Pianist Sohn Min-soo to perform Bach's masterpieces for solo piano
Pianist Sohn Min-soo / Courtesy of Mok Production
New England professor shifts focus to Bach after acclaimed Beethoven cycle
“We live in an age flooded with information, when we are pressured to make quick choices. As a musician, I felt I needed to find my own way of expressing myself.”
Pianist Sohn Min-soo, 50, is often introduced as the teacher of Yunchan Lim, but he has continued to develop his own musical identity while teaching at the New England Conservatory in the United States and performing regularly on stage.
His latest release is the first book of Bach’s "The Well-Tempered Clavier," issued by British classical music label Hyperion, with which he signed an exclusive recording contract in July. It is his first album in six years, following his complete recording of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas in 2020, and his first Bach recording in 15 years, since his 2011 release of the Goldberg Variations.
His return to Bach stemmed from his reflections on how music can connect with society. Meeting with reporters at Sounds S in Yongsan District, Seoul, on Wednesday, Sohn said, “In Bach’s fugues, every single voice must be heard, however quiet or delicate it may be.”
“I chose Bach because I began asking how different voices can coexist harmoniously in an age when we are pressured to make quick choices and it is easy for the majority to follow one prominent voice,” he said.
For Sohn, Bach and Beethoven are composers who have helped him “find my identity and role as a musician and engage in a dialogue with the world through music.” Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier, comprising preludes and fugues in all 24 major and minor keys, is, in his words, “music that captures, across 24 journeys, almost every complex question, emotion and feeling that human beings can experience.”
Pianist Sohn Min-soo speaks during a press conference in Seoul, Thursday. Courtesy of Mok Production
Comparing the individual pieces to stars in the night sky, he said, “Each star matters in its own right, but there is also the feeling of embarking on a long journey as you gaze at all 24 stars within a single universe.”
Sohn said he approaches all his musical activities, including the new album, “with a sense of dedication to my two teachers,” referring to the late pianist Russell Sherman (1930-2023) and his wife, Kyung-byung Byun. After Sherman’s death, Byun gave Son scores with Sherman’s handwritten notes and markings. Studying those scores became the foundation for the new recording.
His teachings on Bach have also been passed on to his student Lim. When Lim released his own recording of the Goldberg Variations, he recalled Sohn’s teaching that “Bach is our greatest ancestor and our source.”
“The Well-Tempered Clavier was an important starting point in music history, as it explored how each of the 24 keys could have its own distinct character,” Son said. “It laid the foundation for countless composers, including Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin and Schumann, to discover their own musical worlds.”
Sohn began playing the piano at the age of 3 and drew attention as a rising star after becoming the first Korean to win the Honens International Piano Competition in Canada in 2006. But in 2008, he broke his right hand in an accident. While recovering, he practiced extensively with his left hand, only to strain it as well, leaving him unable to perform for a time. Even after completing his ambitious cycle of Beethoven’s complete piano sonatas in 2021, he continued to grapple with physical challenges involving his hands.
Having come through those difficult years, Sohn is steadily finding his own musical voice as an established pianist in a classical music world where attention is often concentrated on younger performers. “Every performer has a role to play,” he said. “I want to reflect on what I can do in my own place and communicate with audiences through music.”
To mark the album’s release, Sohn will give more than 20 performances in Korea and abroad. The tour begins at Shin Young Chamber Hall on Oct. 16, followed by 10 performances in Korea, including a concert at the Seoul Arts Center Concert Hall on Oct. 27. He will then continue the tour in Taiwan, Singapore and the United States.
“If recording was an exploration that took me deep into every single note, performing is a process of sharing with the audience what might happen in that one, unrepeatable moment,” Son said. “I hope these performances will offer people who love Bach’s music a chance to reflect on new meanings and ask new questions.”
This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.