By Lee Hyo-won
With the fall foliage and nippy air stirring up sentimental souls, ‘tis a season ripe for nostalgic piano tunes.
Add to that some great visuals ― classical music’s hottest young stars have a knack for engaging viewers in the magic of live performance, and their boyish visage invites the cult following of a rock star.
Mark your calendars to catch pianists Yundi, Lang Lang, Kim Sun-wook and Ji-Yong give up-close and personal recitals, through which each artist will tackle different repertoires ranging from Chopin and Beethoven to Schumann and Liszt.
In 1982, China gave birth to two of the most exciting pianists of their generation: Yundi and Lang Lang.
The 28-year-olds are often compared, given their common national roots and age as well as exclusive recording contracts with the music giant Deutsche Grammophon. This year they were both busy promoting their albums under new labels, and the two will give recitals one after the other at Seoul Arts Center ― Yundi delighting fans on Nov. 1 followed by Lang on Dec. 4.
It would be difficult nevertheless to imagine them engaged in a piano duel in the tradition of Jay Chou’s sugary teen romance “A Secret I Cannot Tell.”
(Interestingly, Yundi actually appeared onstage with Chou in 2007 to perform the theme song from the film. Lang on the other hand also reached out to the masses by featuring in the soundtrack of the hit Japanese manga-turned-TV soap-turned-movie “Nodame Cantabile.”)
They are polar opposites, and comparing the two would be like trying to match up an apple against an orange ― Yundi embodies more delicate poeticism and while Lang boasts extroverted showmanship.
The former will promote his new album under the EMI label, “Chopin.” Yundi made headlines in 2000 when he won the 14th Frederic Chopin Piano Competition ― it was the first time in 15 years that the prestigious competition awarded a first prizewinner and the 18-year-old also happened to be the youngest ever and China’s first to claim the honor. With a pretty-boy image to boot, he has since become something of an Elvis in the classical music world.
Naturally for someone who has become reputed as a Chopin specialist, Yundi was busy celebrating the composer’s bicentennial.
“I think Chopin is the closest composer to me. He has an emotional heart, his music is very touching; he is a hero and a friend to me,” he said in a previous interview with The Korea Times, shortly following the release of his recording earlier this year.
In the upcoming recital he will showcase nocturnes, mazurkas as well as his personal favorite, “Heroic” Polonaise, Op. 53. For more information, call 1577-5266.
Lang has become a powerhouse label that sells.
Winning the International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians at age 13 catapulted him into the spotlight and he has become a proud face of China, gracing the 2008 Beijing Olympics opening ceremony and inspiring special edition Adidas sneakers and even a red Steinway. He also has two best selling memoirs.
“We (classical musicians) need to work very hard to bring young people in,” he previously told The Korea Times. This doesn’t seem to be much of a challenge for Lang, who enjoys a superstar status rarely afforded a classical musician.
His celebrity power reflects in his over-produced recording debut with Sony, “Lang Lang Live in Vienna,” which is offered in Blu-ray in 3D to hardcover photo books.
In his upcoming recital here, Lang will showcase his signature theatricality in Beethoven’s “Apassionata” sonata and his finesse using his “11 fingers,” as Barenboim put it, in Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 7. For more information, call (02) 541-3183.
The future of the local classical music scene seems all the more rosy with the emergence of young talent like Kim Sun-wook.
Unlike his predecessors who completed a significant part of their musical training abroad, mostly in North America or Europe, the so-called “purely domestically-bred” musician has gone on to champion international competitions, most notably the 2006 Leeds Competition as its youngest ever winner. Kim has been hailed as the next big thing in Korea’s lineage of classical pianists, and symbolizes hope for the triumphant potential of local music education.
The Korea National University of Arts graduate has been furthering his studies in the United Kingdom since moving there in 2008, and he will give a homecoming recital tour, including an appearance at Seoul Arts Center on Nov. 27, to showcase what he’s been up to.
In September he enrolled in the master’s program in conducting at the Royal Academy of Music and has been focusing on the German masters, particularly Beethoven and Schumann. He will play Beethoven’s Sonatas Nos. 14 and 30 and Schumann’s “Arabesque” in C major, Op. 18 and “Kreisleriana,” Op. 16.
The performance will also be the last chance for fans to see Kim up-close until 2012, since his concert engagements next year will all be overseas. He will kick off the upcoming tour Nov. 18 in Goyang followed by Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province on Nov. 20, and then Daejeon (Nov. 21), Ulsan (Nov. 23) and Daegu (Nov. 25).
During the 2009-2010 season he debuted at the London South Bank Royal Festival Hall with the Maestro Vladimir Ashkenazy-led Philharmonia and gave an Asia tour, and has been invited back to perform with the ensemble next season. He is also slated to appear with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw and other premier orchestras. For more information, call (02) 599-5743.
The music scene may be dominated by bubblegum teen groups and the audience may be graying in concert halls around the world, but the youthful ebullience of classical music stars attracts increasing hordes of young fans here. The phenomenon can be summed up in one word: Ditto.
The all-male chamber ensemble consists of internationally renowned musicians who gather each summer to give sell-out concerts in Korea, and their infectious popularity has already reached Japan.
Ji-Yong was noted as a “gifted, sensitive young pianist who is clearly going places” (Chicago Tribune), and is best known here as a member of Ditto. The 19-year-old appeared in Seoul for the first time as a soloist this summer ― with none other than the esteemed BBC Symphony ― and will return for a solo show this fall for the release of his album “Lisztomania.”
“I love recitals since it’s very personal, and you really get to show what kind of artist you are,” he told The Korea Times in a previous interview.
Ji-Yong is a hip young artist who likes to give classical music a contemporary edge ― he was spotted giving impromptu street performances in Myeong-dong and has collaborated with dancers and other artists for creative projects.
He will make his Korean recital debut Nov. 28 at Seoul Arts Center, two days after the unveiling of his Liszt recording. The program features the devilishly difficult etude “La Campanella” and the architectural masterpiece Sonata in B minor, as well the composer’s famous transcriptions of works by Schubert (“Der Erlkonig”) and Schumann (“Widmung”). For more information, call 1577-5266.