Jung JaeiI: Sorrowful Songs

“I am often drawn to music with a melancholic beauty,” the South Korean composer Jung Jae Il tells Apple Music Classical. “There are times when, much like the feeling of purification after shedding tears, I experience a sense of being cleansed by lyrical and melancholic melodies.” Jung begins his selection with the opening Aria from Bach’s Goldberg Variations, performed by Glenn Gould. It’s a piece he describes as “profoundly beautiful and lyrical”. He continues: “There was a time when I would wake up every morning and play this piece as a form of meditation and practice.” We reach forward more than two centuries to Henryk Górecki’s Symphony No. 3, otherwise known as the “Symphony of Sorrowful Songs”. Jung has chosen an “incredibly beautiful” recording of the opening movement, conducted by Górecki’s fellow Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki. Singing the 15th-century Polish lament is Beth Gibbons, the lead singer from the UK trip-hop band Portishead. The anguish of Górecki’s music can also be found in Bach’s St Matthew Passion, particularly in the aria “Erbarme dich”. “Recently, I had the opportunity to watch a performance of the St Matthew Passion at Easter,” says Jung, “and I couldn’t hold back the overwhelming emotion.” You can also discover music by Sakamoto, Mahler, Purcell and Pärt, all composers with remarkable abilities to express deep sorrow through music of breathtaking beauty.