In the 80's, I used to have an album of this concerto played by Mutter, Ma and Zeltzer with the Berlin Philharmonic under von Karajan. (I still have the CD version.) The album face has a picture of the three youngsters with the maestro. The recording was probably of late '70s or early '80, also by DG. Judging from the look of Ma, he should be in his early or mid 20s. All soloists looked very young, but their playing was very mature. In this early recording, I was first attracted to Ma's leading solo part of the second movement. It was such a serene atmosphere created by a young cellist. This current version was recorded in 2019, some 40 years later. Mutter looks gorgeous, no more a young girl, just a gorgeous woman. Funnily, I found that this 2019 playing was much more fiery than their youthful performance. The orchestral part was recorded with a much more heavy weight.
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