Bruckner Orchester Linz & Dennis Russell Davies - Sunrise Falling (2018) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

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 Iang 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 programme 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 honour of Yun. The double album also includes the orchestral Fanfare and 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.

Tracklist:
01. Cello Concerto: I. —
02. Cello Concerto: Cadenzas
03. Cello Concerto: II. —
04. Cello Concerto: III. —
05. Interludium A
06. Glissées: No. 1, —
07. Glissées: No. 2, —
08. Glissées: No. 3, —
09. Glissées: No. 4, —
10. Fanfare & Memorial
11. Violin Concerto No. 1: I. — (Live)
12. Violin Concerto No. 1: II. — (Live)
13. Violin Concerto No. 1: III. — (Live)
14. Kontraste: No. 1, — (Live)
15. Kontraste: No. 2, — (Live)
16. Gasa (Live)

Personnel:
Matt Haimovitz (cello)
Yumi Hwang-Williams (violin)
Christoph Bielefeld (harp)
Maki Namekawa (piano)
Bruckner Orchestra Linz
Dennis Russell Davies (conductor)