Art music thrives in Korea. The trouble is, you have to go there to
realise it.
There are Korean musicians in most of the major
orchestras of the world, Koreans pop up at all the major music competitions,
there are a few Korean stars on the international circuit (violinist Kyung-Wha
Chung and soprano Sumi Jo to name just
two), and there is at least one major international composer (Unsuk Chin). The Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra under its
Korean conductor, Myung-whun Chung has created a presence on the international
stage through recordings and occasional tours (as well as, rather less happily
recently, through some much-publicised scandal - NY
Times article), but otherwise Korea seems pretty much self-contained
musically.
And that’s not good in a world where classical music
needs to broach international borders if it is not just to develop and expand,
but to survive.
So I welcome the recent creation of an organisation calling
itself “La Mer et L’Île” whose policy is “to promote classical music, visual
arts and sciences to outside as well as inside of Korea”. What a wonderful idea to promote a land
through music and the arts; especially where that land is one which is high in
international consciousness through its much less savoury associations with
cross-border hostilities. Not that the organisation
is totally committed to ignoring political hostilities with South Korea’s
neighbours; the group’s French title evokes the remote and rugged volcanic
outcrop of Dokdo Island, which is at the centre of a long-running territorial
dispute between Korea and Japan.
La Mer et L’Île embarks this year on its first international
concert tour, travelling to Singapore, Sydney and Hong Kong. The first of those international trips
featured just seven performing musicians who combined European repertory with
new Korean works. This is a splendid concept
revealing, as it does, not just original Korean music, but Korean musicians standing
proudly alongside their international counterparts.
The five “western” instrument players - pianist Quentin
Kim, violinists Yeonwoo Choi, Jun-Young Park, violist Erwan Richard (a
Frenchman who has been resident in Korea since 2007) and cellist David James Kim
(whose background and training has been in Germany) - may not be the most
polished piano quintet around, but their spirited and eager performance of the
Dvořák A major Quintet was like a breath of fresh air. Some intonation issues between the violins, a
distinctly soloistic quality from the viola (excusable in the Dvořák but nevertheless hinting at a certain lack of
integration within the ensemble), a few grumbling notes from the cello and some
rather muffled detail in the piano, took the shine off the actual playing, but
the energy (not least in a finale which was taken at an absolutely breakneck
speed) and robustness of the interpretation superbly underscored the music’s
folksy qualities; which is, to judge from the very amiable introductions with
which David James Kim had peppered the recital, what the group was aiming for.
The Dvořák filled the second half of the concert,
while first had begun with the string quartet alone giving an endearing account
of one of Mozart’s so-called “Salzburg Symphonies” (no.3). Here was a sense of tight and familiar ensemble
which well conveyed the charm and innocence of Mozart’s very youthful
writing. The first half ended with a
potentially bizarre arrangement of the “Habanera” from Carmen for piano quintet and mezzo-soprano. What transformed this from the bizarre to the
deeply impressive was Bohae Kim who, a dominating presence in bright green,
used the intimate environment of a stage-less recital room, to stroll amongst
the audience, goading them into responding by making eyes and provocative
gestures at them, and milking their applause for all she was worth; even to the
extent of coming back out to take another round of applause long after the
houselights had gone up and the audience members started to file out for the
interval. It was great visual entertainment
– not least the way the string players interacted with her – but it was also a powerfully
musical performance. Ms Kim, possibly
singing under her full strength to meet the intimacy of the room, nevertheless
brought every ounce of an operatic mezzo’s skill to play to make this, vocally,
a most compelling performance.
The remainder of the first half was given over the
Korean works, and here I was reminded of a comment made by an adjudicator
colleague who had suggested that, impressive though Koreans were in competitions,
they played safe and never liked to take risks.
To hear these three new Korean works – Dokdo, Two Ears by Myung-Whun Choi, Morning of the Ocean by Jonghee Kang and Fantasy-Variations on an Olden Air by the pianist, Quentin Kim, all
three composers in their early 40s – you would have thought the neuroses of the
20th century had never impinged on Korean composers. No hint in any of these works of the experimental,
challenging and, as often as not, pointedly non-traditional which obsessed the
Americans and Europeans in their striving to create something new and
distinctive. Choi’s sounded like Debussy
and Ravel with a touch of Chilli Sauce, while Kang’s threw a fair sprinkling of
raw cili padi into some distinctly Brahmsian
ideas. For his part, Kim was happy to
bask in the world of Schumann as he set about his comfortable set of variations
for piano trio.
Comfortable and safe as these works were, they were
none-the-less rewarding and deeply satisfying, offering the audience a welcome
sense of the vaguely familiar within unquestionably distinctive voices.
Perhaps the only one which did not really work was Kang’s
trio for violin, cello and Haegum, a traditional Korean instrument much like a
mellower version of an erhu. SeungHee
Lee was the Haegum player, and much as she worked to integrate with the western
instruments, the disparity of tone was just too disturbing. When Lee emerged at the end of the concert to
offer an encore with cello and piano in an arrangement of a Korean folk song,
things worked much better. Whoever had
made the arrangement understood the issue, and while the piano was delicate in
its harmonic support, the cello created an almost harp like background for the
distinctive and often forceful voice of the Haegum.
Sydney (15th October at the Conservatorium)
and Hong Kong (27th November at the APA) are in for a treat.
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