Hae Hyun Hwang

Decca Classics presents: Hyun Soo Kim singing Schubert, Tosti, Donizetti, Erik Satie along with his own tracks. All songs are perfomed in Korean.

Soprano Hwang Sumi said Wednesday that her maiden album brims with all the colors of her voice and her musical interpretation of European lieder. Her first album, titled "Songs," was released on the same day with the German classical music record label Deutsche Grammophon. It includes 16 arts songs and lieder composed by Richard Strauss, Franz Liszt, Benjamin Britten and Richard Schubert. Austrian classical pianist Helmut Deutsch accompanied Hwang on the piano.

Wieniawski’s notorious F sharp minor Concerto, with its perilous opening chain of consecutive tenths, was for a long time the preserve of the few brave enough to take it on, most notably Michael Rabin, Itzhak Perlman, Midori and Gil Shaham. Recent years have witnessed a resurgence of interest and this latest release from Soo-Hyun Park, whose various mentors include Dora Schwarzberg, is also extremely accomplished. If the aforementioned swash their virtuoso buckles imposingly, Park places the emphasis on velvet-toned lyricism rather than pyrotechnical histrionics. She also plays with an unusually wide dynamic range, drawing the listener in with her imaginative phrasing, preferring the elegant poise of a fencing champion to piratical cut and thrust.

Genre-busting South African cellist brings unique sounds with improvisation, singing, body percussion and charm.