Sunwook Kim plays a recital consisting of Beethoven piano sonatas No. 30, No. 31, and No. 32. Recorded 2020 at the Kunstkraftwerk, Leipzig. Directed for TV by Ute Feudel; produced by Paul Smaczny. Released 2021, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
I don’t concern myself much with prices on this website, but this item seems to be extremely expensive in mid 2020 for 74 minutes of music. It better be good!
This disc got a review by Harriet Smith at pages 57-59 of the August 2021 Gramophone (pages 57-59). This is the first time I’ve seen a classical music review by a person who has a girl’s name. Harriet, welcome to the fray!
Most of Harriet’s review consists of run-of-the-mill comparisons of subject title to older recordings with statements about fine points of matters of taste in the various performances. This kind of review is almost ubiquitous. All it does is prove that the writer is an expert. It’s almost completely meaningless to any reader who is not already an expert himself. Boohoo.
But Harriet goes on to make a statement that electrified me: “[Regarding] the degree to which we experience music through our eyes as well as our ears: some of the moments that had felt a little pale, such as the middle movement of Op. 109, came alive more fully when seen as well as heard.” Wow! Hurray! Wunderbar! Brava! Harriet, this is the first comment I’ve read (in 12 years of working of this website) from a print critic that seeing can be an important part of experiencing classical music!
Of course we know that seeing the performer is really important in popular music. Elvis had a beautiful voice, but the thing that made him maybe the most famous musician in history was the swivel.
Is the situation different with classical music? Sure, there are plenty of times when a consumer will only want to hear the music. But the principal idea behind this website is that the fullest enjoyment of all forms of art, including classical music, is possible when there is both a video and an aural recording. The video needs to be of comparable quality to the audio recording. And this has only recently been possible for music with the development of high-definition TV and Blu-ray videos. If anyone wants to learn more about this, see my special stories you can reach through the navigation bar on the left of the website.
Now back to Sunwook. Below is a sound-only sample of the music. I think Accentus didn’t budget for a YouTube clip:
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