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CD Store Press CD Reviews BGR 161 Romantic Tales American Record Guide Reivews "Romantic Tales"
CD Store Press CD Reviews BGR 161 Romantic Tales American Record Guide Reivews "Romantic Tales" | American Record Guide Reivews "Romantic Tales" |
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Romantic Tales BRAHMS: Piano Pieces, op 76; WEBER: Piano Sonata, op 39; KIM: Sehnsucht; Prelude & Fugue; LISZT: Impromptu; SAINT-SAENS: Etude; BACH: Arioso Quentin Kim, p Blue Griffin 161—58 minutes Don’t be fooled by the cover. Mr Kim’s youthful photograph might lead you to expect a wunderkind long on flashy technique and short on depth. To the contrary, the 32-year old Kim is a mature artist who gives us a wellchosen recital that is a pleasure to listen to time after time. His range of emotion and color is extraordinary, especially in the quieter parts of these works. After several hearings I must award Kim a gold star for his recital repertoire and arrangement. Beginning with Liszt and ending with Bach is certainly not the norm. A big Weber piano sonata, stylistically and historically somewhere between Beethoven and Schumann or Chopin, offers a refreshing and interesting change of pace. His own compositions are worthy of repeated hearings. The heart of the recital is the eight pieces (four Capriccios, four Intermezzos) of Brahms (Op.76), performed with a warmth that is always engaging. The one element lacking in all of the preceding works is flat-out, show-off virtuosity. Never fear, the Saint-Saens fills the bill perfectly. At a little over six minutes, this Etude en Forme de Valse has just about every technical hurdle imaginable in its 15 very black pages of music. With appropriate panache and an imagined wink in his eye, Kim delivers a blockbuster performance. His program notes are a bit over the top in terms of imagery and adjectives: “As a glimpse of heaven is granted amid the intoxicating smoke of opium, the sound of distant church bells restores the purity of soul.” This was written about the Liszt Impromptu. Yet, as notes to a recital called “Romantic Tales” they seem to work quite well and are brief enough to not outstay their welcome. The piano sound is quite good—what I have come to expect from Blue Griffin recordings. The music is very welcome and will stay around my active listening stack for some time to come. HARRINGTON
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