ISANG YUN: Sunrise Falling
Uncompromising in his life as he was in his music, Korean composer Isang Yun (1917–95) held fast to his dream of a united Korea, even as he was unjustly accused of espionage for North Korea and sentenced to imprisonment and death. From a life of unimaginable oppression and torture emerges music of raw emotional power, heard on ISANG YUN: Sunrise Falling, a centennial commemoration of Yun’s life and music from the PENTATONE Oxingale Series. Maestro Dennis Russell Davies, a longtime collaborator and advocate for Yun, curates the program and conducts the Bruckner Orchestra Linz. A cellist himself, Yun’s fascinating, highly autobiographical Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra (1975/76) anchors the album. In a live performance, cellist Matt Haimovitz tackles the controlled chaos of Yun’s score, bursting with passion, despair, and new timbral textures, such as the use of a plectrum to emulate the Korean zither, the kŏmun’go. Yun’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 1 (1981) features violinist Yumi Hwang-Williams, who reflects upon her own emotional return to Korea in 2015, where she performed the work at a Festival in honor of Yun. The double album also includes the orchestral Fanfare & Memorial, and additional illuminating solo works by Yun performed by pianist Maki Namekawa, Hwang-Williams, and Haimovitz. 100 years after Isang Yun’s birth, the two Koreas still teeter on a razor’s edge, with ever more global ramifications. His music opens the gate to a lost, united land, with Yun’s own heart bleeding but ever hopeful.
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Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra
1) I. (9:45)
2) Cadenzas (8:07)
3) II. (8:08)
4) III. (4:29)Interludium A
5) Interludium A (11:28)Glissées for Solo Cello
6) I. (3:56)
7) II. (4:07)
8) III. (3:30)
9) IV. (4:32)Fanfare & Memorial
10) Fanfare & Memorial (16:33)CD2
11) I. (13:59)
12) II. (12:36)
13) III. (13:39)Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No.1
14) I. (10:17)
15) II. (7:36)Kontraste. Two Pieces for Violin solo
16) Gasa, for Violin and Piano (14:38) -
Release Date: September 28, 2018
Label: PENTATONE Oxingale Series (PTC: 5186693)
Artist:
Matt Haimovitz, Dennis Russell Davies, Yumi Hwang-Williams, Maki NamekawaComposers: Isang Yun
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
CD 1: Tracks 1-4
CD 2: Tracks 1-3ORF Landesstudio Oberösterreich
Recording supervisor: Dr. Alice Ertlbauer-Camerer Recording engineer: Hubert HawelCD 1: Tracks 6-9
A Tippet Rise Production
Recording engineer: Monte Nickles
Recording assistant: Monica Bolles
Editing: Will Howie
Mixing: Richard King
Producer: Luna Pearl WoolfCD 1: Tracks 5, 10
CD 2: Tracks 4-6Recorded, edited and mixed: LAFFERENTZ
Executive producer for the Bruckner Orchester Linz: Heribert Schröder Mixing, mastering and surround: Richard King
Mastering (SA-CD): Polyhymnia International B.V.Post-recording producers: Luna Pearl Woolf & Matt Haimovitz Cover photography: Daniel Forniès Soria
Design: Joost de Boo
Product management: Kasper van KootenCD 1: Tracks 1-5
CD 2: Tracks 1-6
were recorded live between June 7–12, 2017 at the Brucknerhaus, Linz, AustriaCD 1: Tracks 6-9
were recorded August 27, 2017 at Tippet Rise Arts Center, Fishtail, MontanaCD 1: Track 10
was recorded June 30, 2017 at the Musiktheater am Volksgarten, Großer Orchestersaal, Linz, AustriaOn this album, Matt Haimovitz plays on a Giovanni Grancino cello from Milan (c. 1695–1700) graciously provided to him by the company CANIMEX INC., from Drummondville, Quebec, Canada.
Publishing
Boosey & Hawkes Bote & Bock