Chin: Double Concerto; Akrostichon; XI; Fantaisie mécanique

Unsuk Chin left Seoul to began her studies with Ligeti in 1985, and the earliest of the four compositions on this DG 20/21 disc is from 1991/1993 -- nonetheless, we can consider her to be a new voice, given that this is her first recording. And what a voice! Each of these pieces is superb, and each is unique. With the Ensemble Intercontemporain as performers, this is avant classical music of the highest order. (This disc has now been reissued by Kairos despite still being available.)

"Akrostichon-Wortspiel" (Acrostic Wordplay -- 1991/1993 -- 15'48) features soprano vocals and ensemble. Playful in a way reminiscent of Ligeti, the vocals are unintelligible syllables extracted from Lewis Carroll and Michael Ende. "Fantasie mecanique" (1994 -- 12'37) for a quintet of trumpet, trombone, piano and two percussionists is a fast, rhythmic work which culminates in the interweaving of 7 different metres in a dense polyrhythm. "Xi" (1998 -- 22'48) is an electro-acoustic work which "develops organically from a set of primordial cells (xi -- Korean for the smallest unit, or the origin of all things) in the form of a single vast arc." IRCAM's technology is used to produce very organic-sounding results, more similar to Murail than Boulez. The "Double Concerto" (2002 -- 20'39) for prepared piano, percussion and ensemble, is a restless, mysterious piece with darting piano. The last two pieces strongly bear out Chin's assertion that she "feels a great deal of affinity with non-European musical cultures...I always try to introduce a completely different colour...based on my experience of non-European music." While "Xi" invokes Xenakis, it nonetheless is more spacious, more horizontal -- drifting. The Asian perspective makes itself felt within the framework of the European avant-garde.

It often seems these days that the post-serialist avant-garde is slipping into the past as various tonal "postmodern" musics have gained larger audiences, so I am quite happy to hear the music of Unsuk Chin, proudly continuing the tradition of Berio, Boulez, Carter, Ligeti, Nono and Xenakis. She joins Kaija Saariaho as a leading woman composer in contemporary music.

Since this disc appeared in 2005 Chin has been documented with a DVD of an opera (Alice in Wonderland), which did not impress me at all (see my review), and with an orchestral disc featuring her "Violin Concerto"), which won the 2004 Grawemeyer Award for composition. Most recently, a new work, "Cantatrix Sopranica" has appeared on a Wergo disc of sprechgesange compositions performed by the musikFabrik ensemble.

If you enjoy creative, complex, innovative modern music, you should hear this music of Unsuk Chin!

Unsuk Chin (born Korea 1961) is rapidly becoming one of the most original contemporary composers on the scene today. In a world that likes to classify for comfort, Chin's creations can be compared to those of Thomas Ades, Ligeti, and Salonen in that she expands the aural vocabulary of both instrumentalists and vocalists. She pairs strange combinations of ensembles to fanciful texts of gibberish keeping her works full of air and humor. 'My music is a reflection of my dreams' she states, and her dreams may just be the most original forays into the play of light and floating colors that coalesce into fluid forms!

By far the most frequently performed of her works is the 'Akrostichon-Wortspiel, 7 scenes from fairy tales for soprano & orchestra' performed here with soprano Piia Komsi with Kazushi Ono conducting the InterContemporain Ensemble. It is a signature work of Chin, plying the extremes of writing for the voice with the exceptional palette of the orchestra. At a recent LA Philharmonic concert her 'Cantatrix Sopranica' (soprano voice) was given its US Premiere and it owes its roots to this earlier work. The current work employs two sopranos and a countertenor together with a battery of percussionists, keyboards, and the usual orchestral components to humorously explore the soprano voice - warm up, diva turns, texts of nonsense syllables, instruments imitating voices and voices imitating instruments. The visual aspect of Chin's music enhances the joy as she asks the performers to interact as though an opera were being staged. The result in this new work is a polished masterpiece that hopefully will soon be added to the recorded repertoire. The audience response was passionately wild!

Chin's other works on this splendid CD are of equal fascination: the 'Fantaisie m?canique, for 5 instrumentalists' (Patrick Davin conducts this one), 'Xi, for electronic ensemble' (with David Robertson conducting), and 'Double Concerto for piano, percussion & ensemble' (Samuel Favre and Dimitri Vassilakis are the adroit soloists and the conductor is Stefan Asbury).

One of the aspects of Chin's compositions is that they are not only accessible and rich in sonorous beauty, but they also have a sense of humor, something missing in most new works - except perhaps for Salonen and Adams and Knussen! Highly Recommended recording. We will be hearing much, much more about this bright star. Grady Harp, May 06

This entry in Deutsche Grammophone's "20/21" line of contemporary music recordings contains four pieces by Korean composer Unsuk Chin including her breakthrough piece, the oft-performed "Akrostichon-Wortspiel". All are world-premiere recordings, performed by the Ensemble Intercontemporain, each piece featuring a different conductor. The performers in the spotlight are the soprano Piia Komsi, the percussionist Samuel Favre, and the pianist Dimitri Vassilakis.

Unsuk Chin studied in the late 1980s with Gyorgy Ligeti, and the influence of the "later Ligeti" is very clear in her compositions. Chin's music preserves the same sense of whimsy as Ligeti in his "Nonsense Madrigals", and the same fascination with polyrhythms as the Hungarian composer's "Piano Concerto" and other late works. I should add that Chin is also writing a collection of piano etudes, which from those I have heard so far takes the genre far beyond Ligeti, and hopefully we will see a recording of these soon. Chin also displays a use of colour reminiscent of the best of Messiaen's oeuvre (like "Des Canyons aux Etoiles"). Her music, however, also shows great originality. She continually subverts Western traditions of composition. For her, the sounds usually produced by a European orchestra are "simply a 19th-century institution", and she seeks to approach non-European musical cultures through the European ensemble. Chin also has a fascination with the possibilities of electronics, brilliantly explored in the third piece here.

"Akrostichon-Wortspiel" for soprano and orchestra (1991/1993) purports to be seven scenes from children's books, but the passages selected--from Ende's "Never-ending Story" and Carroll's "Through the Looking-Glass"--are dissected until they remain a mere bundle of syllables. The writing for soprano is characterised by sudden changes of pitch, with the vocalist frequently dropping straight from a high note to menacing whispers. This must be one of the most difficult pieces for soprano in contemporary repertoire, and Piia Komsi shows here an agility of voice I didn't even think was possible. The range of sounds provided by the ensemble is extended by microtonal writing in which some of the instruments are returned by a quarter-tone or a sixth-tone. So much of contemporary music, as artistically daring and insightful as it might be, is quite dry, but "Akrostichon-Wortspiel" is a truly fun work. The sixth section, "Das Beliebigkeitsspiel" with its alphabetic games, is especially delightful. This is a live recording from Radio France, and there is some background noise in the beginning, but generally the sound is satisfying.

"Fantasie mecanique" for five instrumentalists (1994, rev. 1997) is a rigorously constructed piece that attempts to give the impression of improvisation. The opening introduces a sequence of four notes in the lowest register of the instruments, which is in a sense the foundation of the work, and which returns after a succession of three variations, three strophes, and two sections which emphasis the piece's mechanical side. Seven different metres are used among the instrumentalists, which are interwoven at the apex of the piece.

"Xi" for ensemble and electronics (1998) takes its title from the Korean work for the smallest unit of things. The piece is in five sections. It begins with the sound of breathing taken from an instrumental sound, and over the first four sections more and more real instrumental sounds are provided until the chromatic total is reached and heavily altered with electronics. At the end, the sound of breathing returns and the piece comes to an end in a cyclical manner. It took me some time to understand "Xi", but in the end I think it is a enjoyable work, and can stand along other successful electronic works such as Ligeti's "Artikulation" and Gubaidulina's "Vivente - Non Vivente".

The "Double Concerto" for prepared piano, percussion, and ensemble (2002) is the latest of the pieces here. The piano is prepared so that it is somewhat muted in the middle register, but left percussive elsewhere, so that contrast and created among the portions of the instrument. The orchestra is left far in the background, providing impulses that are then taken over by the soloists, and then taking ideas over from the soloists in a spectral manner. This piece sparkles with colour more than the other two purely instrumental works here, and is beautiful listening.

The liner notes give a short biography of Chin and an analysis of the four works here, as well as profiles of the performers and conductors. My only real concern with DG's presentation of the pieces is that although the latter three works are made up of multiple sections, they are each placed on a single track, but this may be what the composer desired. All in all, this is an entertaining disc. After listening to it over the last several months, and hearing three of her Etudes performed by a Chicago Symphony Orchestra pianist, I believe Unsuk Chin is one of the most promising contemporary composers.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 5 reviews  4.8 out of 5 stars