Word: changeing
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...such a world, a professional recital given by a 16-year-old like violinist Sarah Chang is certainly no uncommon event. Chang was one of the wunderkinds, of course--she made her New York debut with the New York Philharmonic at age 8 and is the youngest performer ever to receive the Avery Fisher Career Grant--but she grew out of her child prodigy title long before she stood on stage at Symphony Hall last Friday night. Chang is no longer miraculous for her age for the same reason she's allowed to drive a car: simply...
What is shocking is that Chang herself knows it. The meaninglessness of her youth is not something the critics have foisted upon her, but rather a feeling that hangs about her like an air of resigned casualness--casualness that comes not from youth but from experience. That she is no a child means her age is no longer an excuse for less-than-perfect playing. At 16, Chang is a mature, even jaded performer...
...Chang's playing, too, is anything but youthful. She plays aggressively, with a throaty sound, and caps off her notes with a fast, urgent vibrato. She is unafraid of digging into challenging runs or over-playing. Chang's tone, like Audrey Hepburn's character in Breakfast at Tiffany's, has the mean reds...
...with a capital R and dramatic, alternating quickly between slow, cinematic melodies and passionate bombastic chords. Critics have often suggested that the eruptive Strauss sonata is more appropriate for a large-scale symphony orchestra than for violin and piano, yet the piece could not have been more perfect for Chang...
...Chang played quickly and never lingered on particularly expressive passages, but she never skimmed over a note in any of the piece's numerous virtuosic passages. Technically, Chang's playing was flawless. Chang proved herself completely flexible in the Strauss piece, jumping with remarkable clarity from her growling low register to her blossoming upper one. The last movement of the sonata was particularly memorable. Chang pushed the last movement's triumphant theme forward almost stubbornly. With expert poise, Chang bluffed the audience with the faux ending--some audience members prepared to clap. Unlike most faux endings, this one was truly...