Tchaikovsky - Violin Concerto [Chung/ Previn-London Symphony Orchestra]
I love these Kyung Wha Chung violin re-issues on Decca, i have a whole bunch of them in my disc collection, this is a nice but strange coupling i guess, the Tchaikovsky is a staple of the repertoire, full of Slavic flavour, plus a real virtuoso warhorse, it was so good to listen to this today, appearing in my Blog twice before [11th March 2012 & 15th January 2013].
Kyung Wha Chung is South Korean, she's now 67, it's good to see her back in action again as she was on a career hold with a finger injury, the series for these Decca re-issues is excellent, the booklet photos have a tendency for black backgrounds [this one by Susesch Bayat], which spotlights the portrait of the performer, really well lit from the right, nice highlights, though the lettering for her name is a little overdone.
Ah what a performance, and what a composition too, it got better the longer i listened to it, and so it was the last movement Allegro Vivacissimo that was scintillating, full of virtuoso flair, it starts almost with a sort of cadenza introduction, before the movement gets underway properly [0:52+], or you could consider it a linking passage between the last two movements, Chung rightly plays it fast, there's a stamping dance section, played deliberately slowly by the violin [1:56-2:17], very Russian, but speeds up into a frenzied whirl [2:17-2:43], there's also more thoughtful passages, but the virtuoso elements are never far away, with some very fast playing indeed [4:32-5:00], at the end the orchestra comes into its own, playing in a more glorious fashion, building the frenzy up and up [8:07-8:26], and the violin plays that dementedly fast music [8:27-8:40], a great finale to the work, Chung really throws herself into it, and her preciseness is thrilling, a great end to a great Concerto.
Here's Chung playing the Violin Concerto on YouTube.
Kyung Wha Chung is South Korean, she's now 67, it's good to see her back in action again as she was on a career hold with a finger injury, the series for these Decca re-issues is excellent, the booklet photos have a tendency for black backgrounds [this one by Susesch Bayat], which spotlights the portrait of the performer, really well lit from the right, nice highlights, though the lettering for her name is a little overdone.
Ah what a performance, and what a composition too, it got better the longer i listened to it, and so it was the last movement Allegro Vivacissimo that was scintillating, full of virtuoso flair, it starts almost with a sort of cadenza introduction, before the movement gets underway properly [0:52+], or you could consider it a linking passage between the last two movements, Chung rightly plays it fast, there's a stamping dance section, played deliberately slowly by the violin [1:56-2:17], very Russian, but speeds up into a frenzied whirl [2:17-2:43], there's also more thoughtful passages, but the virtuoso elements are never far away, with some very fast playing indeed [4:32-5:00], at the end the orchestra comes into its own, playing in a more glorious fashion, building the frenzy up and up [8:07-8:26], and the violin plays that dementedly fast music [8:27-8:40], a great finale to the work, Chung really throws herself into it, and her preciseness is thrilling, a great end to a great Concerto.
Here's Chung playing the Violin Concerto on YouTube.
