Tuesday 1 December 2009 at 7.30pm
Wigmore Hall
36 Wigmore Street, London W1U 2BP
So-Ock Kim (violin)
Sunwook Kim (piano)
Beethoven: Violin Sonata in G Op.96
Chausson: Poème
Elgar: Violin Sonata in E Op.82
Ravel: Tzigane
"This programme consists of some of my favourite works for violin and piano. The Beethoven Op.96 sonata (the tenth and final sonata) is one of the most profound, lyrical and serene works from his later period. The Chausson Poème is another firm favourite. Inspired by the short story "Enduring Love" by Ivan Turgenev, it is a work full of passion, melancholy and ardent longing. The Elgar Sonata was specifically programmed because Sunwook and I wanted to play a work by a great British composer, since this is our first performance together in the UK and England is our adopted homeland. It is one of his more elusive and delicate works, but is full of romance, lyricism and beauty. Ravel's Tzigane was the first work I ever performed at Wigmore Hall (more than 13 years ago), so with fond memories I decided to programme it again. It remains one of the best-loved virtuoso pieces, and the gypsy-like qualities and vigour contrast well with the more sombre, lyrical and tranquil works." So-Ock Kim
The last of Beethoven's violin sonatas is a favourite of many listeners: calm, intimate, lyrical, and in its final set of variations characteristically inventive and witty. Elgar's only Sonata for his own instrument was mostly written, like his other mature chamber works and his great Cello Concerto, at a cottage in the Sussex woods around the end of the First World War: it combines forceful rhetoric with singing melody, and even a touch of Elgar's lighter manner. These two sonatas alternate with two shorter works from the French repertoire: Chausson's passionate Poème, which he originally intended to call "The song of triumphant love"; and Ravel's flamboyantly virtuosic Tzigane, a "concert rhapsody" in the Hungarian gypsy style.
Tickets: £8 - £13
Box office tel: 020 7935 2141
or visit www.wigmore-hall.org.uk
“At 22, So-Ock Kim brought a gracious presence to the stage, playing with light-fingered virtuosity and an intense passion” The Scotsman