MIN KWON

• Gieseking: Tempo di Charleston

"Listeners should appreciate its cheerful companionship."

Estep, American Record Guide [November/December 2019]

“captivating enthusiasm, superb technique, warm emotional lyricism, and explosive energy”

The Piano

There is an inexplicable attribute of music that seems to induce the human form into motion with a reaction tangible, rhythmic and artistic; in other words, to dance. When he wrote “Dance can reveal everything mysterious that is hidden in music [with] the additional merit of being human and palpable”, Baudelaire confirmed that dancing incarnates this medium of invisibility. The music that follows, dances and dance-inspired music, spans nearly four centuries and is written by composers both known and being discovered. Exploring the intersection of these two art forms, it is a collection of pieces that is subtle, gentle and unexpected; here waiting to be discovered — with an invitation, delivered aurally, by two hands.


I wonder what it would be like if the world around us moved just a bit slower…

If everything was just a bit more old-fashioned…
If everyone was just a bit more tolerant...
If everything was just a bit less perfect…

If the leisure and beauty between the moments had a chance to blossom,
I think I would smile more.
I think I might even cry more...

This album is an anthology of dances and dance-inspired music
that, I hope, will help you reminisce.

Do you remember the chandeliers in the room?
Do you remember the reflections in the water?
Do you remember the stars in the night sky?

Let us remember. Let us dance. Let us love. Let us live.


Min Kwon enjoys a multifaceted and dynamic career. As a performer, educator and arts administrator, her professional engagements have taken her to more than 60 countries, including Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall (David Geffen Hall), Alice Tully Hall, the United Nations, Verizon Hall, Academy of Music in Philadelphia, Orchestra Hall in Chicago, and concert halls in Paris, Rome, Copenhagen, Madrid, Vienna, Prague, Sydney, Seoul and Singapore. Kwon made her recital debut at Weill Recital Hall in 2006 and has since made nine more appearances in the same hall as a performer, artistic director and curator. An avid chamber musician, she has performed a wide range of repertoire with distinguished artists and ensembles, including Arnold Steinhardt, Cho-Liang Lin, Robert McDuffie, Paul Neubauer, Fred Hersch and Jason Moran; the Shanghai, Harlem and Attacca string quartets; members of the Orion and St. Lawrence quartets; and with principal players of the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Kwon, who has recorded for RCA Red Seal and MSR Classics, was also a Fellow at the American Academy in Rome. Her professional debut in her native Korea with the Seoul Philharmonic and Korean Symphony at the age of 13 was followed by North American debuts with the Philadelphia Orchestra and North Carolina Symphony. Kwon has since performed more than two dozen concertos with orchestras in the Americas, Europe and Asia. A graduate of the Curtis Institute (BM), Juilliard (MM and DMA) and the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Kwon is a sought-after teacher, having given master classes in institutions worldwide, including the Royal College of Music and the Shanghai and Beijing Conservatories. Since 2002, she has been a Professor of Music at Rutgers University. Min Kwon is a Steinway Artist, Co-director of Vienna ConcertoFest and Founder and Director of Center for Musical Excellence, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting young artists.
  JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750)
Allemande (from French Suite No.6 in E major, BWV 817)

GOTTLIEB MUFFAT (1690-1770)
Bourée in G minor, R 97 (from Suite No.2)

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756-1791)
Minuet in C, K.61g, II

FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797-1828)
Variation on a Theme of Diabelli (Waltz), D.718

12 Graz Waltzes, D.924
Waltz No.1
Waltz No.2
Waltz No.3
Waltz No.4
Waltz No.7

FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN (1810-1849)
Mazurka in A minor, Op.59, No.1

FRANZ LISZT (1811-1886)
Petite Valse Favorite, S.212

CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1862-1918)
Le plus que lente (Valse)

ERNESTO NAZARETH (1863-1934)
Nove de Julho

ERIC SATIE (1866-1925)
Je te veux (Valse)

ENRIQUE GRANADOS (1867-1916)
Danse Espagnole No.5 in E minor (Andaluza)

OTTORINO RESPIGHI (1879-1936)
Valse Caressante (from Six Pieces for Piano)

MANUEL PONCE (1882-1948)
Malgré tout (Despite all)

WALTER GIESEKING (1895-1956)
Tempo di Charleston (Drei Tanz Improvisation No.3)

DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH (1906-1975)
Prelude No.24 in D minor, Op.34 (Gavotte)

WIM STATIUS MULLER (b. 1930)
Avila Beach Waltz, Op.4, No.2 (Antillean Dance No.12)

WILLIAM BOLCOM (b. 1938)
Graceful Ghost Rag

WORLD PREMIERE RECORDINGS
ROBERT LIVINGSTON ALDRIDGE (b. 1954)
Waltz No.9
Waltz No.11
Waltz No.14
Waltz No.12

CHUNG EUN KIM (b. 1978)
A Variation on the Diabelli Theme
 



MSR Classics