Korean violinist Kyung-wha Chung has been widely acclaimed both by critics and audiences.

 

Chung's career was at its peak during the '70s and '80s being ranked alongside the great violinists Pinchas Zukerman and Itzhak Perlman.

 

She became one of the most characterful and best-loved violinists in the world. The total involvement she conveys comes not just from the actual notes but from her physical stance, revealing her love of the music and of the violin in every movement of muscle. Yet today, even when faced with her most spectacular recording of showpiece concertos, she will deny that she is a virtuoso. What she means is that technique is merely incidental to her communication through music. This dislike of showing off for its own sake accounts for her reluctance to concentrate on 'firework' pieces in this selection, preferring instead pieces she loves for other reasons. 

 

Violinist Kyung Wha Chung and pianist Phillip Moll perform compositional works by Brahms, Kreisler and Elgar among others. Kyung Wha Chung's dazzling and probing artistry has made her one of classical music's most acclaimed performers for more than 30 years. Lauded for her passion, her musicality and the intense excitement that she brings to her performances, Chung's uniquely expressive interpretations of the violin literature have established her as an artist of the very highest stature.

Among the many recordings in which accompanist/ensemble pianist Phillip Moll has taken part in are the Brahms German Requiem with the Berlin Radio Chorus, Piano Trios of Dvorák and Suk with the Berlin Philharmonic Piano Trio, vocal duets with Paul-Armin and Peter Edelmann, Gypsy Songs with Renée Morloc, Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle with the RIAS Chamber Choir, Opera Fantasies with wind soloists of La Scala, compositions of Schubert and Bartók with violinist Andrea Duka Löwenstein, and a programme of shorter pieces with Sir James Galway.

"A regular Solti partner, the violinist Kyung Wha Chung, crops up in a solo disc with the pianist Philip Moll. Chung's rather Cossack couture on the cover might suggest a disc of Russian repertoire but "Con amore" is devoted to bonbons by Elgar, Kreisler, Wieniawski et al. It's a delightful program balancing faultless technique, superb musicianship and, above all, the ability to pitch these charming miniatures at exactly the right level." — James Jolly, Gramophone

Philip Moll, piano

 

Side 1:

Fritz Kreisler (1875 - 1962)

1. La Gitana

2. Liebesleid

Ede Poldini (1869 - 1957) / Fritz Kreisler

3. Dancing Doll (Poupée Valsante)

Henri Wieniawski (1835 - 1880)

4. Scherzo - Tarantella, Op. 16 

Edward Elgar (1857 - 1934)

5. Salut d'amour, Op. 12

6. La Capricieuse, Op. 17

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893) / Michael Press

7. Valse sentimentale, Op. 51, No. 6 

Fritz Kreisler

8. Praeludium und Allegro (in the style of Gaetano Pugnani)

 

Side 2:

Ottokar Novacek (1866 - 1900) ed. Josef Gingold

1. Moto perpetuo 

Claude Debussy (1862 - 1918) / Jascha Heifetz

2. Beau soir

Frederic Chopin (1810 - 1849) / Nathan Milstein

3. Nocturne in C sharp minor

Henri Wieniawski / Fritz Kreisler

4. Caprice in A minor 

Francois-Joseph Gossec (1734 - 1829) / Fritz Meyer

5. Gavotte 

Fritz Kreisler

6. Liebesfreud

Cecile Chaminade (1857 - 1944) / Fritz Kreisler

7. Serenade Espagnole

Camille Saint-Saens (1835 - 1921) / Eugene Ysaye

8. Caprice (after Etude en forme de valse, Op. 52, No. 6)

Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897) / Joseph Joachim

9. Hungarian Dance No. 1