• MS1375 Sample

"A lithe, quick, flexible touch on the keyboard, plus an unerring feeling for the rhythmic values inherent in the works she plays, combine in pianist Young-Ah Tak to make a technically challenging program seem deceptively easy. The Korea-born, U.S.-trained pianist essays an extremely varied program consisting of Haydn’s delightful Piano Sonata No. 60 in C major, Schumann’s wide-ranging and often deeply romantic Carnaval, Liszt’s superb paraphrase of themes from Verdi’s Rigoletto and the first really convincing account I have yet heard of his Sonetto 104 del Petrarca, plus a consummately fine performance of the sometimes disturbing Piano Sonata No. 1 by the late American composer Leon Kirchner (1919-2009).

The Haydn makes for a truly delicious curtain-raiser, what with its scintillatingly alert rhythms and smartly accomplished repeated notes in its opening movement and the nice sense of flow Ms. Tak imparts to the music. She brings off the lyricism of the Adagio with all the quasi-improvisatory spontaneity it deserves. And she keeps a steady feeling of irresistibly onward movement in the finale when encompassing three of the most egregious “wrong note” passages in the literature (deliberate examples of Haydn’s humor, we should add), the last of which gives the hilarious impression that the performer must be falling off the end of the bench!

Carnaval, perhaps Robert Schumann’s best loved major work as well as his most personal, provides Tak lots of opportunities for well-defined characterizations in its panoply of characters and situations inspired by personae from the commedia dell’arte and Schumann’s own life and loves. Perhaps the most telling of these “miniature scenes in quarter-notes” are “Chiarina,” Schumann’s portrait of his future bride Clara that captures her decided artistic temperament; “Chopin,” which pays its dedicatee the ultimate compliment of being cast in the style of a Nocturne; and “Aveu,” a deeply felt lover’s vow. Tak displays great flexibility in the way she adjusts to the changes in hand position, texture, rhythm, and color that occur continually throughout the 21 brief sections of this work.

Tak scores some of her best points in the Liszt part of the program, starting with the only satisfying account I have heard of Petrarch Sonnet 104, as she deftly follows the sense of a poem which describes all the deliciously unsettling sensations of being in love (“I fear, I hope and burn and freeze: / I fly above the sky and collapse to the earth.”) She sheds equal insight on the paraphrase of Verdi’s Rigoletto, which takes as its point of departure not the showy aria “La Donna è mobile,” but the vocal quartet “Bella fliglia dell’amore” which immediately follows it, cutting to the very heart of the opera.

The Kirchner sonata requires the utmost of the performer in its dissonances, driving rhythms, and a personal style of expression that recalls Bela Bartok to many observers, though Scriabin seems to me a likelier influence. Tak manages superbly the work’s brooding declamations and its passionate fast sections in which the composer seems to spray scattered notes at the listener like gun bursts. Though I admit I have yet to acquire a taste for Kirchner’s music, I feel that he could wish for no fairer or better balanced interpretation than Tak gives us here."

Phil Muse, Audio Society of Atlanta - February 2012

Pianist Young-Ah Tak has performed throughout the United States, Canada, Austria, Germany, Italy,
Korea, and Japan. Since making her New York debut Alice Tully Hall with the Juilliard Symphony, Ms.
Tak has appeared at the Kennedy Center, Jordan Hall, the Ravinia Festival, Music@Menlo, the Wharton Center in Michigan, the Banff Centre for the Arts, and at major concert halls in her native Korea.

Ms. Tak has been a soloist with numerous orchestras including the Filharmonia Pomorska in Poland, Korean Symphony Orchestra, Lansing Symphony Orchestra, Oltenia Philharmonic Orchestra in Romania, North Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, Imperial Symphony Orchestra, and Ulsan and Busan Philharmonic Orchestras in Korea. Her solo recital appearances have been presented at the Myra Hess Recital Series in Chicago, Trinity Wall Street Concert Series, Fayetteville Arts Festival, Columbia University, and Tongyeong and Busan International Music Festivals in Korea. An active chamber musician, Ms. Tak has collaborated with such artists as Robert Mann, Bonnie Hampton, the Ma’alot Quintet, and members of the Florestan Trio. In addition, her performances have been broadcast on major radio stations throughout the United States.

An advocate of contemporary music, Young-Ah Tak has performed at Sequenza 21 and at the Piano Century concert series in New York, and her debut recording of Judith Zaimont’s Wizards was released by Albany Records to critical acclaim. Ms. Tak has taken top prizes in numerous competitions, including the Hilton Head International Piano Competition, San Antonio International Piano Competition (where she also received the “Best Performance of a Classical Work” award), Isang Yun International Music Competition in Korea, Valsesia-Musica International Piano Competition in Italy, Ettlingen International Piano Competition in Germany, International Fulbright Concerto Competition (where she was also awarded the Audience Prize), Missouri Southern International Piano Competition, and Heida Hermanns International Piano Competition.

Young-Ah Tak has served on the piano faculty at Southeastern University in Florida, at the Preparatory Division of the Peabody Institute, and with the Yellow Barn Chamber Music Festival’s Young Artists Program. Ms. Tak has received her training at The Juilliard School, New England Conservatory, and Peabody Institute under teachers that have included Leon Fleisher, Yong Hi Moon, Russell Sherman, Wha Kyung Byun, and Martin Canin.

www.youngahtak.com

JOSEPH HAYDN (1732-1809)
PIANO SONATA NO. 60 IN C MAJOR, HOB.XVI: 50
I. Allegro
II. Adagio
III. Allegro molto

ROBERT SCHUMANN (1810-1856)
CARNAVAL, OP. 9 - Scènes Mignonnes sur Quatre Notes
Préambule
Pierrot
Arlequin
Valse noble
Eusebius
Florestan
Coquette
Réplique (– Sphinxes)
Papillons
A.S.C.H. – S.C.H.A. (Lettres dansantes)
Chiarina
Chopin
Estrella
Reconnaissance
Pantalon et Colombine
Valse Allemande
Paganini
Aveu
Promenade
Pause
Marche des “Davidsbündler” contre les Philistins

FRANZ LISZT (1811-1886)
SONETTO 104 DEL PETRARCA from Années de Pèlerinage, Italie
CONCERT PARAPHRASE OF VERDI’S RIGOLETTO

LEON KIRCHNER (1919-2009)
PIANO SONATA NO. 1 (1948)
I. Lento - Tempo II
II. Adagio
III. Allegro risoluto