Kun-Woo Paik Essentials

Big emotions and an extraordinary depth of imagination work together to propel Kun-Woo Paik’s emotionally charged interpretations. The Korean pianist’s art is likewise hallmarked by the profoundly affecting warmth of his sound, always sumptuous, never brittle. Listen to the way he shapes each phrase of Chopin’s Nocturne No. 1 in B-Flat Minor, allowing the work’s right-hand melodies time to sing while making near-imperceptible alterations to the tempo of its hypnotic left-hand accompaniment, or to the irresistible power of Busoni’s transcription of Bach’s Toccata in C Major, BWV 564. In Beethoven, too, Paik draws out the music’s grandeur without supressing its energy, exquisitely so in the opening movement of the “Pathétique” Sonata. The individuality of his pianism strikes home in the sequence of short dances that form Schumann’s Papillons and, above all, in his ravishing take on Fauré’s Barcarolle No. 1, a finely crafted study in tender lyricism.