“The return to London of the violin legend” was some billing to live up to. Not that it was inaccurate: Kyung Wha Chung is spoken of with the reverence commanded by Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman, alongside whom she dominated the international violin circuit in the 1970s and 80s until first family life, and then injury, made her step back. Her last London appearance was 12 years ago.
Her breakthrough, in 1970, was here at the Festival Hall – but even if the acoustic was her friend then, as soloist with the LSO, it was a less grateful partner to her now, in recital with pianist Kevin Kenner. She began Mozart’s G Major Sonata K379 with a silky tone and a big, opulent vibrato; but the sound itself seemed small, and though Kenner was always supportive, at times Chung seemed to be fighting to make her violin sing out.
And she certainly wasn’t relaxed. Exasperated by an avalanche of adult coughing between movements, Chung calmly upbraided some parents for bringing along a young child who dared to cough too. The finale of the Mozart, which followed, had passages of plucked notes that sounded ferocious. Terrified into silence, the audience behaved impeccably during Prokofiev’s Sonata No 1, from the first movement’s muscular declamations to the silvery, shimmering melodies of the finale. I can’t remember the first half of a concert ever feeling this tense.
Chung returned, alone, with Bach’s great D minor Chaconne, a driven, dramatic performance characterised by sustained melodic lines, very fluid rhythm and less than focused intonation. Franck’s A Major Sonata was, however, a real reminder of her still-considerable artistry; here Chung’s tone finally began to soar, and when playing in canon with Kenner she could match his impassioned delivery note for note. Two movements of a Schubert Sonatina and Elgar’s Chanson du Matin were low-key encores, affectionately delivered; but when you’re already a legend you don’t need to pull out the showstoppers.
