The Fantasy of Schubert Hai-Kyung Suh

• Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828): 4 Impromptus, Op. 90, D. 899:
• 1 Schubert: 4 Impromptus, Op. 90, D. 899: No. 1 in C Minor. Allegro molto moderato 10:32
• 2 Schubert: 4 Impromptus, Op. 90, D. 899: No. 2 in E-Flat Major. Allegro 05:14
• 3 Schubert: 4 Impromptus, Op. 90, D. 899: No. 3 in G-Flat Major. Andante 07:33
• 4 Schubert: 4 Impromptus, Op. 90, D. 899: No. 4 in A-Flat Major. Allegretto 07:06
• Wanderer Fantasy in C Major, D. 760:
• 5 Schubert: Wanderer Fantasy in C Major, D. 760: I. Allegro con fuoco ma non troppo 06:02
• 6 Schubert: Wanderer Fantasy in C Major, D. 760: II. Adagio 07:38
• 7 Schubert: Wanderer Fantasy in C Major, D. 760: III. Presto 04:55
• 8 Schubert: Wanderer Fantasy in C Major, D. 760: IV. Allegro 03:53
• Ave Maria, D. 839 (Arr. Heller for Piano):
• 9 Schubert: Ave Maria, D. 839 (Arr. Heller for Piano) 06:07
• Franz Liszt (1811 - 1886): Erlkönig, S. 558 No. 4 (Arr. for Piano After Schubert, D. 328):
• 10 Liszt: Erlkönig, S. 558 No. 4 (Arr. for Piano After Schubert, D. 328) 04:48
• Total Runtime 01:03:48

Info for The Fantasy of Schubert

What does it take to express what is in the art of Schubert? Schubert famously remarked that "Beautiful music is born of tragedy and sadness." Without friends or intimate companions, he turned, as other romantic artists did, to nature for inspiration and comfort, making the forest his friend and the stream his companion. Only an artist who has experienced that solitary pain can penetrate Schubert's essence.

Hai-Kyung Suh, a world-renowned romantic pianist, has lived a difficult, thorny life. The imprint of her experience would be expected to drive her to profoundly express the sentiments of Schubert's music, which sublimates sadness and tragedy into music. The first Korean pianist to win the top prize at the Busoni international piano competition in 1980, Hai-Kyung Suh has performed with such esteemed conductors as Charles Dutoit, Riccardo Muti and Ivan Fischer and, in 1985, became the first woman to receive the William Petschek award from the Juilliard School. She was also awarded the Order of Cultural Merit by the Korean government and was the first female to perform all five of Rachmaninoff's piano concertos as well as all four of Tchaikovsky's in Russia recorded and released under the Deutsche Grammophon label.

A formidable stage presence, her playing was likened by a Tokyo critic to "erupting romantic lava" while her technique was described by a Berlin critic as "hair-raising virtuosity". She has repeatedly received favorable reviews for magnificent technique, bold passion and delicacy.

She burst upon the world stage in her 20's projecting supreme strength in her huge warm sound, guided by electrifying technique. Later, in her forties, as a professor at KyungHee University in Seoul, she was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer, a deathly challenge. She has overcome these obstacles to enter a golden age becoming an apex interpreter of Schubert, especially his songs, channeling his longing and his supplication to the divine. The highlight of this album is "Opus 1" an arrangement of one of his songs by Liszt. He composed it at eighteen, overwhelmed by Goethe's "Der Erlkönig."

Like the father in "Der Erlkönig" seeking to escape the fairy king, her waking hours are spent wrestling with the piano. An artist who has never ceased her efforts to expand her sublime artistry and to grow as an interpreter of the greatest keyboard works, she is consumed by her insatiable desire for the piano. Overcoming cancer, five months after completing radiotherapy she returned to the stage with a characteristic flourish by performing Rachmaninoff's second and third concertos in one concert. That sort of thing is what led to her being called the "Empress of the Keyboard". She continues to exuberantly grapple with the keyboard for seven hours each day perfecting her dynamic range and her emotional delicacy to explore the secrets inscribed by superb composers. What is most impressive about this album is that more than any other it contains the soul of Schubert intact.

Hai-Kyung Suh, piano

Please Note: We offer this album in its native sampling rate of 96 kHz, 24-bit. The provided 192 kHz version was up-sampled and offers no audible value!

Hai-Kyung Suh
dazzled the international music scene by winning the prestigious Busoni International Competition as a teen-ager. Her New York recital debut at Alice Tully Hall five years later was hailed byThe New York Times as "a propulsive and exciting performance, built block by sonic block with the structual command of a musical architect."

A Korean native, Ms. Suh has appeared as soloist with numerous renowned orchestras including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the London Philharmonia, the Moscow State Symphony, the Moscow Philharmonic, the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Slovak Radio Symphony among others.

Known for her astonishing stamina and power at the keyboard, Ms. Suh was one of the first Korean pianists to establish an international career. Highlights of her career include a tour of the Far East with the Philadelphia Orchestra under the baton of Riccardo Muti, a performance with the Pittsburgh Symphony and Charles Dutoit which one reviewer described as "imperiously romantic," and a performance with the Berlin Radio Symphony which the Berliner Morgenpost described as "in the grand manner, full of bravura, fire and delicacy." In 1988, Ms. Suh played the Prokofieff Third Concerto with the Moscow Philharmonic at the Seoul Olympic Festival. The following year, she was re-engaged to play the Rachmaninoff Third Concerto with the orchestra.

Ms. Suh began piano studies in Korea and made her debut at the age of eight, playing a Mozart concerto with the Seoul National Symphony Orchestra. She continued her education in New York as a pupil of Nadia Reisenberg at the Mannes Precollege and Sascha Gorodnitzki at The Juilliard School of Music, where she received her bachelor's degree and was a doctoral candidate. After winning four major competitions she was awarded the Merit of Culture, Korea's highest honor. Ms. Suh is a professor at Kyung Hee University in Seoul, Korea. She resides in New York City with her husband and two children when not teaching or performing around the world.

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