The final instalments of Anne-Sophie Mutter's survey of her own "subjective choice" of the 20th-century violin repertoire intensified the mixed feelings aroused by the series as a whole. The flaws in her playing that made the first three evenings variable - dodgy intonation, inconsistency in involvement and intensity - were mercifully less in evidence. But the self-congratulatory quality of the whole enterprise became increasingly apparent towards the end, particularly on the last night, which focused on two works she had inspired, Wolfgang Rihm's Time Chant and Penderecki's Second Concerto.
Subtitled Metamorphoses, the latter is an otiose piece, subjecting a single brief phrase, heard at the outset, to ceaseless transformations. Pulsating elegies alternate with a series of scherzos varying from the grotesque to the skittish, before seraphic calm finally descends. The demands it makes on Mutter are formidable - cadenzas full of triple-stopped trills, and the like - and one could only gawp at the stamina and athleticism with which she approached it, but the Concerto aims too high and goes on far too long.
Time Chant, however, is a canny, ambivalent masterpiece. Fascinated by what he describes as the "vocal" quality of Mutter's playing, Rihm turns her into a dominant siren, whose heady singing gradually coaxes an imitative, adulatory response from an accompanying chamber ensemble. Yet she is not allowed to be centre-stage all the time. At one point, the ensemble rebels with a series of resentful snarls, and she has to follow their lead until peace is restored.
It was the penultimate concert, however, which proved the best of the five. Clearly enjoying herself, she sailed through Bernstein's gorgeous Serenade with gleeful relish, pouring out a steady stream of warm lyrical tone. Lutoslawski's complex, austere Partita-Interlude-Chain II was invested with a thrilling ferocity which we hadn't heard since her performance of Bartok's Second Sonata on the opening night.
Throughout, Masur and the LSO have been outstanding - eloquent partners when Mutter has been on the platform, showstoppers when she is off it. Orchestral treats in the last two concerts included a hypnotic version of Ravel's La Valse, a sinuous Till Eulenspiegel and a performance of the Symphonic Picture from Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, for which the audience roared its approval, some standing to applaud. Throughout the entire series, Mutter never received quite such an enthusiastic ovation - and that, perhaps, is significant.
