Multiple Pianos Create Formidable Sound

From left, pianists Kim Jun-hee, Paik Kun-woo, Kim Sun-wook and Kim Tae-hyung play together in a rare concert featuring four pianos at Seoul Arts Center, Sunday. The four artists, shown here performing an encore piece on one instrument, are touring South Korea through Friday. /Courtesy of Credia

Evgeny Kissin’s Seoul tour in April seemed like it would be the most talked-about classical music event of the year. Barely a month following the Russian sensation’s performance, however, maestro Paik Kun-woo and three rising South Korean pianists set the Seoul Arts Center concert hall on fire -- again.

The beauty of a live piano performance is, in addition to hearing inspired melodies in real time, seeing the artist’s flying fingers in motion. Seoulites saw Monday and Tuesday such dynamics of not two but eight hands, conjuring to life four Steinways in ways the local art scene has never seen before.

A single one of these instruments is enough to generate the sound of an orchestra. Many multiple-piano pieces were originally conceived with the sound of the harpsichord or light fortepiano, and on modern instruments sounds tend to be unpleasantly thick and cluttered.

The recent performance -- something rare not only in Korea but also abroad -- brought together four shining artists that individually possess the star power to attract more than enough attention. In 2007 Paik rewrote classical music history by playing all 32 of Beethoven’s piano sonatas in just seven days. This time, joined by the three rising pianists -- Kim Tae-hyung, Kim Sun-wook and Kim Jun-hee -- the maestro pianist added a splash of color to the sometimes-monotonous local music scene (the three Kims, all barely past their teens and sharing the same alma mater as well as an impressive resume of top wins in international competitions, are unrelated).

With their inspired performance, the four artists hushed doubts that such a concert would be for show, and that four grand pianos could, with the right repertoire and teamwork, work together like a single unit. It was also a special treat to see the four alternate the parts of first, second, third and fourth pianos, instead of the elderly artist dominating the lead, for Wagner’s Overture to ``Tannhauser’’ and Milhaud’s ``Paris Suite’’ for Four Pianos, Op. 284.

A grand spectacle unfolded when Rachmaninov’s ``Symphonic Dances,’’ Op. 45, for two pianos, was presented in relay form, with Paik at the first piano and the three youngsters joining him one at a time for the three movements. The heated concert peaked with Ravel’s ``Bolero,’’ transcribed by Jacques Drillon, as the four instruments gave way to delightfully attuned interplay.

A full standing ovation followed, as heated as that in Kissin’s recital, and in return the players offered ``Carmen Fantasie,’’ and, sitting in a single row in front of one piano, Lavignac’s ``Galop-Marche.’’

Another special event took place Sunday, which also happened to be Paik’s 63rd birthday, and the three Kims sang happy birthday to Sun-wook’s piano playing.

The four pianists continue their tour tonight in Daegu and Friday in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. Tickets cost from 20,000 won to 100,000 won. Call (02) 318-4301.

"This Is Richard Strauss"

Two straight nights of the Dresden Staatskapelle -- "hail maestro Luisi!"

Photo courtesy of Sejong Center for the Performing Arts

The Dresden Staatskapelle concluded its Asia tour in Seoul with two different programs this past weekend.

Maestro Fabio Luisi (who also heads the Dresden Staatsoper) lead the 461-year-old "Richard Strauss orchestra" for a definitive performance of "Ein Heldenleben,'' Op. 40, Saturday, and a formidable "Also Sprach Zarathustra" (woohoo! Space Odyssey), Sunday.

The full, bursting colors of the fortes took my breath away, but the commanding power in the pianissimos were... simply... amazing. The amazing Emaneul Ax performed Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 and Strauss' Burleske for Piano and Orchestra.

Encores included Bruch's Overture to "Oberon" and Mr. Ax played a Liszt piece... argh I can't recall the title. Anyway two nights of DSK felt like binging on caviar and champage.

Read an email interview with maestro Luisi.

Chorale Enlivens Beethoven in Opera `Fidelio’

It’s not often that quantity is in par with quality. In a rare performance in Seoul this weekend of ``Fidelio,’’ MuAk Opera offered a novel experience complete with an impressive 100-plus-member chorus that showed what Beethoven is all about.

The German master’s unique opera, despite its high musical merits, has been infrequently staged. The performances Thursday to Sunday at Seoul Arts Center marked its reappearance here after 17 years, and two were rendered for the first time in German. The opera received its South Korean premiere in 1970 but the underlying theme of freedom and justice prevailing over tyrannical power made it taboo under the militant regime of the ‘70s and ‘80s. Also, its preachy idealism of conjugal marriage and political austerity made it a less popular repertoire compared to Rossini’s melodramas or Mozart’s comedies.

Despite featuring a rather dark story set on a minimal stage set, MuAk Opera offered a production teeming with some brilliant musicality -- talented singers and, moreover, striking choristers, compensated more than enough for mistakes and even the opera’s inherent flaws.

The political story can be described as a romantic ``Prison Break’’-meets-Shakespeare’s ``Twelfth Night.’’ In 17th-century Seville, a nobleman Florestan is imprisoned for disclosing the evil Don Pizarro’s scandal, and his brave wife Leonore disguise as a prison guard to rescue him. Supporting characters that propel the narrative are Marzelline, who falls in love with Leonore-cum-Fidelio, and her father, the jailor Rocco, as well as Don Fernando, a friend of Florestan who arrives just in time to save Florestan and Leonore’s lives and condemn Pizarro.

In Friday’s production, soprano Lee Ji-young, a graduate of Placido Domingo’s young artist program, invited operagoers to plunge right into the story as the creamy Marzelline. Even in the supporting role, the lyric soprano made a vivid impression that commanded attention, as her voice bloomed beautifully in the girly role, with gleaming highs and radiant middle notes.

Kim Nam-su as Rocco also shined through as one of the noblest baritones this reporter has heard in Korea. He had a voice to match his dramatic presence, whose low range was marked by rich timbre and ample volume. Choi Joo-il, however, was not very imaginative in playing the figure of towering evil. While his buff physique suited the role of Pizarro, the orchestra constantly drowned out his thin voice. Moreover, the Korean Symphony Orchestra, led by Cheh Seung-hwan, often faltered in keep the rhythm with the singers.

Another less-than-perfect performance was delivered by the lead, Susan Anthony, who demonstrated that the part of Leonore-cum-Fidelio, with its merciless runs and scales, is a burdensome challenge for any soprano, no matter how talented. The dramatic soprano compellingly portrayed a character that is more human than superwoman. Vocally, however, she achieved power by sacrificing tone, particularly in the cruelly exposed high B’s of the ``Abscheulicher’’ aria, and the aria her character sings after rescuing her husband, which, in terms of narrative feels already superfluous, was rather lackluster.

However, it was hard not to be impressed. ``Fidelio’s’’ ideological core is the ``Prisoners’ Chorus,’’ and the MuAk Opera made a commendable attempt to make sure it was memorable. Members of the MuAk Oper Chorus and Grande Opera Chorus dominated the stage not only with their sheer number but also with their perfect harmony. In the hopeful upward-reaching motif, the prisoners greeted the open air with a rapturous tribute to freedom, as if to say, ``this is Beethoven’s chorale.’’

The production peaked in the second half, with the long-awaited appearance of Steven Harrison -- the Florestan of the hour. The act opened in the dark prison dungeon, the stage bare and the tenor all alone. But the stage brimmed with his powerful and tonally beautiful voice: In the anguished cry of ``Gott!’’ his instrument depicted pain most compellingly yet effortlessly, without the least bit of pain his notes.

MuAk Opera’s foundation was inspired by Yonsei University’s 2005 production of ``The Magic Flute’’ to fete its 120th anniversary. Most of cast and crew, naturally, share a common alma mater, which this reporter presumptuously assumes, was responsible for the miscasting of some of the roles. Nevertheless, the young opera group proved to be a breath of fresh air in the local opera scene, with its bold repertoire choice and determination to put artistry above financial concerns.

Kim Solbong Premieres in Spring Fest

The Seoul Spring Festival of Chamber Music (SSF) opened Thursday at Sejong Chamber Hall, downtown Seoul, its fourth edition with a concert celebrating both continuing traditions and modern innovation.

While popular artists, including pianist Kim Sun-wook and the Jupiter String Quartet from the United States, offered tasteful renditions of Beethoven, Mozart and Schubert, rising South Korean composer Kim Solbong presented something new in his latest chamber piece ``Sundial Chronicles.’’

The festival’s 2009 composer-in-residence offered what he calls ``a rite of spring chronicling the change in time’’ through an eclectic dialogue among Western classical instruments and a couple ``gugak’’ (a traditional Korean music) organs, ``janggu’’ (drum) and ``gayageum’’ (12-string zither).

From left, gayageum and janggu. Photo by moi! During rehearsal

Of course, such a meeting point of East and West isn’t new. One can easily recall Yo Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble which brings together violin, Brazillian shakers and Chinese ``pipa’’ (lute) to create sounds such gadgets weren’t meant to make, or Ahn Eack-tai’s Samulnori Concerto, which features the harmony of Korean traditional percussion art and the Western orchestra.

What is significant in the premiere is the effort of the young composer, who is not yet 28, to deconstruct the concept of chamber music, and the result is spontaneous combustion by what many exclaimed that evening as ``a dream team.’’

Kim himself tackled the piano -- including string plucking with a spoon that John Cage fans would appreciate -- opposite the janggu beats of maestro Kim Duk-soo. The founding father of samulnori brought exhilarating rhythms in solos, but stealthily controlled the volume for other parts in the spirit of true chamber music making.

Photo by moi! During rehearsal. I love it when Mr. Yang exclaimed "eolssu! (얼쑤)!"

They were joined by violinist-SSF artistic director Kang Dong-suk, cellist Yang Sung-won, clarinetist Jerry Jae-il Chae and gayageum artist Kim Ji-hyun. It was something that continues the spirit of shaking up conventions: the Western strings retained their essence but also strived for something more, with some wild lilting and vibrato, that could well have been played by a ``haegeum’’ (Korean fiddle) -- akin to how Isang Yun has the cello croon like ``geomungo’’ (Korean zither) in his Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra.

It would be rash, however, to assume that Yun or the other aforementioned artists influenced Kim. This reporter only mentioned these men’s works in an attempt to illustrate the unique nature of the performance. If a parallel were to be drawn, Chin Unsuk comes to mind -- Kim, like the prolific elder composer, defies categorization and speaks a musical language that is modern yet non-doctrinal.

Born in Korea in 1981, Kim studied at the Curtis Institute of Music in the U.S. He entered the public radar by winning the grand prize of media giant Bertelsmann Group’s 2000 World of Expression Awards and has since premiered diverse works. But ``Sundial Chronicles’’ posed a completely new experimentation, both technical and aesthetic.

``I was in such a zone of discomfort it felt like my first time composing,’’ the musician said about his first time working with Korean instruments, which are percussive and less practical than their Western counterparts.

``It’s a starter,’’ Kim Duk-soo said about the piece. ``Solbong is really talented, and we need more young artists to experiment like he does. I’m looking forward to what he can do next.’’

Indeed, the beauty of ``Sundial Chronicles’’ lies in its innovative power that will, this reporter hopes, propel the creation of something new and named and transcending self and heritage, a struggle every artist faces.

Does this multimedia world, where channels are more open than ever, challenge the creative process? ``It’s only a technical problem. Mediums, expressions will always change, but intentions and ideas of music always come first,’’ he said, citing Rachmaninov as an example of someone was not particularly a pioneer in hs time but whose works have enduring strength. ``As long as you are truthful, art will prevail,’’ he said.

Kim will serve as artistic director of Dumbo Space, a new hall under construction in his current home, New York City, as well as that of the 2009 Atlantic Music Festival, which opens June 22-July 21 in Maine.

Sul Kyung-gu, Song Yun-a to Tie Knot on May 28

Wow... Yet another shocker after Kwon Sang-woo & Sohn Tae-young. Song is one of my fav actresses; I met her at a party once and she's so graceful, and Mr. Sul is soooooooooooooooo sexy in person. Anyway, love is always a wonderful occassion to celebrate; it's unfortunate that people like to gossip over someone else's affairs like that... though I'm inevitably part of the system as a reporter. *Sigh*

Top actors Sul Kyung-gu (aka. Sul Kyoung-gu 설경구), 41, and Song Yun-a (송윤아), 35, surprised the public with their engagement to wed at the end of the month.

``Sul and Song are holding their wedding on May 28,’’ Sul’s management agency S2007 Entertainment said Friday. The two stars plan to hold an official press conference today at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Yeoksam-dong, southern Seoul.

The ``On Air’’ TV screen beauty and the award-winning actor of ``Peppermint Candy(박하사탕)’’ are both graduates of Hanyang University. They acted opposite each other for the first time in 2002 through the film ``Jail Breakers (광복절 특사)’’ and then in 2006 for the melodrama ``Lost in Love (사랑을 놓치다).’’

Coincidentally enough, Sul separated with his then-wife, the younger sister of actor Ahn Nae-sang, during the production of ``Jail Breakers’’ and then divorced her by mutual agreement in July 2007, when ``Lost in Love’’ was released.

In an interview with Sports Chosun, Sul denied rumors about having had an extramarital affair -- or was pregnant – with Song.

``We started dating at the end of 2007,’’ the ``Public Enemy Returns’’ star was quoted as saying. ``After filming the 2002 movie `Jail Breakers,’ we developed a friendly relationship as senior and junior colleagues (…) I deliberated a lot since I know marriage is difficult. But (Song) has supported me through thick and thin, and inspired my determination to marry.’’

Song will appear on the big screen later on in the year through ``Saving My Wife (세이빙 마이 와이프)’’ while Sul’s latest movie ``Yongseoneun Eopda (용서는 없다 There Is No Forgiveness)’’ is slated for release in 2010.

Indulge in Guilty Pleasure of `Daechang’

역삼동 부산 양곱창

When it comes to food I may be pernickety about taste but I'm not prude (though I was quasi-vegetarian for a long time and will never, ever eat dog meat or such). Anyway, if you like blood sausages then you'll totally dig this!

Korea Times Photos by Lee Hyo-won

It’s juicy and fatty and just melts on the tip of your tongue. ``Daechang gui,’’ or grilled beef tripe (the largest of the cow’s four stomachs), is, even for many locals, an exotic Korean delicacy that is considered an acquired taste. But for those who relish the savory stuff, it’s the chou cream of the meat world.

This reporter admittedly has never been a big fan of beef tripe, or even beef for the matter, but she decided to brave something new, and was pleasantly surprised at Busan Yang Gopchang in Yeoksam-dong, southern Seoul.

This family restaurant as typical of such Korean eateries is a large hall lined with tables you enter, shoes off, and sit down in the traditional style. There are a few tables with chairs in a tent outside as well. The venue is crowded around the clock, with a varied clientele ranging from the necktie-clad corporate types to sunglasses-sporting celebrities that all come for one thing: garlic-smothered charcoal-grilled intestines.


In traditional agricultural Korean society, the cow was man’s best friend. After a long life of servitude it gave itself as meat, and Koreans paid their respects by sparing no anatomical part, including the guts.

Beef tripe is categorized into four parts: ``yang’’ or tripe-scaled; ``beoljip’’ or honeycomb; ``cheonyeop’’ or omasum , which are bloody red chunks that can be devoured raw like beef liver; and ``makchang’’ or abomasum (shown left).

What you usually order at a yang grill restaurant are yang, ``gobchang,’’ the small bowel, and daechang, the large bowel. Gopchang is chewy and healthy -- ``Dongeui Bogam,’’ the Joseon (1392-1910)-era medical annals compiled in the 17th-century, claims that it boosts physical stamina and energy and healthy bowel movement.

We opted for yang, wide strips of meat that look like chicken, and daechang, which resemble plump, fat-stuffed sausages. You can taste the cheonyeop and liver, too, which they offer for free. The unique thing about Busan Yang Gopchang is that they smother the meats in freshly mashed garlic before cooking them. The staff does all the work for you, cutting the intestines into more edible bits and placing them on the grill, and all you have to do is wait patiently.

The yang cooked faster, and you get three types of sauces: the very basic salt and sesame oil mix you get with ``samgyeopsal’’ or grilled Korean pork; a diluted soy sauce with chopped fermented pepper; and a red, piquant concoction. The waitress advised us to mix the second with the third. Yang has a very particular aroma that some newcomers may find unusual, sort of like lamb meat, and the sauces do a good job of suppressing it.



We needed much patience to stop ourselves from digging into the daechang, but still watched in awe as the greasy insides oozed over while the outside turned into a golden honey color. Daechang is definitely not for those thinking about cholesterol levels. It felt like eating chou cream for dinner -- a fluffy, delicate -- and fattening -- flavor that invites a divine guilt trip.

Yang gopchang is, as already mentioned, a delicacy, despite the low-key ambiance of the restaurants that serve it, and costs more than 20,000 won per serving. Meals, such as gopchang kimchi fried rice and ``naengmyeon’’ or buckwheat noodles, cost less than 6,000 won.

If you are planning a trip for a taste of daechang or other flavorful part of cow stomach, it is strongly advised to dress low-key. Even so, be sure to grab an apron, or ask for one -- the sizzling grill will constantly attack you with spurts of crackling oil, and afterward, you will inevitably smell like what you ate.

Located across the street from the Renaissance Hotel between Yeoksam and Seolleung Stations on subway line 2. Open from 5 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. everyday. Call (02) 554-7780.

Hernandez Converses With Images in `Rain’

This is really a beautiful film, and it was a great pleasure speaking with the director!

Director Paula Hernandez /Korea Times Photo by Lee Hyo-won

JEONJU - If a picture paints a thousand words, then Paula Hernandez’s ``moving images’’ depict an infinite stream of (un)consciousness. The Argentine director has brought her second feature film ``Rain’’ to South Korea to vie in the International Competition section of the 10th Jeonju International Film Festival, which comes to a close today in North Jeolla Province.

``It’s absolutely different and interesting,’’ Hernandez said about her first visit to Asia in an interview with The Korea Times Tuesday in Jeonju. ``I took a lot of photos of women in the market. You never see anything like that in Argentina, it’s so fascinating,’’ she said, showing images of middle-aged ``ajumma’’ gathered around, making food, in the local open air market.

The 40-year-old is always shooting her camera lens everywhere, and took many to write the script for ``Rain.’’ ``It was a conversation with words and images. Rain makes everything blurry and foggy. The rain in the movie is not melancholic rain but something that makes you feel stuck,’’ she said.

``Rain’’ features, most appropriately, endless streams of rain. In wintry Buenos Aires, a woman is stuck in wet weather and traffic. Suddenly, Roberto darts into her car. A mugger? Almar hesitates, but extends her hospitality to this confused-looking man who, dressed in fine clothing, has imported cigarettes, a silk handkerchief and a bleeding hand.

Roberto, who is from Madrid, may be feeling lost in the foreign apartment building of his late father, whom he never met, but Almar is the ``homeless’’ one who has left her husband and is living in her car, which is equipped with everything from a percolator to flower pot. The two strangers -- a man who doesn’t know where he is coming from and a woman who doesn’t know where she is going -- keep running in to each other in the following few days. The intervention of chance results in confusion, and, ultimately, clarity, when the rain stops and the traffic starts moving again.

The award-winning director of ``Herencia’’ (2001) presents a story akin to ``Once’’ (2006), where two lost souls share a small but intimate encounter, which may even be love, but one that is consummated in being unconsummated. But unlike the musical Irish movie, ``Rain’’ keeps everything minimal, from the score and palette to the characters and objects captured in the frame.

``Less is more,’’ said the director. ``Rain itself is a melody, along with the noises of cars and traffic jams.’’ Nevertheless, things utterly quotidian -- a traffic jam, greasy diner, deserted parking lot -- take on a striking elegance, and the things unsaid -- a transient smile, results of a pregnancy test never shown -- speak loudly.

Almar, who leaves her husband of nine years in the movie, perhaps reflects the director’s own divorce from a 10-year marriage. ``Filmmaking is not a profession, it’s what you are,’’ she said. ``It puts all my interests -- writing, reading, people stories and real things, images, and music -- all together with my sensibilities.’’

Born in 1969, Hernandez entered the film industry at the age of 18 as a production designer assistant. One thing led to the next and she studied at Agustin Alezzo’s drama workshop and Universidad del Cine (National Film University). She has directed commercials, short films, documentaries and advertisements.

Does being female matter in the Argentine film industry? ``It used to, in the generation before mine. Actually, even for my first film (in 2001), people asked me about being a woman director. I can’t say it was more difficult or easier. But today, there are many, many female students studying film,’’ she said, suggesting that gender is becoming less of an issue.

More problematic, however, is the financial crisis back home that is affecting filmmaking in general. ``You eventually find a way to fund a movie, but the problem occurs afterward with distribution,’’ she said. But Hernandez marches on with her passion.

Her next project will be a film adaptation of the novel ``Un Amor para toda la vida’’ by Sergio Bizzio, who inspired the Cannes award-winning film ``XXY’’ (2007). ``Filmmaking is slow in Argentina,’’ she said, and during the prolonged preparation for the movie, she plans to shoot a funky character-based documentary. ``It’s important to keep yourself busy rather than wait listlessly,’’ she said, smiling.

110 minutes. Distributed by Argentina Video Home, Buena Vista International. In Spanish.