Crown New York, 2017
Warner Classics 0190295838300
You don’t need to study at The Juilliard School to appreciate the depth of emotion in GONE - A Girl, A Violin, A Life Unstrung and GONE the CD. The book is a compelling read in which Min Kym tells all (or a lot) about her experiences as child prodigy being raised in a traditional Korean family living in London. It was clear from the beginning that her talent was destined for international stardom with perks that included a recording contract from Sony. But life began to unravel when her beloved 1696 Stradivarius was stolen while she was sitting at a London underground restaurant in 2010.
If there is a message to be learned from this book, it is that the enduring power of music heals the anguish of losing the one you love, which in Kym’s case was the Stradivarius she bought at age 21 and cherished for ten years. “Pick a Strad up, play that first note, and it surges through you. You feel possessed, limitless. You are holding immortality,” she says. “I’d never felt like that with another human being, never said, “That’s it, you’re the one.” But with the violin that’s exactly how I felt.”
The story is much fuller than a who done it novel about the circumstances surrounding the Strad’s disappearance and reappearance, which took three years of meticulous investigative effort by London’s Transport Police to locate. Kym provides informative and insightful accounts of studies at London’s The Purcell School of music, Royal College of Music and with Ruggiero Ricci in addition to tidbits about instrument dealers such as Tarisio and Beare.
There are even reflections on, “What’s It Like To Be A Child Prodigy?” and admission about struggles with depression, anorexia and some personal relationships gone sour, particularly with a former cellist boy friend who became the linchpin of the Strad tale. Kym openly writes about joys and vulnerabilities of life, love, family and performing, perhaps as a cathartic outlet, as well.
An especially poignant moment occurs when she describes playing her Strad for the last time, as she was unable to keep it due to financial and insurance reasons. “I am saying goodbye but a goodbye that is physical, a last pouring of myself into the violin – the strings and the wood, the glue, all of it – my life, my troubles, our moments of glory, all of that too.”
After her Stradivarius was lost she purchased another but never quite warmed to it or the resumption of a career - until she found a Nicolo Amati that was in mint condition. “And what the Amati did for me…was something that hadn’t happened since my violin was stolen…The key to music, to Min, had been unlocked. I’d got my excitement back.”
Gone The Album features selections from Min Kym’s discography, recorded between 1990-2009, and provides a quintessential companion to her book. It also offers affirmation of the unique individuality that shines throughout Kym’s playing. Of course she imbues the spirit of virtuosity and fire in Paganini’s 16th Caprice and Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole, Op. 21.
But there is an overlying sense of purity, innocence and delicacy to Kym’s sound as she draws out a refreshing emotional elegance from each phrase and luscious tonality in “Allegro” of Brahms’ violin sonata Op. 108 and “Adagio” of his violin concerto, Op. 77 with the Philharmonia Orchestra.
Her interpretation of Chausson’s Poeme, Op. 25 takes on a rarefied and often transcendent quality, which is further enhanced by Gordon Back’s sensitive piano accompaniment. (Back is Artistic Director of the Menuhin Competition). GONE the book and the recording make for engaging reading and listening.