Though Earl Kim’s Violin Concerto opens with a long orchestral introduction much like the great works of the 19th century, there’s no doubting this is a modern work. Kim’s musical language moves through and extends beyond tonality so easily that there hardly seems any line of demarcation. The shifting sonic atmosphere also is indeterminate, moving seamlessly from light to shade and back again. Through all of this Kim’s dramatic sense and vivid imagery invite cinematic comparisons. The violin enters ethereally from on high, and the part sometimes suggests Sibelius, with hints of Prokofiev and Berg appearing before the work’s end. It’s a challenging part, one that Cecylia Arzewski handles brilliantly, offering a technically impeccable, deeply affecting performance.
In Dialogues for Piano and Orchestra Kim subjects the expression of his deeply felt wartime experiences to the highly disciplined concertante form. The effect is quite striking, especially as pianist William Wolfram’s classically attuned playing renders the darkly dramatic music with such clarity and precision.
Cornet for narrator and orchestra also concerns war, though in this case the imagery is provided by Rainer Maria Rilke’s evocative poetry, while Kim’s score contains even greater cinematic allusions as it gives musical life to the spoken drama. Narrator Robert Kim (the composer’s nephew) has a bit of a somber, detached style. That is, until the pulse-pounding battle scenes, and you realize his former subdued delivery was an expression of the war-weariness so perfectly captured by Rilke. As with all works on the program, Scott Yoo and the RTÉ National Symphony provide expertly realized and highly involving accompaniments, well captured by Naxos’ top-drawer recording. Kim fans, and even those who don’t know the composer, should certainly hear this recording.
