For those not in the know, two years after her acclaimed complete Mozart Sonatas, Korean pianist Yeol Eum Son immerses herself, alongside the musicians of the Hague Residence Orchestra and their musical director Anja Bihlmaier, in Ravel’s two equally dark Concertos.

This intimate, personal vision is complemented by four pieces by J. S. Bach, played in very rare arrangements by Paul Wittgenstein, the famous commissioner of the Concerto for the Left Hand.

Poetic elegance, an innate feeling for expressive nuance and the power to project bold, dramatic contrasts are among the arresting attributes of Yeol Eum Son’s pianism. Her refined artistry rises from breathtaking technical control and a profound empathy for the emotional temper of the works within her strikingly wide repertoire.

She is driven above all by her natural curiosity to explore a multitude of musical genres and styles and the desire to reveal what she describes as the “pure essence” of everything she performs.

Yeol Eum refuses to impose limits on her artistic freedom and remains determined to explore new artistic territory. Her choice of repertoire, which spans everything from the works of Bach and Mozart to those of Shchedrin and Kapustin, is guided chiefly by the quality and depth of the music.

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Concerto in G Major, M. 83
1. Allegramente
2. Adagio assai
3. Presto
4. Piano Concerto for the Left Hand in D Major, M. 82

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
5. Das wohltemperierte Klavier I, Prelude and Fugue in C Major, BWV 846: Prelude
6. Prelude in C Minor, BWV 999
7. Partita No. 1 in B-Flat Major, BWV 825: VII. Gigue
8. Sonata for Flute and Harpsichord in E-Flat Major, BWV 1031: II. Siciliano

This creatively sculpted, wholly impassioned new rendition opens on Ravel’s three-piece Concerto in G Major, M. 83, and the resounding, nay scurrying Allegramente, then we get the dulcet Adagio assai which is backed by the flourishingly expedient Presto, before we are gifted an aching yearn that melodiously breathes throughout the 18 minute Piano Concerto for the Left Hand in D Major, M. 82.

This is itself followed by Bach’s ornamentally beautiful Das wohltemperierte Klavier I, Prelude and Fugue in C Major, BWV 846: Prelude, then comes the flirtatiously structured Prelude in C Minor, BWV 999, the free-flowing majesties of Partita No. 1 in B-Flat Major, BWV 825: VII. Gigue, the set closing on the sumptuously resonant Sonata for Flute and Harpsichord in E-Flat Major, BWV 1031: II. Siciliano.

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