South Korean composer Jeajoon Ryu is among today’s most exciting orchestral composers, as the works on this new disc on Naxos attest. Ryu studied under Krzystof Penderecki in Poland, a country renowned for the quality of its orchestral composers (Penderecki, Lutoslawski, Gorecki). Penderecki declared Ryu’s Sinfonia da Requiem featured here ‘a masterpiece’, and it received a ten-minute standing ovation from its audience at its premiere in Warsaw last year. Who said contemporary audiences were jaded?
It’s easy to see what the fuss was about. Composed as a tribute to the survivors who helped rebuild Korea following the Second World War and dedicated to Juyung Chung, the founder of Hyundai, The Sinfonia is a stirring and powerful tribute that avoids all obvious stereotypes. From the opening bars Ryu sets forth thick streams of strings, letting them writhe around like forlorn pythons, before the chorus emerges with all the solemnity of a Russian Orthodox service. The Polish connection is evident, particularly Penderecki’s post-Threnody sacred works, and the control of Lutoslawski, yet Ryu is also unafraid to let tonal beauty emerge too, with moments as rich as Tchaikovsky. His Violin Concerto shows equal promise, and while lacking the at times dizzying grandeur of the Sinfonia, shows that Ryu is particularly skilled in applying his voice to established forms.
Joshua Meggitt
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