Child Prodigy Fathoms Korean Soul in Music
By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter
YONGPYONG ― With the 5th International Great Mountains Music Festival & School (GMMFS) coming to a close this Friday after a four-week marathon of music making, the past weekend highlighted a series of stellar performances by renowned veteran artists as well as emerging talent. All eyes and ears were particularly directed toward the unveiling of the latest work Aug. 15 by 16-year-old composer extraordinaire Jay Greenberg.
Liberation Day's long weekend traffic woes and the monsoon sprinkles were no hindrance as the press, classical music fans and students flocked to South Korea's foremost music event in Gangwon Province. Disappointed faces had to be turned away from ticket booths for the fully booked concert featuring some of the world's best Aug. 15. The audience held their breath as Deutsche Grammophon-recording cellist Jian Wang and charismatic pianist Plamena Magova opened the program with Rachmaninov's Cello Sonata in G minor, Op. 19. After intermission, concertgoers hurried back to their seats to catch the exquisite Endellion String Quartet offer a rich and fiery rendition of Brahms's String Quintet No. 2 in G major, Op. 111 with violist Lawrence Dutton.
Sandwiched between two staple works of classical music was none other than ``Four Scenes'' by the symphony-writing American teen Greenberg, who is praised as having as much potential as Mozart. Members of the sensational conductor-less orchestra Sejong presented the double quartet (four violins, two violas and two cellos), which the composer said was inspired by the uncensored, tragic and sometimes shocking nature of Korean folktales.
The higher strings lead the first two movements in brisk yet definitive, dissonant yet harmonizing sounds as the lower strings foreshadowed something more ominous. The vivacious, organic allegro looped and grew, feeding into a breathtaking presto movement that brought back the folk-like melody in D minor from the first movement.
The piece climaxed in the third ``Scene,'' a most hauntingly beautiful, dramatic adagio where the strings weep bitterly. The narrative melody evoked tears in listeners, particularly Korean ones who share a sixth sense for ``han'' ― a cornerstone of the Korean spirit that can be roughly described as pervasive, begrudged sadness imbedded in a country whose history is marked by wars and division. The keen perspicacity of the composer is surprising to say the least.
The tune's denouement logically repeats its earlier melodies in reverse order in a moderately slow march, but not without a ``hyperactive waltz'' ― as Greenberg described it in a statement ― toward a final fadeout in C major. Dramatic tension is sustained throughout, but with the occasional comic relief that shows Greenberg's deep intellectual concern for structure and apt narrative texture. The music is of course in synch with the festival's theme ``Music-Image-Text'' and is fluid enough to be the musical embodiment of any given Korean folk tale.
``Four Scenes'' shows the composer's heightened sense of personal voice and color. Reference to Bela Bartok is inevitable in his use of unexpected yet ultimately rational use of discordant harmony. Like in the most creative of artists, ``creative destruction'' or the art of eradicating the expected to pave the way for something new, is present. The new piece seems to be in key with Greenberg's String Quintet (recorded with Symphony No. 5 by Sony BMG). It employs a balanced, democratic use of the string voices that converse animatedly, undoubtedly making it a compelling piece to play. It shined most brightly, of course, by the urgency of Sejong's playing, which was at once free flowing and fine tempered.
After shyly responding to four curtain calls, the ever-so laconic composer told The Korea Times that he simply felt ``O.K.'' about the world premiere. He said he wasn't sure if he fully understood the concept of ``han,'' but this reporter thinks otherwise as demonstrated by his music. Greenberg didn't forget to compliment the players, saying the performance itself was ``good.''
Sejong leader and virtuoso violinist Frank Huang said the piece was like nothing he's ever done before. ``It's so new yet very classic… It makes me wonder what I was doing when I was 16,'' he told The Korea Times, still wearing a big smile from the stage.
``Four Scenes'' is highly deserving of many more performances. With Greenberg, one can only agree that age and musicality are two different things. But the passage of time usually allows for an artist to distill his creative process, and one can look forward to what he has to offer in the days to come.