Only a couple of days ago this Concerto appeared in my Blog with Akiko Suwanai as the Soloist [4th December 2012], and here it is again!, the main tune in the third movement still keeps going round in my head!, it's so good to listen to this again, i don't get bored of it, the trick is to hear something new every time, to notice something that you didn't hear before, or learn something more about the history of the work, the key signature, or whatever, the music is the same, but your head and heart evolve, plus Kyung-Wha Chung is such an excellent Soloist to boot, and this work / disc was also an entry that kicked off my Blog this year [1st January 2012].
Kyung_Wha Chung is South Korean, she is now 64, she recorded this work in 1990, the front cover image [photo by Cindy Palmano] is an excellent portrait, with Chung holding her violin, lovely colours of orange and brown, black background which makes the subject stand out even stronger, i like the highlights on the violin.
Well even though i had the finale going round my head, it was the slow middle movement that i was so enraptured in this time, i guess it's my favourite movement of the three, it's so heavenly, how could a Composer who wrote this not duplicate excellent ideas throughout his works?, the Adagio starts right out of the ending of the first movement, the Concerto is in G Minor, and there's this sense of bittersweet sorrow throughout, the main theme of the Adagio is just irresistible, played very delicately by the solo violin at the start, but unbelievably the ideas get even better!, the violin plays a counter melody to the main one [0:55-1:39], and it's just heartbreaking, how can anyone not fall in love with this Concerto?, the orchestra aren't mere bystanders, and there's moments of tenderness from them too [4:25-4:57], the movement gets into a nice little complexity, and violin and orchestra intertwine in a lovely way, which results in the orchestra pulling out all the stops in a thrilling forte [5:35-6:35], towards the end there's a sweet moment of true tenderness as Chung plays delectably [7:54+], of course there's moments of violin passion too, and Chung takes this theme right into the treble stratosphere [8:16-8:33], it's a great coda from a great central movement, one of the very best in the violin repertoire.
Here's Kyung-Wha Chung playing the breathtaking Adagio middle movement on YouTube.
Here's Kyung-Wha Chung playing the breathtaking Adagio middle movement on YouTube.
