Sarah Chang

January 29, 2004 at 04:34 AM · I love her live Sibelius recording...adventurous and exciting.

January 29, 2004 at 06:14 AM · Plays quite well, but very overrated. Her recordings are not what you could really call special or unique.

January 29, 2004 at 10:42 AM · Agree Anton..

January 29, 2004 at 02:22 PM · Many of her recordings are either special or unique (or the Goldmark Concerto recording (which is a staple among her recordings.) What both...) especially after is appealing about her is not technique (which is great) but the passion she pours out on her performances. One can connect emotionally with whatever she is playing... in a very personal way. Everyone is entitled to their opinion though. She also seems to be a down to earth person, even during live performance.

January 29, 2004 at 02:35 PM · Well put anton

Poor musicality...

Expression (or passion if you will) is meaningless if the musicality os poor. Other examples of the like: mutter, midori

January 29, 2004 at 03:21 PM · First of all Scott, Mutter has great musicality...but this discussion is about Sarah Chang... Considering the fact that she is young, how in depth do you expect her playing to be? I think she plays everything on "safe mode" where she doesn't really add anything to the music, such her own style. But I do agree she is an exciting player, not too much dynamic contrast, but nevertheless an exciting player to listen to and watch.I think she has potential.

January 29, 2004 at 04:16 PM · Scott, do you really think that Midori is a poor musician? I think she is the great hope amoung the younger generation by way of musicianship. Milstein paid her generous compliments in his memoirs, and Zukerman is another fan of her's I understand. In both of these cases, the respect is not only on a technical level (which she has in abundance anyway) but certainly on a musical level.

Carl.

January 29, 2004 at 04:13 PM · "Musicality" is meaningless if it doesn't move you... Musicality is highly subjective. For what to a person seems like "unmusical" to another it might be highly "musical". If you don't like Ms. Chang's playing, its your loss. She is "musical". Midori and Mutter are also "musical" to me... I think many people are too biased. Sorry for being so blunt.

January 29, 2004 at 04:35 PM · relax its just an opinion, youre welcome to disagree

I have tons of cds by chang midori and mutter, great tone but i cant listen to them

January 29, 2004 at 05:09 PM · Her Goldmark recording is a great recording. One of my favorites of this piece. I haven't heard tons of her cd's, but I have her live performances broadcast on the radio several times, and she has a lot of passion when she plays. She's not the best out there at the moment, but she's certaintly doing very well, and I think she has a pretty good future out there for her, as long as she continues to improve!

January 29, 2004 at 05:20 PM · as opposed to chang, chung on the other hand is probably my favorite next to perlman himself

January 29, 2004 at 06:16 PM · Technically Chang is an excellent violinist, but her Goldmark is far too in musicality, expression and sound from other recordings (mainly Milstein´s recording of that work). After listening Milstein playing that Concerto, Chang´s recording is not interesting for me.

January 29, 2004 at 06:51 PM · I also have Milstein's Goldmark... incredible isn't? Truly beautiful playing. Ms. Chang's Goldmark, however is equally impressive. It is simply awesome music. Actually, is her musicality and beautiful phrasing of this work (and of course her usual passion) is what I like about it; for me she is no mere "technician". Were she just a "technician", I would not like her playing that much. That is, of course, just my opinion. But its excellent. I would recommend both Milstein's and Chang's Goldmark recordings to anyone.

January 29, 2004 at 06:56 PM · all I know is I enjoy watching and listening to sarah chang more than any other of the young guns. She's got so much life to her playing. And its great she jumps into chamber music, it shows she's not just out for solo's all the time. Because I would be, if I were that good! :)

January 29, 2004 at 07:21 PM · She's very rude and full of herself.

January 29, 2004 at 08:13 PM · I met her in person recently and she signed me a cd... She didn't seem rude or full of herself to me. She was very nice to me. I think there are artists with worst personalities out there...

January 29, 2004 at 08:20 PM · i feel relatively neutral about chang, i definetely am not excited by her playing, but can't really find fault with it.

January 29, 2004 at 09:37 PM · One of my favorite performing artists. Very passionate. Her Tchaikovsky, though she was so young when she recorded it, is one of my favorites.

January 29, 2004 at 11:17 PM · personally i dont really like her playing.its just nothing special to me

January 29, 2004 at 11:36 PM · agreed - her techniqute isnt too hot either...she can move her fingers fast and somewhat accuratly, but her bowing is very unsmooth... To judge today's artists - you should really go to live performance and not judge too much from the cd recording - because some of todays artists edit and splice and just mess around with their recordings

January 29, 2004 at 11:43 PM · I went to Chang's concert last year. I was disappointed. Certainly she has great left hand techniques. But her bowing still has lots room to be improved. For example, I found that she tried to play safe when she play the movement with full of spiccato in Saint Saens's sonata. She almost used the same protion of the bow for spiccato all the time. As a result of that is homogeneous and boring sound lack of convincing expressiveness. She certainly can play loud; however it does not meant passion and musicality. If she is humble enought, she should still need to study with great mastro like Ida Handel or Aaron Rosand to learn to make and to differentiate good tone of violin.

January 30, 2004 at 12:56 PM · Live performances are always different... I find live performances preferable to a cd. I saw her Shostakovitch recently and it was awesome. There are many schools of thought regarding bow technique and I understand not everybody enjoys her bow arm... It doesn't bother me one bit. My opinion is that if you have never seen her play live you should give it a try. Maybe you would not like it, maybe you would. I enjoyed it inmensely. I still stand by my opinion that she is very musical, even during live performance, and plays with fire and conviction.

January 30, 2004 at 04:33 PM · She is never rude or full of herself. She is one of the nicest people. Miss Chang is very polite and charming with everyone she meets, whether they be important to her career or whether they're just a listener at a concert.

Pinchas Zukerman started crying after hearing her play Bartok's 2nd Concerto in a master class when she was very young. He was shocked by such wonderful playing from someone so young. Zukerman knows a thing or two about violin playing and music, right?

Noone is perfect but Miss Chang is definitely not only a leading violinist in her age group, but a leading violinist period.

It's not fair to compare her to someone like Milstein right now. He is one of the greatest ever, wouldn't you say there's a level underneath Milstein where one can still be a great violinist? And of course most Milstein playing we know is when he was a seasoned performer and experienced musician. Chang recorded that around the age of 20. That clip of Oistrakh playing in the Wieniawski competition when he was younger is nothing like the violinist he became.

January 30, 2004 at 06:32 PM · Kazuyuki, it was Midori who played the Bartok that had Pinchas Zukerman crying. She was about 8 years old, and also played the Sauret cadenza of the Paganini 1st concerto, perfectly.

Carl.

January 30, 2004 at 06:44 PM · Kazuyuki,

You were not there when I met her in Pittsburgh. You statement about how she's nice to everyone is completely ignorant.

January 30, 2004 at 07:15 PM · no one can be everywhere marty its not their fault, they are just explaining their expreience same as you.

all respect intended

January 30, 2004 at 07:36 PM · Carl, it's possible I either didn't remember the story correctly or heard it wrong. But even so, Zukerman did take her around the world conducting while she played. Would a guy like him do that for someone if they weren't something special?

January 30, 2004 at 11:04 PM · sean-ur right about studying with rosand and haendel:):):)

January 30, 2004 at 11:33 PM · I will be so thrilled if I can play 80% of her playing. But I will not spend $60 to attend her live concert everytime when she is in town. I have attended one of her concert and may do so again one more time. But thats about it. An outstanding violinist, but not the greatest of her generation. She has not progressed much since she bursted into the international stage in the early 1990s. I have bought two of her CDs, but probably unlikely to buy more. On the other hand, I will buy more CDs from Hahn and Lara St. John, another two outstanding female violinsts.

January 31, 2004 at 03:55 AM · Marty, you should apologize to Kazuyuki Fujita... that was a bit rude. As I said before, I MET Sarah Chang and she was super nice with me... and she was nice with everyone else. This was a recent event. But she is human. So maybe she had a bad day the day you saw her? Kazuyuki Fujita's comments are not ignorant just because you don't agree with them...

January 31, 2004 at 03:58 AM · I think we should all calm down a little bit here. Sarah Chang always seems to bring up an arguement amongst us and it doesn't seem like any of us are ever going to change our minds about her, the same goes for Midori or Mutter for some reason. Just calm down.

January 31, 2004 at 04:34 AM · This is like the latest Heifetz thread we had...

January 31, 2004 at 05:56 AM · Yeah, the only difference is that Heifetz was the human equivalent of a God.

January 31, 2004 at 07:23 AM · Oh for crying out loud!!! Heifetz was just an outstandingly talented violinist, not a God. He did not play everything with computer like accuracy, but he was darn good.

Sarah Chang was very nice when I met her, but I'd like to hear what happened when Marty met her.

Carl.

January 31, 2004 at 04:39 PM · Oh boy...back to the Heifetz talk. I believe someonce once said "the man is dead, let him rest in peace". Something of that nature.

Sarah chang - saw her do the Berg concerto - first notes on the open strings were horrible...i dont think she learned the fine details of string changes. For me and the others who aren't excitied about her playing, im pretty sure that we are comparing her to other professionals. Sure shes a great player...i too would be happy playing 80% as good, but I am saying that I think that there are violinists out there that are far better than her, and could only dream of that kind of popularity.

January 31, 2004 at 09:09 PM · Wise words Dan.

January 31, 2004 at 10:14 PM · Some of her recordings are exceptional, such as her Gluck melodie I really like, and her Carmen Fantasy by Sarasate (which I am performing with her in June, she will be the soloist accompanied by PYAO, it should be exciting!)

February 1, 2004 at 12:23 AM · Chang was a "child prodigy". This label "child prodigy", nowadays translates into "being able to play anything before you even think about puberty". That, I think has many disadvantages when you look at a violinist as a whole, rather than just their amazing accuracy.

February 1, 2004 at 02:46 AM · Fortunately, then, she is no longer a "child prodigy". There is no evil in being a so-called "child prodigy" anyway. She is just an outstanding musician; you may not like what she does but she believes in what she is doing. This of course is only an opinion...

February 1, 2004 at 04:19 AM · I sense a bit of "if you're a technician you can't be a musician" kind of an attitude. When one says that, it implies that he/she IS musical and knows better than the person referred to as having poor musicality, in this case Sarah Chang. Sarah Chang would not have been called "the most ideal, perfect violinist I have ever heard" by Sir Yehudi Menuhin if she had poor musicality. Also, saying she plays with poor musicality also implies that she is doing something wrong. Please enlightn me on what she's doing "wrong," if the term can ever be used in music, especially among high caliber musicians.

February 1, 2004 at 04:26 AM · Sean,

I don't remember Ida Haendel's early recordings having a mastered bowing technique, and I don't think she humbled herself to study with another teacher to improve it. Yet, she turned out to be a superb violinist. The two violinists who come to mind as having practically mastered bowing techniques at very early ages are Joseph Hassid, and Michael Rabin. Both died young.

February 1, 2004 at 06:03 AM · Sara Chang's will be able to master the bowing technique by herself, if she is open minded enough to listen tolotsof recordings of the great violinists and go to the concerts of her better peers. If she succeeds to understand why she can not consistently bring out the sound with the excitement and intenisty like Heifetz or other mastro did, she will mature by herself. Her weakness in bowing is mainly due to her traning under DeLay's school, and many violinists from this school suffer from the compromise in bowing technique. that is the reason I suggested Chang to study with other masters,who is different from current main stream of the violin playing in the US(Delay's). To distiquish a mastro from a good player requires more than just perfect intonation, precise rythm and good dynamic. These are basics to play well.To analyze how those great violinists play, you have to listen carefully to more than the basics: how they initiate the notes, how they end the notes and the silence between notes. If a violinist fails to totally control on his (or her) bowing, their performace may tend to become monotonous and boring due to lack of full spectrum of color and character in their sound. The certain weakness of Chang's music making is not due to the limitation on her talent, but due to the liability on her bowing technique. My criticism may sound harsh on her. I am more than willing to see her mature in her performace in the future.

February 1, 2004 at 07:06 AM · I'm a great, great fan of Sarah Chang's playing. She is in the top 4 of my favourite contemporary violinists. I think that she demonstrates a tremendous depth of understanding in regard to the works she plays and she is a "tonalist" (like Leila Josefowicz). She shows a great ability to analyse a piece of music in great depth. I also consider that she is the best combination chamber musician / soloist of today in any genre. She is also brave in that she has tackled pieces that for inexplicable reasons are not so popular in the repertoire. For example, the Goldmark and Strauss violin concertos.

Furthermore, I am not aware of any other violinist, past or present, who pays as much attention to dynamics as Sarah Chang. If you had a completely unmarked score in front of you, you would have no trouble whatsoever penciling in all the dynamic shadings based on a Sarah Chang performance. And her pianissimos are absolutely the best in the business. She also continues to show improvements in her musicianship which is not often the case with young performers. I can't wait to see how she interprets some of her staple pieces when she gets into her late thirties and early forties.

I greatly look forward to every new CD release from this wonderful artist. Someone can break into my house and steal my refrigerator, computers, bed and sofa, but woe betide that person if they try and take my Sarah Chang CDs!

It's a pity that living in Australia I doubt I'll ever get the honour of seeing this fantastic artist play live, although I live in hope she might tour here one day.

Of course, all the above is my humble subjective opinion and everyone's mileage will of course vary.

February 1, 2004 at 07:24 AM · "The most ideal, perfect violinist I have ever heard," hmm, that seems awfully familiar. Where might I have heard this before? Oh yes, wasn't it the same Sir Menuhin who uttered that same lavish praise to Vadim Repin? I think he did. You have to remember when saying something like that that Sir Menuhin rarely, if ever, held back on praising the younger generation. He would adopt a completely different tone when comparing the older generations and the younger generation.

Sean is absolutely right in what he said, her bow arm is far from the greatest around here. She is considered by many, critics and violinists alike, one of the greatest violinists of our time. Is it so wrong, then, to ask her to live up to that? Maybe it is, but only if she cannot and if she cannot, then we should not hold such a high opinion of her.

Scott is right too, in what he said, she has poor musicality and she lacks style. However, that's not really such a big deal, yet at least. She shows potential and a lot of room for improvement and that's where Sean is right. If we go around saying that everything is perfect and everyone tells her that everything is perfect, then there is little incentive for her to improve herself. The point of everyone's criticism here is not to say that she is a bad violinist and should be barred from playing the violin, but rather that she can and should improve and I do believe that she will improve.

This is a gloomy time for the world of classical music. Things like this is what will decide the faith of this art, shall we accept things as they come as "good enough" if they can make money or should we continue to strive for an image of perfection no matter who and where we are in our lifetime? If we as basically consumers don't ask that things be continually made better, they will be contiually be made worse. That, my friends, is the crux and purpose of real criticism.

February 1, 2004 at 07:54 AM · Marty, could you tell us what happend in Pittsburgh?

February 1, 2004 at 09:46 AM · How great the future of classical music is SO gloomy by these standards! We are doomed to beautiful music! The horror of beautiful violin playing! I am apalled! Violin playing art is getting worse and worse! What shall we do! Arghhh... So many people do not understand that things have changed... The past is great but the present is great too! One thing is to dislike a player's violin playing, another is being so biased against it that one makes comments that border on the hilarious. I REALLY mean no disrespect, and the first lines I wrote with a touch of humor (not anger.) If you don't like Ms. Chang that is fine. But saying things like how horrible is her bow arm, how poor is her whatever is not going to change the classical world, nor will it return the old standards... it is a shame people keep comparing all the time the young artists with the old masters when IT IS clear that these young artists ALSO love the old masters... They are not trying to become Heifetzs or Milsteins or whoever! They cannot and this IS a blessing. No one will be like Heifetz or Oistrakh... yet also no one will be like the other young artists... thats the beauty of violin art, that every player (old or new) is different. And don't give me that "all modern players sound the same" stuff because its sounds and its totally illogical. I am glad I can enjoy ALL violinists, past and present. Open-mindedness is so good. There are so many ways to use the bow arm... why must we insist that our preference IS the right one? Vibrato, style, musicianship, all are very subjective. There are a lots of comments here that sound better (as "I don't get excited too much by her playing") than saying "how horrible that bow arm, style, whatever. Yes, flame me, but I am convinced of what I am saying, and I LOVE music so much you wouldn't imagine (thats why I enjoy so many different violinists instead of depriving myself of some beautiful music for some unfair bias). Stop comparing old vs new... what will it amount to? It sounds almost bitter against these changing times... As a violinist I have learned a lot by hearing all the generations of violin playing: no player is perfect, not even Heifetz. And frankly I think that starting a Sarah Chang tread means for some the opportunity to state how great all the old violinists were, and how gloomy is our present and future. It makes no sense. DON'T take this too personally; I usually don't write this much, and I don't mean to have a definite opinion that should be adopted by all. I just would love that people be more reasonable with the young artists... they are great too! I stand by this comment. You are welcome to disagree, but not to hate each other on ultimately such trivial matters... I like Ms. Chang, Milstein, David Oistrakh, Gil Shaham, Vengerov, Midori (just to say a few) and I feel great about that, with no regrets. And I think I also know about music, and love music. May we start to accept our differences, and not impose our criteria to others? I am at peace with everybody here, though I definitely don't agree with everyone, so sorry if I sounded too harsh. Have peace and love music.

Adalberto

February 1, 2004 at 10:32 AM · I don't enjoy her playing especially.... flat coke

February 1, 2004 at 10:44 AM · Anton,

I think you are missing a crucial point in what you say. You said that if praise is lavished upon her then she would have little incentive to improve. That seems an absurd statement to me. I have never known any soloist who aspires (or has achieved) greatness to give a stuff about what their audiences and critics think. Nor should they. Any classical soloist who molds their playing according to what they think their audiences expect, and what the current audience "report card" is, is totally missing the point of what the profession is all about.

Being an artist is about fulfilling your own expectations, not those of other people.

February 1, 2004 at 10:51 AM · Adalberto,

Unfortunately there is a "virus" going around the world of violinists whereby they all seem to think the bygone years were some sort of golden age and no one nowadays can compete. That's more balony than I'd find on the Monday morning shift at the local Kraft factory.

If everyone wants to relive the golden age, its easy. Just take a modern artist and put their high fidelity digital recording through some sound processing to make it sound old. Then these modern "no hopers" sound just like the sentimental golden oldies.

Jeez, no one can ever think outside the square nowadays. How sad. Unless of course they all think that Ysaye's horribly out of tune playing and uncontrolled slides are just as attractive as Joachim's complete lack of vibrato. But I just guess people think the way they do often because someone else conditioned them to think that way.

February 1, 2004 at 11:11 AM · I don't think it's that easy... the playing has to be there, if Young Menuhin recorded in high fidelity it would sound amazing, but yes, the old hissy sound covers up many faults while today a hair is a log... if you get what I mean.