CD Review
Various composers: The Club Album: Live from Yellow Lounge
- Composer
- Various (Bach, Benjamin, Brahms, Copland, Debussy, Gershwin, Gounod, Saint-Saëns, Tchaikovsky, Vivaldi, John Williams)
- Artist
- Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin; Lambert Orkis, piano; Mahan Esfahani, harpsichord; Mutter Virtuosi
- Label
- Deutsche Grammophon
- Catalogue
- 4795023
Anne-Sophie Mutter’s The Club Album documents her first live recording made at a Yellow Lounge event, Deutsche Grammophon’s long-running series that stages classical performances in club settings, mixing live music with DJ and VJ sets rather than presenting it in a conventional concert hall. The recording was made at Berlin’s Neue Heimat venue in 2015, two years after an earlier Yellow Lounge appearance by Mutter had drawn one of the largest crowds in the series’ history, and was co-produced by Deutsche Grammophon and the German broadcaster ZDF.
The programme, conceived by Mutter specifically for this event and recording, spans roughly three centuries of music rather than presenting a single composer or era, Bach and Vivaldi sit alongside Gershwin, Copland and John Williams, moving between Baroque concerto movements, short Romantic showpieces and film music across a single continuous set. Mutter is joined by her longtime piano partner Lambert Orkis, by the Mutter Virtuosi, a string ensemble drawn from young alumni of the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation, the violinist’s own initiative supporting emerging string players, and by harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani, who released his own solo Deutsche Grammophon debut the same month.
About the format
Yellow Lounge events pair live classical performance with the visual and atmospheric conventions of club culture, DJ sets before and between pieces, large-scale projected visuals, and a standing, informal audience rather than a seated concert-hall crowd. This recording, credited to DJs Clé and Canisius and video artist Philipp Geist for the accompanying club elements, captures that hybrid format directly, rather than presenting the music in a studio setting stripped of its original context.
A note on this page
No independent mmmusic critic review of this recording survived in any archive we could recover, the original page carried only the label’s own recording summary rather than an in-house review. The text above has been written fresh from verified facts about the recording, its real programme and personnel, and the Yellow Lounge series itself.
Questions about this recording
What is Yellow Lounge?
A Deutsche Grammophon concert series that stages classical performances in club venues alongside DJ and VJ sets, aimed at bringing classical music into a nightlife setting rather than a traditional concert hall.
What makes this recording distinctive?
It's the first-ever live recording made at a Yellow Lounge event, captured at a 2015 performance at Berlin's Neue Heimat venue, following Mutter's widely attended 2013 Yellow Lounge appearance.
Who plays alongside Anne-Sophie Mutter on this disc?
Her longtime accompanist Lambert Orkis, the Mutter Virtuosi (young alumni of the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation), and harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani, whose own Deutsche Grammophon solo debut was released the same month.
Is this recording still available to buy?
Yes, Deutsche Grammophon's catalogue number 4795023 remains findable through the label and classical retailers. We don't run an in-house shop, so we link out to Amazon and Discogs below.
