Soprano Hera Hyesang Park and pianist Bretton Brown give a recital that celebrates Park’s Korean heritage, finding parallels and contrasts between western repertoire and Korean art and folk-song.
In weaving together western classical music and Korean art songs and folk-song arrangements, Park and Brown find the common threads that unite different cultures. A Korean Boat Song and Caplet’s boat bob alongside Rossini and Hahn’s gondolas, and there are floral tributes from Alma Mahler and Samuel Barber, as well as spiritual reflections from Errollyn Wallen and Thomas Frederick Dunhill.
Hera Hysesang Park shows real integrity in her programming: ‘Instead of making myself perform a list of songs that might impress others’ she opts to ‘take a chance on myself and perform songs that resonate with my core values’. Known for his sensitive and responsive musicianship, Japanese American pianist Bretton Brown is in great demand as a song accompanist and chamber musician.
Programme
Francesco Santoliquido: ‘L’assiolo canta’ from I canti della sera
Germaine Tailleferre: ‘L’oiseau des îles’ from Pancarte pour une porte d’entrée
Samuel Barber: ‘The Crucifixion’ from Hermit Songs
Trad Korean (arr Dunam Jo): 새타령 (Song of the Birds)
Samuel Barber: ‘The Daisies’ from Three Songs, Op 2
Alma Mahler: ‘Ich wandle unter Blumen’ from Fünf Lieder
Olivier Messiaen: ‘Le collier’ from Poèmes pour Mi
Ottorino Respighi: ‘Musica in horto’ from Deità silvane
Trad Korean (arr Dunam Jo): 뱃노래 (Boat Song)
Gioachino Rossini: ‘Anzoleta avanti la regata’ from La regata veneziana
Reynaldo Hahn: ‘Sopra l’acqua indormenzada’ from Venezia
Gioachino Rossini: ‘Anzoleta co passa la regata’ and ‘Anzoleta dopo la regata’ from La regata veneziana
André Caplet: ‘L’adieu en barque’ from Cinq Ballades Françaises
Franz Schubert: Der Zwerg [replaced in the final programme by Woo Hyo-won’s 가시리]
Cecilia Livingston: ‘Paula Modersohn-Becker’ from Breath Alone
Trad French (arr Benjamin Britten): Fileuse
Trad Korean (arr Isang Yun): 고풍의상 (Old-fashioned Clothes)
Thomas Frederick Dunhill: ‘The Cloths of Heaven’ from The Wind Among the Reeds
Errollyn Wallen: Jesus on a Train
Un-Yung La: 시편 23편 (Psalm 23)
Notes by Bretton Brown
When I am Hera was released in 2020, the album helped introduce Hera Hyesang Park to a worldwide audience, showcasing her sincerity and unique versatility across a wide range of operatic repertoire. The album also included two songs in Hera’s native Korean to mark a notable milestone: that Hera is the first singer of Asian descent to be signed by the record label DG.
As Hera and I began talking about creating a recital together, we knew we wanted to continue with our programming where I am Hera left off, sharing her multifaceted artistry with audiences, this time through song. The result is a programme that celebrates her heritage, her abiding faith and her gifts as a storyteller.
At the programme’s heart is music by Korean composers: I-Sang Yun, Doo-Nam Cho, Hyo-Won Woo and Un-Yung La. Their songs are rich in references to Korea’s history, which Hera and I try to explain in notes that accompany the texts and translations. Simple and familiar symbols (birds, boats, cloth) are taken from these songs and interwoven with kindred pieces from the West – the deeper themes these symbols represent transcend borders and reflect Hera’s own journey across hemispheres.
There are other stories here, too: Rossini’s La regata veneziana is a nod to Hera’s great success as Rosina in The Barber of Seville at Glyndebourne and her breakthrough role as Fiorilla in II Turco in Italia at the Juilliard (where Hera and I first met as students).
Just as important is her commitment to centring the work and experiences of women, which forms a theme throughout the programme, perhaps most notably in the song ‘Paula Modersohn-Becker’, about the pioneering, yet little-known, German Expressionist painter. Taken from Canadian composer Cecilia Livingston’s song-cycle Breath Alone, this song not only appears on Hera’s new disc for DG, Breathe, but will be heard in concert in Britain for the first time on this recital tour – a tour which also marks Hera’s own UK recital debut. © Bretton Brown
(automatically generated) Read LKL’s review of this event here.