Today's KORUS House English Class is an article about a CD titled "The Best of Korean Songs," which was recently produced by the Korean Culture and Information Service in an effort to raise awareness in the world of classical Korean songs.
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Listen to Barbara Bonney's collection of classical Korean songs, or gagok, and you may wonder if she's really American.
Bonney's new CD, sung in Korean and showing her dressed in a gorgeous traditional hanbok, has received nearly perfect reviews as an impressive and moving performance. It's her unique high voice, with its purity and clarity, that's earned her the title "First Lady of the aria."
"The Best of Korean Songs," produced by the Korean Culture and Information Service, the South Korean government agency responsible for Korean public diplomacy overseas, includes eight songs such as, "Longing for Mount Geumgang," "Azaleas," "A Letter" and "Wondering if You Are Coming," all sung in Bonney's beautiful voice and accompanied by world-famous cellist Mischa Maisky and the Bolshoi Chorus.
Bonney's pronunciation is almost exactly like a native Korean singer's, a perfect encapsulation of the emotions the songs express. KOIS produced this collection of Korean songs to introduce the lovely pieces to international visitors to Korea and curious expatriates in an easy to comprehend format.
"Longing for Mount Geumgang," a longtime Korean favorite, was composed by Choe Yeong-seob in 1961 with lyrics written by Han Sang-eok, as an ode to the magnificence of the peninsula's northern peak, which has long held a special place in Korean mythmaking. It includes the lyric, "Whose creation, you bright and beautiful mountain? Oh, how I miss the twelve thousand peaks standing so high and silent. Now I see our free people together humbled by you..."
Popular among overseas professional singers, it has already been performed by Placido Domingo and other musicians on 16 CDs sold worldwide. The words to "Azaleas" were written by the late Kim So-wol, a beloved Korean poet, to music composed by Kim Dongjin.
It is a woman's lament at the end of a love affair. Bonney's version is even more touching thanks to her high and clear tone. The international press has praised Bonney, calling her a "lyric soprano with a pure voice," and praising her voice as "very clear and almost perfect." Korean music fans have known and loved her for 10 years, since she began performing recitals here.
The singer said she listened to countless recordings of the songs to better help her sing in Korean. She also told reporters that she has been helped by Korean musicians to understand the meanings of the songs.
"If I only pretend to be impressed and moved by the Korean songs, audiences would see what was wrong." Therefore, she had to make a great effort, she said. Born in Maine in the United States, Bonney started her musical life as a cellist. When she was 19 years old, she began studying as a soprano in Austria. Since then she has won world acclaim, performing at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and La Scala in Milan and giving music lessons at the Royal Academy of Music in London.
Mischa Maisky has also performed in Korea several times, so his cello work on the disc sounds natural and elegant, familiar to Korean ears. An Israeli born in Latvia, Mischa has performed with pianists Martha Argerich and Sergio Tiempo, violist Gidon Kremer, and conductors Leonard Bernstein, Zubin Mehta and Daniel Barenboim, among many others.
He is scheduled to give a solo cello recital in Seoul in November this year. Maisky also appears on the CD cover in a hanbok decorated with pretty amber studs.
The Bolshoi Chorus was established in 1928 and has performed religious music and operas in more than 130 cities across the world, with more than 500 songs in their repertory. Its local fame comes mainly from its Korean Gospel collections, which include recordings of "The Lord's Prayer" and "Jehovah is my Shepherd."
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Songs from the Korean Soul to the World's Ears
