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An evening at the Seoul Arts Center in which clarity matters as much as volume and the most telling virtuosity comes from a refusal to grandstand.

At the final stop of its European tour, the China NCPA Orchestra, led by Myung-Whun Chung with Bruce Liu, deliver luminous precision, refined Ravel and cinematic Prokofiev at the Elbphilharmonie. 

Like the grainy intensity of a high-contrast black-and-white photograph, these rugged edges accentuated Mahler’s expressive extremes, reaffirming the conductor’s innate flair for crafting a grand aesthetic narrative within the symphony’s expansive architecture.

Beethoven's Triple Concerto has a reputation of being a problematic work, but Myung-Whun Chung and the Tokyo Philharmonic prove otherwise in an emphatic performance. 

Myung-whun Chung and the KBS Symphony Orchestra tackle Mahler’s monumental Resurrection Symphony at the Seoul Arts Center. 

Myung-whun Chung and Pablo Ferrández shine separately, but never quite get on the same page.

Myung-whun Chung conducts the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Sibelius and Brahms.

Myung-whun Chung and the orchestra provide a compelling account of Mahler's last completed symphony, albeit not one that hits the extremes.

Maestro Myung-Whun Chung leads an almost all-Italian cast in an impressive performance of Verdi’s most ambiguous masterpiece.

Outstanding playing from soloist and Staatskapelle Dresden makes this a Prom to remember.

During the “Salce” and “Ave Maria” in Act Four Bezsmertna turned this to magical effect, thinning out and floating her shimmering soprano into gossamer threads.

This is one of Michieletto's simplest stagings yet, the imagery used to a minimum to allow for focus on the psychological core.

Kyung Wha Chung exceeds her already-legendary reputation, assisted by her brother, Myung-whun Chung, and the Tokyo Philharmonic. 

Chung's mastery of orchestral colour and texture came into its own, the brooding introduction to Act 2 making for a harrowingly apocalyptic representation of tyranny.

If Chung is sometimes hailed as the greatest living conductor of Verdi, here was a performance to support that claim.

With Chung on the podium, the Filarmonica played with a spontaneity that brought Brahms' restless music to life.

Hartmann's staging takes a bizarre twist in the end since so far the staging had followed the naïve story very faithfully without any weird implications.

Were it not for a sterling musical display, built on the shoulders of bass Ferruccio Furlanetto and conductor Myung-whun Chung, this could have been a very long night indeed.

Maestro Myung-Whun Chung and Clara-Jumi Kang collaborate with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra at the Festa Muza Kawasaki 2016.

Andrea De Rosa’s atmospheric production of Simon Boccanegra uses a series of landscapes projected onto a cyclorama to evoke the Gulf of Genoa. 

A ravishing performance from the Myung-Wung Chung Seoul Philharmonic for the orchestra's BBC Proms première.

From Otello's opening thunderstorm, Myung Whun Chung and the Orchestre Philharmonique de France leave us gasping, while Alagna turns in a magnetic performance in the title role.

Last Friday, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and its musical director Myung-Whun Chung offered a wonderful panorama of French music: Claude Debussy’s impressionism, Olivier Messiaen’s abstraction and Camille Saint-Saëns’ romanticism.

The spectacle in Downtown Los Angeles last Thursday night was certainly a sight to see: crowded parking spaces, swarms of people making their way to Disney Hall, and traffic swirling along Grand Avenue and its adjoining streets. Was it a rock band that awaited listeners on the stage at Disney Hall on Thursday night? Not quite.

I confess to having known little about the Seoul Philharmonic before this evening's concert. However I did know something of tonight's conductor, Myung-Whung Chung, having seen him conduct one of his other orchestras, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France last month at the Proms in London. He is a wonderful musician who coaxes the music out of his players.

Who has the power, the authority to fix the moment when a major public event can start? In broadcast events, such as the Proms, where all of the concerts are broadcast on Radio 3 and many are televised, the bigger, virtual audience puts the media in the driving seat. The radio or TV producer holds sway - up to the moment when the conductor steps out into the hall.