Maurice Ravel - Complete Chamber Music I (Yeol Eum Son; etc.)

Information

Composer: Maurice Ravel

• Introduction & Allegro, M. 46
• String Quartet, M. 35
• Piano Trio, M. 67
• Violin Sonata No. 1, M. 12

Lavinia Meijer, harp (M. 46)

Sunghyun Cho, flute (M. 46)

Innhyuck Cho, clarinet (M. 46)

Svetlin Roussev, violin

Sooyoung Kim, violin (M. 46)

Ayako Tanaka, violin (M. 35)

Jaewon Kim, violin (M. 12)

Hungwei Huang, viola (M. 46 & M. 35)

Sein Lee, cello (M. 46)

Woongwhee Moon, cello (M. 35)

Doomin Kim, cello (M. 67)

Yeol Eum Son, piano (M. 67 & M. 12)

Date: 2025

Label: Naive

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Ravel brought his considerable flair for orchestration into each of his chamber works, which, by incredible harmonic and instrumental sleight of hand, are packed with vivid colour. These performances of four of them by members of Going Home Project, an orchestra featuring Korean musicians who return home to Korea to perform together, are vividly recorded with an emphasis on bringing out as much of Ravel’s detailed scoring as possible. But over and above the intricacies, this is playing with heart and passion. The Introduction and Allegro, a mini concerto for harp, alongside string quartet, flute, and clarinet, is alert and sprightly, while the String Quartet, an incredible feat of rhythmic and textural ensemble, teems with energy. The hectic final movement has rarely so precise yet so viscerally thrilling. Likewise the Piano Trio, bolstered by Yeol Eum Son’s excellent pianism, reaches extraordinary dramatic heights. Finally violinist Jaewon Kim and, again, Yeol Eum Son give Ravel’s lesser-known, youthful Violin Sonata No. 1, published almost 40 years after the composer’s death, an expansive, Romantic reading.

Yeol Eum Son (b. 1986) is a South Korean pianist known for her expressive nuance, technical mastery, and diverse repertoire, spanning works from Bach to contemporary composers. Acclaimed for her performances with top orchestras and conductors worldwide, she made notable appearances with the BBC Symphony, Vienna Tonkünstler Orchestra, and Los Angeles Philharmonic. Winner of the 2009 Van Cliburn Competition and the 2011 Tchaikovsky Competition, she is particularly praised for her interpretations of Mozart’s piano concertos. Her discography includes recordings of Mozart, Schumann, and Kapustin. Yeol Eum remains committed to exploring new artistic territory and regularly collaborates with renowned musicians globally.

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