THE STRAD 1977

[Steinway&Sons]

KYUNG-WHA CHUNG

A Profile by Margaret Campbell

There are many outstanding violinists today whose performances cannot be faulted: but they do not electrify. Then suddenly out of the blue, an unknown performer steps on to a concert platform exuding artistic promise. After a few phrases, that promise is fulfilled and the audience knows instinctively that they have a new virtuoso on their hands. Kyung-Wha Chung is just such a phenomenon. At the incredible age of 29, she has already been dazzling concert-goers all over the world for ten years!

   At first sight, tiny Kyung is deceptively fragile-looking. But after a few minutes in her company one is aware of her great reserves of strength both physical and mental. Vivacious and articulate, she illustrates each point with expansive ballerina-like gestures and her rippling laugh constantly punctuates a too-serious statement: but when she feels strongly, the almond eyes can flash darkly and with great determination. "Overnight success? How can it be overnight? I have worked for this all my life... one day people know about me and I am happy... very happy that they do and that they are so marvellous... but I am same person... I also did the work before!"

   Born in March, 1948, in Seoul, South Korea, the daughter of a lawyer, Kyung is one of seven children, six of whom are trained musicians. Her brother, Myung-Whun is a pianist and her sister, Myung-Wha, a cellist. Readers who remember the BBC TV film of this talented family will have seen and heard these three playing chamber music in perfect accord. It is an occupation they all enjoy and still strive to practise, despite busy individual careers.

   Kyung took piano lessons when she was four but found no affinity with the instrument. She played all her exercises by ear, and gave such good performances that nobody suspected she had not learned to read the notes. Then a cousin, who also happened to be the conductor of the Korean Philharmonic Orchestra, gave her a small violin and she began to play tunes on it. "all by ear... I was not taught... I just started to play". But as soon as Kyung heard the sound of that violin, she felt instinctively that it was the instrument for her. "I knew it would be my life". Some months after this she went in for a competition and came third. A year later, at the age of nine, she played the Mendelssohn Concerto with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. She then had six more teachers and, at the ripe old age of twelve, went on a concert tour of Japan, sponsored by the Korean Government.

   Her family had suffered many changes during the Korean War but by 1958 they were reunited, only to separate gradually on visits to the US. In 1961, her parents went to the States to open the official Korean restaurant (her mother ran a restaurant during the war) of the Seattle Fair and Kyung went with them. She attended the Professional Children's School, and took private lessons with the celebrated Galamian: subsequently she won a full-time scholarship to study with him at the Juilliard School. "He works you very hard... he has a fantastic discipline... but he does not stop your development... he shows you how to do what is best for you in your own way". What about the pull between ambitions and talent? Performer or teacher-or both? "He can see immediately which career someone will follow... teacher or performer... he will know... he is marvellous... I don't have interest in teaching... I am performer... I have always loved audiences... the more people there are, the more exciting it is". What is this special quality that Galamian possesses which enables him to produce top-line players, Buswell, Perlman, Zukerman, and now Kyung-Wha Chung? Those expressive hands gestured outwards and her face took on a thoughtful look. "It is like an actor wearing strong make-up... If you are near it is too strong... but on stage it looks perfect... Galamian bases his teaching on projection... sometimes it may be too strong, but on stage it's fantastic!" Galamian also pays a great deal of attention to bowing. Kyung laughed. "You can work your arm off to produce the sound he wants you to make... and you go on until you do. And when you find the right sound you know it is right for you". Galamian pays attention to every small point with the same patience and persistence. "He has something for everyone... he achieves a balance so that you bloom in your own way".

   In 1967, Kyung won the coveted Leventritt Competition in US, sharing first prize with another Galamian pupil, Pinchas Zukerman. She then made her American debut with the New York Philharmonic and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestras. The New York Times wrote that she "must be accounted a major artist with a claim to a place among the world's finest violinists". But being the supreme artist that she is, Kyung preferred to study for a further year before undertaking a concert tour, which is why we had to wait so long for her British debut.

   It was on May 13, 1970 that the unknown Kyung-Wha Chung walked on to the platform at the Royal Festival Hall for the first time. She had no other booking in sight. The concerto was the Tchaikowsky, the orchestra, the LSO, conducted by Andre Previn. It was one of the most electrifying experiences that London audiences have experienced for years. A standing ovation and cries fo “Bravo” from every corner of the house and when she left that platform she had received an immediate offer from Previn for return engagements “for many seasons to come”. Rave notices appeared in every paper: in the Financial Times, Gillian Widdicombe wrote, “I’ve never heard a better performance of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto than this by the 22 year-old Kyung-Wha Chung… I doubt whether Heifetz ever played the notes more accurately… But what was so magnificent and moving about this performance was not its proud virtuosity, nor the vitality and intensity in the first movement, nor even the ruthless dominance… even more rare and rewarding was the expressive force of her performance; sweet silken phrasing, soft and tender in the slow movement; beautiful playing, immeasurably mature”.

   Within three days, Kyung had been booked for 30 more concerts throughout Britain which included 10 appearances in London alone over a period of 18 months playing with three of our leading orchestras. There was a concert tour of the Far East with Previn and the LSO, and five BBC TV appearances. Decca snapped her up immediately on a long-term contract which will result in about 20 records during the next few years. Her first disc came out in November of that same year. It was of the Sibelius in D minor Op.47 and the Tchaikovsky in D major Op.35 with the LSO and conducted by Previn. The critics acclaimed her playing once more in glowing terms. In Records and Recording we read “Chung plays by reasoned intellect, creating a steady tone of pure silver (which we only seem to hear these days from Milstein, Suk and Grumiaux)” and, “This is highly auspicious debut record, bringing before the public a remarkable musical talent. On the evidence of this record Kyung-Wha Chung must join the slender ranks of great violinists”.

   Kyung’s repertoire includes most of the standard works, many of which she learnt before her American debut. But there are some eminent additions which show that on the one hand, she has the courage of her own choice, and on the other that she can meet a challenge with impunity. It was Andre Previn who persuaded her to learn the Walton. “At first I was not so happy with the idea… it is very difficult… but once I knew it I was very glad that I had learnt it… it is a wonderful work… very rich”. Kyung’s recording of the Elgar with Solti and the LPO has just been released, and I asked her how she felt about this very English work, redolent with Edwardian graciousness? She laughed, “I can’t say it is English or like anything… You in Europe know because you have a tradition. For me, it was a new work and I must study it first as music… in its structure… its form… its key… and so on. But I can only imagine what it means to English people… You see, we have no models on which to build… we are not bound to play this way or that because of the way such and such a player did it”. Kyung feels the force of this tradition all over Europe: “But especially in Vienna… You almost feel you are in eighteenth century… even if it is not mentioned… and the tradition is very rich there”.

   This lack of tradition where western music is concerned inevitably means the absence of pre-conceived ideas of interpretation throughout the range, whether baroque, classical, romantic or modern. Perhaps it is this very freshness which makes her performances so compelling. Kyung had been thinking again about the Elgar. "I know that the general feeling is that it is OK, but I am not really happy with it... not yet... I will play it again... I begin already to see it differently... tighter... better... You know this work has more accelerandos, rubatos, tenutos, ritardandos in a few bars than any other music I know... it is a marvellous work... and I shall do it again". Needless to say, Kyung's recording of the Elgar is superb, but here we have an artist who will grow and grow because she is never satisfied. Kyung is no child prodigy who, as an adult sits on a mountain peak to survey the lower slopes. The summit that will satisfy this talent has not yet been invented.

   Kyung has a very healthy respect for the romantic side of violin-playing. Although she palys "any Bach", three Mozarts, the first and second concertos of both Bartok and Prokofiev, the Sibelius, Stravinsky and the Berg, she also lists in her repertoire, Chausson's Poeme, Dvorak's Concerto and Romance, the Kreisler Concerto, Saint-Saens No.3, Wieniawski No.2 and his Polonaise: of course, the Mendelssohn. She is one of the few violinists who play the Vieuxtemps Concerto. "These composers from the 19th century are so neglected... and it is marvellous music for the violin... they will be more and more neglected I think... and it is sad". Then there is the Bruch No.1 and the Scottish Fantasy. "When I wanted to play it I told my teacher and he was puzzled... but I loved it so much I would not be put off... these composers wrote for the marvellous side of the instrument... it complements it... shows it off if you like... Performers are in a way... showmen..." I put in a plea for the Joachim "Hungarian" Concerto. "There are so many things I would like to play... it is all a matter of time... one must achieve a balance in repertoire. If one does Beethoven, Brahms, Bartok, then it is good to do something like the Hungarian Concerto... it is very demanding violinistically... it keeps the fingers in shape... such a work. I have it in mind for some time... one day perhaps".

   The thought of the Hungarian Concerto to "keep the fingers in shape" is yet another indication of the way in which this young player approaches her work. Everything is a challenge to Kyung. "Bored? Never! Never! When people say to me, "oh dear! that work again!" I am completely mystified. Every time you play it is different". Kyung reflected on her debut playing the Mendelssohn aged nine. "I played with such emotion... rubatos... maybe slides... I enjoy myself so much... I am performer... but I was beginner and nobody stopped me to say you must not do this or this". Now Kyung takes a very different approach but she has retained this freshness which her training with Galamian has preserved intact. For this reason she cannot think of coming to a conclusion about any piece of music. For her, something new happens every time she steps on to a platform.

   Her family background with understanding parents and total co-operation from her brothers and sisters makes life easier in every respect for a travelling virtuoso. "It helps to think about them when I am away from home... Even when I am alone, I know I return to them... they are always there". This positive side of family life gives Kyung an extra dimension so she could afford to give music her undivided attention for twenty-six years of her young life. "My teacher always says that a violinist has ten fingers and every one is a crook... If you don't watch they will do something bad... I want to improve certain sides of my performance... So far I am lucky... everything worked out as I wanted it to... but I have millions of complaints about myself and that is what I want to do something about". Kyung admits that she never thought much about "getting her mind in order" as a child or teenager, but that she now realizes that she knows very little about many things outside music. "The composers from the past, especially the 18th century... they knew all about art... and literature... they knew all about the music... we today are players... most of us can't compose... and we know very little about art... or literature". Kyung is already reaching out to enrich her own cultural outlook and takes the opportunity to explore the resources of the many countries she visits. "I want to learn so much more about other things... I feel I can grow... it will help me in my music also".

   Kyung now plays on a superb Guarnerius del Gesu dated 1735, but before that she owned the "Harrison" Stradivarius of 1693. "I had always dreamt of having a Strad... that it would be the right sound for me. As a teenager I aould never think of going near such an instrument... How could I dare to play such an instrument?" However, as Kyung's career progressed, her family decided to buy the Strad. "When we bought it, it was very cheap compared to today's prices... but it was an enormous amount of money for our family at the time". Kyung recalls the time when she first saw the instrument. "I was absolutely crazy about that violin... even the look of it... the back is fantastic... the colour is just glowing. As soon as I saw it, I said, that's it! It's like meeting a person... I tried one note on the G string and I nearly fainted because I loved it so much". It should be noted here that when Kyung saw the Strad at Wurlitzer's Mrs. Wurlitzer tried to dissuade her. The "Harrison" is a "long-patterned" Strad, and Mrs. Wurlitzer, quite rightly, thought it was too large for tiny Kyung. But Kyung is a very determined little lady and she took it home "fell madly in love with it" and was "absolutely crazy about the sound". Kyung now agrees that in a room the sound was perhaps a little too strident; not the mellow tone that seems to characterize the "Golden" period, but "it is irresistible... brilliant... cuts through well in the hall... suitable for big stage". At the time Kyung had a certain sound in her head. "Every artist has a certain sound they want to produce and so I work and work on it. I do my first recording on it... the Tchaikowsky... but after five years I realize that something is wrong... maybe tail-piece... soundpost... but there was nothing". In retrospect, Kyung realizes that as she developed she was looking for a different kind of sound. "When you are younger you are looking for a brilliance... later you feel you are not getting enough out of it". So Kyung began to search for another instrument. She chanced upon her Guarnerius which once belonged to the great Czechoslovakian violinist, Jan Kubelik. Again she fell in love with the instrument immediately, and purchased it in 1974. "I took it without looking into it carefully enough, but when I started to play, I had lots of problems". When Kyung had performed on the Strad, people would come along afterwards and say, "What a beautiful Strad! What lovely tone!" etc., but when she played the Guarnerius they would say "Is it a Guadagnini? or maybe a Grancino?" Kyung would tell them it was a Guarnerius but they were unconvinced. Advice poured on poor Kyung like hailstones. "Everyone said the fingerboard was too flat... you should raise the neck... and so on". Kyung could not bear to think of her precious instrument being tampered with and went on playing regardless. Then, when she was in Switzerland, Pierre Gerber called after a concert and suggested something should be done, but that she should take the instrument to Jacques Francais in New York from whom she had bought it originally.

   But Kyung had no success with Jacques Francais either. "He told me I should leave it alone... By this time I was going crazy..." One evening Jacques Francais came to the performance. Afterwards, he rushed up to Kyung saying that he knew exactly what he had to do to the violin and would she let him have it. "I knew from that moment that it was what I had to do... but I was scared. It was Christmas 1975 and he had the instrument for eight days. He worked on it continuously... For me it was a terrible time... such an emotional period... like having womeone you love going through an operation". One day he came to Kyung and said "Your violin is open you must come and see it". But Kyung nearly fainted with shock. "I couldn't... No!" but Francais insisted because it was in such wonderful condition. So she went along. "When I met him he had the scroll in his hand and I recognized it immediately... My God! I cried what has he done! Then I saw every piece lying there, top, bottom, everything, just spread out on the table... I had to sit down for half an hour to calm myself". A thorough inspection was undertaken and they agreed that the inside was in perfect condition. What had appeared to be a crack from the outside was found not to be, and what was even more extra-ordinary is that it had its original bass-bar and consequently had not been opened for years! This in itself is very interesting if only to show that Kubelik could fill a hall with superb tone aided by a short bass-bar! And a straighter neck! Francais replaced the bass-bar with one of modern dimension and tilted the neck. He admitted to Kyung that he had hardly slept through those eight days and hadn't touched a drink. When he had finished it he repaired both of these deficiencies. Kyung tried the fiddle and found it just right as far as tone, but she had to work on it very hard for about two months until it finally responded to her demands. "Now it is OK... perfect... a wonderful instrument... and nobody doubts it any more".

   Kyung has strong feelings about instruments and the player's relationship to them. "Each instrument has its owner... the greater the instrument... the more sensitive it is... almost a human being... alive... they respond so sensitively to your fingertips according to how much love and devotion you put into them... each instrument sounds different when it is played by somebody else". Kyung finds that her two instruments respond very differently to the changes in the weather. "Last week I was recording for 3 days in Kingsway... first day... no problem... atmosphere rather hot and dry... if anything, it tended to sound a bit cracked... second day... perfect instrument singing... breathing naturally.. third day, raining outside and as soon as I arrived at the studio I knew that something was going wrong... it started to have that husky voice. My Strad had a different reaction to weather... it liked humidity much better than my Guarnerius... You have to be very gentle with a violin... it is very personal".

   There are two amusing stories which illustrate Kyung's sense of values in entirely different circumstances. Once when she was due to rehearse with a big American orchestra and a famous conductor, she arrived to be greeted by the young assistant conductor, white-faced and almost trembling. "What's the matter?" asked Kyung, believing that he was either very ill or had just lost a dear relative. "The conductor... he has cancelled... he's sick". "Is that all?" asked Kyung. "What else is new?" The assistant though she had not understood. "But I shall have to conduct. Do you mind? Will you play?" Kyung laughed helplessly. "Of course I will... everything will be fine!" Needless to say, the concert was a great success, the young conductor deputised to an enthusiastic ovation and Kyung... she was just herself. Her logic is as astounding as her presence of mind. "If I had said, how awful... what shall we do now! He would have been terribly upset... the concert would not have gone well... I believe if you say to yourself this is OK then it is OK".

   The other incident shows another side to Kyung's resilience. She was playing the Brahms Concerto in a very large hall in the mid-west of American, "an old movie house with about 3,000 people packed in". It was right in the middle of the slow movement and the audience were holding on to every note, when vaguely in the distance, Kyung saw some people in the back get up and walk out. Then some more seemed to be moving... this exercise was repeated so regularly that Kyung found difficulty in concentrating. When the people in the front rows began to move and everyone seemed to have quitted the balcony, she began to feel very odd indeed. "The orchestra went on playing and the conductor could see nothing... he was totally absorbed in his music and paid no attention... Then people started talking and the police came in and walked up to the front of the stage and told us that there was a fire and we must stop. I went up to the conductor and told him we must stop, but he took no notice... I shouted Stop! Stop! but he wouldn't budge... he thought I had gone mad... so I had to hold him by his left arm and finally he stopped. Then someone sait it wasn't a fire but a bomb! Then I panicked and how! Not for myself... what happens to me doesn't matter... but what happens if my violin is blown up!?" Kyung clutched it in both hands and tore out of the building. The sequel to the story is rather sad. Not only was the bomb a hoax, but when the concert was resumed, there were only ten people in that vast auditorium.

   As dedicated as she is to music at present, Kyung intends to try to keep a balance in her life. "I hope I will marry... have a family myself... Music will always be very important, but must not be everything". Again Kyung infers that a lack of balance in an artist tends to make performances stale: and how right she is. Certainly her hobbies show a decided love of variety. Like most orientals she is innately artistic, she likes to sew and to paint. But she also loves ice-skating and cannot resist a pull at the nearest pin-table. And food, too, plays a very important part in her life, although looking at that streamlined figure one wonders how she can eat at all. Korean food is, according to Kyung, "very tasty... strong in flavour". And for this reason she enjoys Italian food very much. "Also I like food in the South of France... Provencal cooking... I miss my Korean food if I go on a long tour... We have a vegetable called Kimchi and it is marvellous... I must have it at least once a day". She also thinks that food reflects the nature of the people of a country. "In Korea we have strong food... and we are very temperamental... and Italians, too... very temperamental and very healthy. But in France... it is more subtle, the taste... very light... again like the French subtle... and witty". Kyung should pursue her findings all over the world, for she could come up with some very interesting conclusions. "If you think of Debussy it must be light... You can't think of heavy food and Debussy!" She giggled. There are endless permutations on this gastronomic philosophy. When we talk of Elgar, do we think of strawberries and cream and Edwardian ladies at Henley, or a good honest Worcestershire pie after a tramp on the Malvern Hills? Kyung may be concerned about her lack of knowledge in world culture, but she has a splendid imagination which gives her a head-start on some of her more serious colleagues.

   What does the future hold for Kyung? In July she made her first tour of Australia and from September to October she has concerts all over the US and Canada, with a well-earned holiday fitted in between. She tries to return to Korea once a year: her parents now live there and run a mushroom farm, but she and her brothers and sisters share an apartment in New York. In the winter she will be returning to Europe for concerts in Paris and The Hague: there are two dates to remember for London audiences and another two for the provinces. On 22 November she is playing the Mendelssohn with the LPO at a Royal Gala Performance at the Royal Albert Hall and the Tchaikowsky with the same orchestra at the Royal Festival hall on 20 December. On the 1st and 2nd of December she will be playing the Beethoven at Worksop and Nottingham respectively. She has recorded ten of the discs on her contract, two of which will be released next year, and the Elgar already mentioned in this article, was issued on 1 September on Decca No. SXL 6842.

   Perhaps the most enchanting side to Kyung's personality is the way she changes from a completely unaffected young woman, laughing and carefree, to the virtuoso performer, legs apart, chin jutting out and an arm of feathered steel flying through the air as soon as the music begins. Of course she will mature through the years, but I doubt if she will ever change these basic traits in her character. It's like the lettering on seaside rock; it runs all the way through.

[Steinway&Sons]

"Overnight success? How can it be overnight? I have worked for this all my life... one day people know about me and I am happy... very happy that they do and that they are so marvellous... but I am same person... I also did the work before!"

[Paul]

:)

[영원]

찬사로 가득찼군요. 다음 장이 없어서 아쉽네요.

[chul]

자고나니 유명해졌다는 말, 듣는 입장에선 열불 터질 수도 있을 거에요. 그 잠 자기 전에 얼마나 많은 밤을 눈물과 결심과 결의로 샜을텐데.

[Duke]

그러게요. 남들이 자고 있을 때 혼자 깨어 수많은 불면의 밤을 보내셨을테지요. 천재라는 말이 듣기 싫었다는 말씀처럼 위의 말도 마음에 와 닿네요. 한편으론 에밀리 디킨슨이 성공은 성공하지 않은 사람들에게 가장 달콤하게 느껴진다고 했던 말도 떠오르고... 암튼 정선생님 대단하셔.

[Steinway&Sons]

잡지가 오늘 드디어 도착했습니다! 사진은 위의 첫 페이지에 있는 게 다여서 조금 아쉽지만, 그래도 기사가 길어서 사길 잘 했다는 생각이 듭니다. 정샘 collection이 하나하나 늘어 갈 때마다 넘 행복해요. ^^

[Steinway&Sons]

여지껏 제가 몰랐던 사실이 있네요. 정샘의 사촌 분이 Korean Philharmonic Orchestra의 지휘자였다니 누구신지 궁금하네요. 그리고 정샘께서 바이올린 배운지 몇 달 만에 3등을 한 콩쿨이 무슨 콩쿨인지도 궁금해요. 그리고 아홉 살에 Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra와 협연한 멘델스존 콘체르토는 음원이 존재하기는 힘들겠지만, 혹시나 열 두 살 때 일본 순회 공연 때 연주한 실황은 어딘가에 그 음원이 남아 있을 가능성이 있지 않을까요? 일본은 워낙 자료 보존에 뛰어나잖아요..

[chul]

그 사촌 분도 꽤 유명한 분인데 왜 갑자기 혀가 굳은 듯 이름이 생각이 안날까요? (이런 소리 누가 못해?) 김모 선생님이 아세요.

[Steinway&Sons]

김모 선생님께서 말씀하시는 분은 혹시 이종숙 씨 아닌가요?

[chul]

아니고, 또 계세요. 아, 정말 속상해 미치겠네...

[Steinway&Sons]

아, 또 계시는군요. 나중에 김모 선생님께서 일본에서 오시면 그 때 듣죠 뭐. ㅎㅎ

[yang]

옛날 잡지 찾아보면 나오는데 임씨 였어요. 임원식인가로 기억되는데..... 정선생님이 처음 나가서 3등한 콩쿨의 이름은 기억나지 않지만 그때 일등이 김영욱 선생님이었지요.

[Steinway&Sons]

타자를 쳐도 쳐도 끝이 없네요. 아직도 한참 남았답니다.. ㅎㅎ 나눠서 올리니 지저분해 보여 하나로 합쳐서 올리기로 했는데, 한 번에 읽기에는 또 너무 기네요. 그래도 타자 친 저의 성의를 생각해서 꼭 다 읽어 주세요. ^^

[Steinway&Sons]

드디어 타자 다 쳤어요! ^^ 폭탄 해프닝으로 연주가 중단된 에피소드는 처음 듣네요. 그 외에도 모르고 있던 많은 이야기들을 읽을 수 있어 타자를 치면서도 즐거웠답니다. 과거 정샘 기사들이 참 읽을 거리가 많네요. 더 눈에 불을 키고 찾아야겠어요. ㅎㅎ

[chul]

정 선생님이 승택 님의 이런 정성을 아세요? 정 선생님의 "기가막히게..."란 표현은 주로 영어의 marvelous나 fantastic이 번역된 말인 것 같네요.