■ Venue: Herkulessaal, Munich, Germany ■ Length: 4 Minutes 22 Secs. ■ Notes: Arranged: Jascha Heifetz 9. Schön Rosmarin by Fritz Kreisler ■ Performer: Lambert Orkis (Piano), Anne-Sophie Mutter (Violin) ■ Period: Romantic ■ Written: Austria ■ Date of Recording: 01/2002 ■ Venue: Herkulessaal, Munich, Germany ■ Length: 2 Minutes 15 Secs. 10. Caprice viennois, Op. 2 by Fritz Kreisler ■ Performer: Lambert Orkis (Piano), Anne-Sophie Mutter (Violin) ■ Period: Romantic ■ Written: Austria ■ Date of Recording: 01/2002 ■ Venue: Herkulessaal, Munich, Germany ■ Length: 4 Minutes 16 Secs. 11. Liebesleid by Fritz Kreisler ■ Performer: Anne-Sophie Mutter (Violin), Lambert Orkis (Piano) ■ Period: Romantic ■ Written: Austria ■ Date of Recording: 01/2002 ■ Venue: Herkulessaal, Munich, Germany ■ Length: 4 Minutes 16 Secs. 12. Sonata for Violin and Piano no 1 in A major, Op. 13 by Gabriel Fauré ■ Performer: Anne-Sophie Mutter (Violin), Lambert Orkis (Piano) ■ Period: Romantic ■ Written: 1875-1876; France ■ Date of Recording: 01/2002 ■ Venue: Herkulessaal, Munich, Germany ■ Length: 25 Minutes 23 Secs.