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How difficult can it be to record a Vivaldi cello concerto? Very, is the answer. Chang Han-na, who recently released her new album on EMI, on Monday said that although she planned the recording session from three years ago, it took her a whole year just to put the score together.
Vivaldi left 30 cello concertos, but only a handful of them get played. ¡°If I want to perform with an orchestra, since the piece requires only 14 players, the remaining 80 have nothing to do,¡± the young musical star says. ¡°The short running time of about 10 minutes doesn¡¯t help the piece to get performed on stage frequently. But that gave me time to reflect and discover many new things from a back-to-basics perspective.¡¯¡±
Stravinsky accused Vivaldi of simply rehashing the same material, and indeed he can sound a little samey. Chang admits this but adds, ¡°Vivaldi¡¯s music is full of rhythmic fun, of humor, sadness, hope and sorrow. It encompasses all of the emotions and colors. I think it all just depends on how a musician plays a piece, whether you make it sound interesting or bore the audience.¡±
To Chang, recording the new CD was in a way a return to the roots of his craft. ¡°Vivaldi wrote a concerto for a solo cello even before Bach and Boccherini. Although Bach¡¯s cello music has been called the Bible of Cello, I could see how the cello transformed from an orchestral to a solo instrument by recording Vivaldi.¡±
As for playing Baroque music to a modern audience, ¡°The bottom line is that we are translating the inspiration of several hundred years ago into a modern context. I wanted to update Vivaldi¡¯s music for the 21st century with clear, transparent sound,¡± Chang says.
She embarks on a tour of her home country with the London Chamber Orchestra in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province on Nov. 3, moving on to Tongyeong, South Gyeongsang Province on Nov. 4; Seongnam, Gyeoggi Province on Nov. 5; the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul on Nov. 7; and Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province on Nov. 8. She will finish the tour at the Seoul Arts Center on Nov. 9.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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