Mikyung Sung: The Colburn Sessions
Modus Vivendi Media

Featuring riveting performances by Mikyung Sung and pianist Jaemin Shin, the ambitious double-disc set The Colburn Sessions will be the first exposure for many to the South Korean double bassist. Residents of her home country, on the other hand, are well familiar with Sung, who was first taught by her double-bassist father and spent six years performing as a double-bass duo with her brother Minje. Born in 1993 and currently residing in Atlanta, Sung saw her profile rise after receiving prizes in Germany and the United States and performances with the Seongnam Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonie Baden-Baden, and others. Further recognition came from performance videos captured during her time in Los Angeles at the Colburn School.

As the album title indicates, it was there that the material for the release was recorded in 2018. Six years is a long time in the career of a still-young musician, so one presumes that Sung has made significant advances since the recording of The Colburn Sessions. That said, no glaring deficiencies in technique are evident on this impressive collection, which includes works by Mendelssohn, Massenet, Bottesini, Franck, Hindemith, Montag, and Rachmaninoff and showcases her authoritative and virtuosic command. Whereas some of the pieces were created for double bass, others are cello and violin sonatas transcribed for the instrument.

Recitals featuring violin and piano and cello and piano are plentiful; considerably rarer is one coupling piano with double bass, but Sung shows that as a lead instrument it's as credible as those commonly associated with the role. It's natural to hear it as a deeper-voiced cousin to the cello, and the expressive sound she coaxes from the double bass bears that out. Being a bigger instrument than the cello, it demands extra agility from the musician, but again Sung meets that challenge handsomely too. The visceral impact of the performances is bolstered by the fact that each was recorded live in a single continuous take.

Giovanni Bottesini, himself a double bassist as well as composer, is represented by three pieces, beginning with the lively Tarantella, a magnificent showcase for Sung's unerring intonation and artful, vocal-like phrasing. Shin already shows himself invaluable as an attentive accompanist. The lyrically expressive Capriccio di Bravura proves that the double bass can be as eloquent a voice as any other in the right musician's hands. The loveliest of Bottesini's trio is Elegy No. 1, which receives a haunting rendering and seamlessly segues into Jules Massenet's ever-popular “Meditation” from his 1893 Egypt-set opera Thaïs. The piece was scored originally for violin and orchestra, but Sung's performance makes it seem as if it was created with double bass in mind. Regardless, the graceful articulation of Sung's long, flowing lines mesmerizes.

The first of five sonatas on the release (though only one of the four movements in Rachmaninoff's is included), Paul Hindemith wrote his Sonata for Double Bass and Piano in 1949 while on holiday in Taos, Mexico. His compositional vote is conspicuous throughout, be it in the playful “Allegretto” and even livelier “Scherzo. Allegro assai” or in the sombre outpourings of the pensive adagio-recitativo with which it ends. Disc one concludes with Vilmos Montag's Sonata in E Minor for Double Bass and Piano (1967), the Hungarian composer's neo-romanticism tailor-made for Sung's expressive attack. Listen for the death-march ending of the opening movement, the plaintive hush of the central andante, and the sprightliness of the closing allegro.

The recording's second half bookends the third movement from Sergei Rachmaninoff's Sonata in G minor for Cello and Piano, Op. 19 with Felix Mendelssohn's Cello Sonata No. 2 in D Major, Op. 58 and César Franck's Sonata in A major for Violin and Piano. Mendelssohn's captivates immediately with a rousing, melodically driven allegro that exudes the unbridled excitement of a fox-hunt; meanwhile, the “Allegretto scherzando” oozes charm, the “Adagio” a plaintive quality, and the “Molto allegro e vivace” an irrepressible élan. Affectingly voiced by the recital duo and with Sung's vibrato almost pushed to a breaking point, Rachmaninoff's “Andante” provides a tender transition from Mendelssohn to Franck. The French composer's sonata, written in 1886 as a present for Belgian violinist Eugène Ysaÿe, beguiles the instant the yearning melody of its opening allegretto appears. In contrast to the effervescent sparkle of the second movement, the aptly titled “Recitativo-fantasia” third unfolds in a fragile hush. At the sonata's close, the enticing melodic charm of the first movement returns for the fourth.

January 2024