Kay Kyung Eun Kim: Soundscape: Philip Glass | John Corigliano | Brian Field
Steinway & Sons

A recording of exceptional quality is an automatic guarantee when the label in question is Steinway & Sons, not only because of the company's reputation for producing some of the globe's finest pianos but because it brings a similarly high standard to the albums it releases. Perpetuating that standard is Soundscape, the superb Steinway & Sons debut album by award-winning South Korean pianist Kay Kyung Eun Kim, who earned her bachelor's and master's degrees at The Juilliard School and doctoral degree at The Manhattan School of Music. She debuted at the age of ten with the Korean Symphony Orchestra and in the years since has performed at venues around the world, including Buckingham Palace and Carnegie Hall. Whereas Kay's earlier Sony Classical releases Ravel (2021) and Dreams (2022) feature her playing Debussy, Satie, Brahms, Chopin, Liszt, Brahms, and, of course, Ravel, Soundscape devotes its set-list to contemporary American composers Philip Glass (b. 1937), John Corigliano (b. 1938), and Brian Field (b. 1967).

Each of the composers' works contributes to the multi-faceted character of the fifty-five-minute recording. Two selections from Glass's five-movement piano suite Metamorphosis offer enticing examples of his signature style and gift for melody; Corigliano's Fantasia on an Ostinato and Etude Fantasy likewise speak to his distinctive and highly personalized mode of expression; and Field's Three Passions for our Tortured Planet suite adds a vivid programmatic dimension to the project. Glass's trademark patterns help animate “Metamorphosis I,” but it's the piece's haunting eight-note theme that gives it its spellbinding quality. Stripping things down even more, five- and three-note figures make “Metamorphosis II” as riveting as the first, a key difference between them the inclusion of rippling arpeggios in the second. In both instances, Kim's nuanced handling of tempo, pacing, and touch amplifies the already alluring character of material.

In contrast to the concision of the Glass pieces, Corigliano's Fantasia on an Ostinato ventures far and wide during its eleven-minute run. Following the arresting gesture of a bright opening chord, the work uses the bass ostinato from Beethoven's seventh symphony as a springboard for adventurous elaborations that segue between hushed, tension-building ruminations and bold declamations. As unpredictable as the work's trajectory is, transitions from one episode to the next occur fluidly when Kim's sensitive execution makes the changes seem natural. Whereas Fantasia on an Ostinato exemplifies the character of a travelogue, the five parts of Corigliano's Etude Fantasy focus the attention on specific aspects of pianism. Mood contrasts are plentiful: “For the Left Hand Alone” paints a somewhat ominous and at times devilish picture; “Legato” plunges dramatically into a twilight realm; the energized “Fifths to Thirds” scampers mischievously; “Ornaments” swirls and rumbles volcanically; and “Melody” opts for pensive foreboding. While the movements are indexed and titled separately, each segues into the next without pause and consequently the work plays like a single seventeen-minute piece of shape-shifting design.

March 2024