Interview with Kathy Kang

In addition to Mozart’s B-Dur Sonata, the programme of your debut CD is defined by compositions of major violinists. Milstein’s "Paganiniana" and Ysaÿe’s "Ballade", which, being the third of his solo sonatas, is dedicated to George Enescu and written in his style, refer to great violin virtuosos; Kreisler comes from a Gipsy melody. It seems to me that you are making a statement on violin music through your choices here: Is it the extraordinary tone and the colours of the violin, it’s peculiar expressiveness and intensity, which Paganini was certainly the first to discover and perform, that you are retracing in your own violin playing?

I didn’t want to only produce a large-scale work, but also smaller pieces, which, despite their short length, have totally different characteristics, express different moods, emotions and temperaments. Mozart is my favourite composer, his music has accompanied and inspired me since my childhood. The rest of the CD is devoted to compositions of the most eminent violinists of the 19th and 20th century. Their names are representative of the most important stages of violin playing, of performing skills. Their personalities, their particular styles of playing, tonal colouration, virtuosity and elegance – all this is reflected in their music, which varies very widely indeed. However, as easy as it is, for instance, to differentiate between Ysayë and Kreisler, as hard it is to do justice to both types of music when playing it. I believe that, by playing the pieces which I have chosen, one comes close to the source of violin playing and that they lead me to the father of the modern style of playing, the absolute virtuoso master, Paginini. Of course, such works can only reach the audience, if one is able to present each of them in a different way, if you can play them not only to technical perfection but also capture the nuances of tone and use a whole variety of means of expression.

You seem to especially identify with Ysaÿe’s works. As a violinist, this forefather of violin playing in the 20th century enchanted audiences through the radiance, brilliance and colours of his tone, his singing intensity. Enescu, whose violinist temperament is picked up by the rhapsodic "Ballade", is famed for the rich nuances of his tone, his phrasing and for his passionate dedication to music. In the "Poème élégiaque" and in the 3rd Solo sonata, do the demands for violin and the musical meaning of the pieces merge in such a way that you can extremely well relate to them personally?

The pieces Ysaÿe wrote for the violin fascinate me. On the one hand they still have the characteristics of Romanticism, on the other hand they are already pointing ahead to the 20th century. Ysaÿe’s role in the development of violin playing cannot be overestimated, his "Poeme elegiaque" and in particular his six solo sonatas are firmly established in the repertoire of all great soloists. In his music I can find myself. There is so much intense emotion and passion in it, so much tension and drama, ecstasy, tenderness, love, grief, hope. In addition to this, Ysaÿe presents some difficult instrumental challenges which of course correspond to the phenomenal abilities he himself possessed. It therefore requires a fair amount of courage and imagination to take up this challenge, but I find it extremely exciting to do so. Apart from this, there is also something completely personal about it. I have the feeling, that the name Ysaÿe connects me with my teacher, Prof. Rosa Fain, and her mentor, the legendary violinist David Oistrakh, whose international career began with his tremendous success at the Eugene Ysaÿe violin competition. Oistrakh performed and recorded many of Ysaÿe’s works and was one of the first to be awarded the Ysaÿe medal of honour, which Professor Fain also received many years later.