Pianist Cho Seong-jin collaborates with German baritone on new album

Pianist Cho Seong-jin released a new album “Im Abendrot” -- meaning “at sunset” -- on Friday with German baritone Matthias Goerne, according to Universal Music‘s classical music label Deutsche Grammophon.

The new album contains songs composed by three German composers of the Romantic era --Wilhelm Richard Wagner (1813-1883), Hans Erich Pfitzner (1869-1949), and Richard Strauss (1864-1949).

“It’s almost impossible to describe the experience of exploring songs that speak so profoundly to what it is to be human with a great young performer like Seong-Jin Cho,” Goerne said in a statement. “These pieces are by three composers whose lifetimes overlapped but who are different in so many ways.”
 

According to Deutsche Grammophon, the album is part of Goerne’s project to release series of albums with well-known pianists with an aim to explore landmarks of German lieder -- art songs accompanied by piano. Last month, the German musician released an album together with Canadian pianist Jan Lisiecki as part of the project.

The two musicians have performed together a few times but this is their first album.

The pianist livestreamed a performance with Goerne last year. The two musicians performed a selection of Schubert‘s lieder at a studio in Berlin.

In 2019, they also performed a selection of Schubert‘s lieder in Korea.

Meanwhile, Cho and the renowned German lieder singer initially planned to hold a concert together at the Lotte Concert Hall in eastern Seoul on Sunday, but it was canceled due to the spread of COVID-19.

By Song Seung-hyun (ssh@heraldcorp.com)