Saint Saens - Violin Concerto 3 [Yun/Lopez Cobos-London Philharmonic Orchestra]
What a lovely disc this is, two really wonderful Violin Concertos side by side, both have a bravura and a lyricism to melt your heart, the booklet shows Chee-Yun on the beach in a ball gown!, with her violin and bow in hand [photo by Nancy Ellison], i love this shot, the lopsided horizon actually adds to the picture, there's a wonderful breezy flow to her posture.
Kim Chee-Yun is from South Korea, she is now 40, wow these Orientals don't seem to grow old!, i believe she has mainly recorded for Denon, she's made some nice discs, but i think this is the very best disc she's ever recorded.
Again the middle movement is a gem, it has the sweetest melody, it's soothing and heartbreaking at the same time, the violin introduces the main tune twice [0:10-0:45], it's a ravishing tune, and when the tune comes in for a repeat later, it's the oboe that takes the honours [1:27+], but the violin soon takes over, later the strings get in on the act of singing the main tune [4:30+], the ending is ingenious, the violin sings the tune slowly, but high in its tessitura [6:30+], the oboe comes back in to complement it [6:49+], and then a moment of magic, the violin plays double arpeggio scales [7:07-8:06], this is absolutely gorgeous, the oboe still comes in to sing the main tune in a sad refrain [7:19+ & 7:37], this coda is one of the very best things Saint-Saens ever did, it's the icing on the cake of this movement.
Here's Kyung Wha Chung playing the second movement on YouTube.
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