Kyung-Wha Chung, St Luke's Chamber Ensemble - Vivaldi: The Four Seasons (2001)

Admirers of Kyung-Wha Chung will hardly mind the poor value in time-length (Kennedy, also on EMI, does not have a coupling, either), when it so winningly adds to Chung’s discography. It is the more welcome when, since her switch from Decca to EMI, new recordings from her have been all too few.

This is an unashamedly traditional performance, one which has little or no regard for period practice, but gives us a sequence of four concertos in warmly relaxed readings. Unlike those of Kennedy and Mutter they avoid extreme speeds, either fast or slow. This is music-making among friends, made the more vivid by the richness and immediacy of the recorded sound. I have no idea how many players there were in the ensemble, but the warmth and beefiness suggest a bigger band than it obviously was, the solo violin being nicely balanced, not excessively spotlit.

The very opening finds the first movement of ‘Spring’ taken at a relatively relaxed speed, the rhythms made to bounce infectiously. In their different ways both Mutter and Kennedy convey enjoyment, too, but Chung sounds even more spontaneous, allowing a degree more flexibility in expressive rubato, reflecting the feeling of the moment. She and her colleagues vividly bring out Vivaldi’s illustrative effects, whether of storms, birdsong or whatever. These may not be live performances, but they have similar merits, even if ensemble is not always so crisply co-ordinated as it is with the other two.

With such close balance, the dynamic range is less than with either Kennedy or Mutter, but that too makes for comfortable listening, and throughout the performances one welcomes the fiery magnetism of Chung, such as we recognised in her very earliest recordings for Decca.

The most extreme contrast between the three interpretations comes in the opening movement of ‘Autumn’, where Kennedy is fast and fierce (4'37''), and Mutter gives the most rapt, intense reading at a very broad speed (6'13''). Chung is very much in the middle (5'26''), with dynamic contrasts less marked but still clear, and the jollity of the music brought out in lifted rhythms. A pity there is no coupling, but in every other way this could hardly be more recommendable. -- Edward Greenfield