Japanese company releases rare Chung Kyung-wha recordings

The King Records's discs, to be released on May 31, contain previously
unreleased materials from Korean violinist Chung Kyung-wha's live performances in Tokyo in the late 1990s. Sonatas by Schubert and Schumann or Ravel's "Tzigane" have never been found on her official
discography by Decca or EMI.
/ Courtesy of HMV Japan

By Do Je-hae

A Japanese record company will soon release a previously unreleased material of violinist Chung Kyung-wha from her live performances at Tokyo's Suntory Hall in 1998, according to a local classical music fan site Go Classic.

The recordings by King Records come in two double CD sets. They contain works that the Korean-born virtuoso has never recorded for her companies Decca and EMI, such as Schubert ‘s "Sonata No.4 in A Major" and "Fantasie in C Major" or Ravel's "Tzigane," one of the most technically demanding pieces in the solo violin repertoire.

Also found on the discs are pieces that she has rarely played in her career, including Stravinsky's "Duo Concertante" and Bartok's "Sonata No. 2." These are the first live recital discs by Chung.

The CDs are expected to be a priceless addition to the violinist's discography, which has been stagnant since the mid 2000s when she was forced to leave the stage for a few years with a finger injury.

The recordings will be released on May 31 and pre-orders are available on HMV Japan's website.

She is partnered by Israeli pianist Itamar Golan, a renowned soloist and chamber musician with whom Chung performed regularly in the 1990s.

The 1990s were a time of exceptional musical growth for Chung. She switched companies from Decca to EMI and resumed an active concertizing schedule after giving birth to her two sons. She produced some of her trademark recordings during this period, like the Beethoven/Bruch concerto disc with the Royal Concertgebouw.
Chung avoided live recordings during the heydays of her career in the 1970s through to the 1990s. But in the last few years she has become a bit more compromising. She allowed the release of a live recording of the Tchaikovsky concerto with the Berlin Philharmonic from a 1973 concert by British label Testament in 2009.

"Back in 1973, I didn't like the slow tempo of the second movement. But When I heard it again during my hiatus a few years ago, I thought it sounded great," she said during a fan meeting late last year in Seoul.

Chung is preparing to record Bach's violin sonatas with U.S. pianist Kevin Kenner.
After making a comeback in 2010, Chung has played in a series of concerts and recitals while maintaining a teaching career at her alma mater the Juilliard School.
A laureate of the prestigious Leventritt Award, the violinist quickly rose to stardom following a phenomenal London debut in 1970, playing the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D Major accompanied by the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) under maestro Andre Previn. Few can refute the 65-year-old's place as the first classical musician from Korea to achieve true international stardom in the 1970s and 80s.
One of the achievements that sets Chung apart is an illustrious discography unlikely to be matched by many violinists. At a time when there were few female instrumentalists exclusively recording for major labels, Decca signed Chung shortly after her London debut. The first recording was the coupling of Tchaikovsky and Sibelius concertos with the LSO under Previn.

Chung stayed with Decca until 1988, after which she moved to EMI to make a series of celebrated recordings. Her recording of Bartok's "Violin Concerto No. 2" alongside "Rhapsodies Nos. 1 and 2," with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle, earned her the coveted Gramophone Award.

In 2010, a commemorative box-set of all Chung's recording's for Decca and Deustche Grammophon was released under the title "Kyung-Wha Chung: 40 Legendary Years" to mark the anniversary of her first Decca album.

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