Music and Dance Reviews : Kyung-Wha Chung Plays With Philharmonic

Violinist Kyung-Wha Chung returned to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion Thursday evening for her first appearance with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in three years. The Bruch G-minor Concerto found her as intense as ever.

If anything, she seemed more focused in the familiar work, particularly in the Prelude. She did not skimp on expressive detail, but maintained a firm sense of forward direction throughout her swiftly paced account.

Her articulation was consistently crisp and her tone was typically wiry, warming up appreciably at the introduction of the Adagio. Not for her the common enervated indulgences--passion aplenty, yes, but always purposeful and even angry in the outer movements.

Andre Previn led the Philharmonic in a big-boned, but equally articulate, accompaniment. There were a few moments of awkward communication, as at the beginning of the finale, but otherwise it was a well-matched collaboration, Previn providing a rich backdrop for Chung’s incisive statements.

The rest of the program, Steven Stucky’s “Son et lumiere” and Vaughan Williams’ Fifth Symphony, was previously reviewed.