Ensemble SONE presents Ju Hee Kang in Review
Ju Hee Kang, Flute
Heejin Kim, Piano
Yeon Hwa Chung, Harp
Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall
September 18, 2019 at 8:00 pm
Some performers exude an air of professionalism and intelligence before the concert has even begun. Ju Hee Kang is one such musician. Flute recitals can venture quite easily into overly familiar terrain, with the kind of easily digestible material that has made the instrument so popular. Ms. Kang managed to avoid that, with a program that included some rarities, a world premiere, and a virtuoso showpiece of true musical value. Her partners in this recital, the pianist Heejin Kim and the harpist Yeon Hwa Chung, provided seamless support as ensemble players and shone beautifully in their many passages of solo playing.
At some point before the evening of the concert, the advertised program was altered slightly to omit a Handel Sonata and to include Emile Noblot’s Andantino for Flute and Harp and Ibert’s Entr’acte. Noblot, a French pianist who studied at the Conservatoire de Paris, became a renowned bandleader, and a staple of French radio broadcasts after World War II. The harmonic language, use of the whole tone scale, and structure of his Andantino reflect the still pervasive influence of Debussy on many mid-century composers. Ms. Kang was wise to choose this as an opener. Her strengths, a big beautiful tone, smooth legato phrasing, and fine breath control, were immediately apparent. Ms. Chung played with an acute sensitivity to dynamics.
Jacques Ibert’s Entr’acte, frequently played as an encore, provided Ms. Kang with an opportunity to feature the more fiery side of her temperament. Here, the composer, an avid Hispanophile, painted a tonal portrait of a traditional Spanish dance, complete with percussive effects on the flute to replicate the rhythmic stomping of the dancer. Ms. Kang easily negotiated the rapid staccato passages and shifted beautifully between contrasting dynamics. Perhaps the harp lacks some of the bite of the guitar, but I was happy to hear the engaging musicality of Ms. Chung once more.
A more substantive composition, the Bartók Suite Paysanne Hongroise, occupied the largest spot on the program’s first half. This solo piano work, arranged for flute and piano by Bartok’s student, Paul Arma, is one of the fruits of the composer’s many years of research into the folk music of the Carpathian Basin. It’s a fascinating arrangement of a rich trove of musical material. Ms. Kang and her pianist, Heejin Kim, delivered a solid account of a work that poses many technical and stylistic challenges. I especially enjoyed the improvisatory feel of the first song, the bluesy quality of the second, and the infectious fourth, with its leaps into Alpine territory amidst the driving foundation of the piano part. The finale of the whole suite, a multi-tiered accelerando into a virtually unplayable tempo, made for great musical theater. Ms. Kang may have faltered slightly at the climax, but it was still an exciting ride.
A bit of esoterica, the Sonatine by Walter Gieseking, brought us slightly further into the twentieth century chronologically, if not compositionally. Gieseking, one of the giants of French pianism, who adopted Germany as his home, was also an active composer. The Sonatine, a very attractive work in three movements, owes a great debt to the influence of Francis Poulenc, an exact contemporary of Gieseking. The simple walking melodies over unexpected harmonic changes and the Gallic cabaret waltzes are the language of Poulenc, and they are present in the Sonatine also. Of all the works so far, this one posed the most challenges for Ms. Kang in interpretation and execution. The moments of rubato in the second movement felt somewhat forced, and in the last movement, a test for anyone’s stamina, she seemed to lose steam on the repeated high notes. Still, I’m grateful to have heard such a charming piece, written by an artist whom I admire so much.
The world premiere, Beceues, by Vartan Aghababian, was an intelligent piece of programming, offering thematic continuity with both the Bartók (works derived from folk tunes) and the Schubert (theme and variations). Mr. Aghababian, who has had extensive experience in film scoring and editing, wrote well for Ms. Kang’s talents. With a leisurely pace, and long, shapely phrases, the flutist played with a dreamlike quality, as if recalling a memory from the distant past. It was a thoroughly convincing performance.
Only a confident artist like Ms. Kang would leave the meatiest and most technically taxing piece for last, but it was a pleasure to hear her rendition. Trockne Blumen, one of the last songs in Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin cycle, is the basis for a set of variations for flute and, just as notably, piano. Though the Introduction is bleak (mirrored by the flutist with a colorless, pale tone), the variations, in full blown Romantic style, pull out all the stops. Ms. Kang and Ms. Kim aced it all – torrents of arpeggios, cascading triplets in both flute and piano, and the final variation ending in a barrage of brilliant sixteenth notes. To their credit, they made affecting music in the process. This was a satisfying end to a well balanced concert by three promising, gifted musicians.
