Four Seasons

“The Four Seasons of Pyeongchang” will be performed for the first time at the 3rd Daegwallyeong Music Festival, which will be held at Daegwallyeong in Gangwon province from July 31 to August 16. “Four Seasons of Pyeongchang” was written by Kang Suk-hee, 72, professor of composition at Seoul National University, by request and will be performed by the Sejong Soloists. The Sejong Soloists will also perform Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons,” Tchaikovsky’s “The Seasons,” and Piazzolla’s “The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires.”

Kang studied under the late Yun Isang when studying in Germany. Kang is famous for blending modern and experimental electronic music with traditional subject matter of Korea. In 1966, he published “Feast of Colors,” the first electrical music in Korea. Kang says, “It is known that Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” is performed as often as Ravel’s “Bolero,” which is known to be performed around the world every 4 minutes. Composing the new “Four Seasons” was a big challenge for me.”

“Four Seasons of Pyeongchang” should be performed by fourteen string music performers and a soloist. The piece lasts for 16 minutes. It is composed of eight chapters; two chapters for each season. Kang said, “I usually compose modern music without chapters. It was quite new for me to write this piece. The winds of spring, summer, fall, and winter are all different. Also, the flowers blossoming in each season are different too. In spring, it is foggy and one can see new life sprouting. If I had to compose the four seasons of Seoul, the piece would have been very complicated. However, since I had to describe the change of the nature that happens in the mountains, I did it in an abstract way. I wanted people to feel the slowness while they were hearing the fast tempos of the music.”

Pyeongchang is famous for its skiing resorts and is currently one of the three candidates for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games. Kang said, “The notes come out in order having time difference in between, and I described the scenery of the skiing ground with rhythms. I showed my respect for Vivaldi by employing some parts of his music from the first chapter of ‘Spring.’”

At the festival this year, the opera “Footsteps,” was composed by a Korean composer, Earl Kim (1920-1998), for the first time in Asia. “Footsteps” was inspired by the drama written by Samuel Beckett. Also, “The Grass of Summer,” written by Taiwanese composer Gordon Chin, will be played for the first time in the world. During the festival, people will be able to see internationally renowned musicians such as cellist Jian Wang, musician attached to Deutsche gramopohone, pianist Vladimir Feltsman, cellist Chung Myung-wha, violinist Kim Chee-yun and other famous musicians.

Kang Hyo, professor at Julliard, served as the artistic director of this festival. He said, “This festival will be aired internationally by National Public Radio (NPR) and European Broadcasting Union (EBU). The ‘Four Seasons of Pyeongchang’ will be performed by the Sejong Soloists as often as possible.”

The tickets for this festival cost 20,000 and 30,000 won each.

Seung-Hoon Cheon raphy@donga.com