Evocation, the latest release on the Steinway & Sons label  from pianist Klara Min, takes the listener on a journey through night, exploring the moods, feelings and musical works inspired by the nocturnal hours.

Klara Min’s album presents us with piano pieces that evoke night’s musical power to awaken and stir subliminal feelings hidden at the depth of our souls

Evocation, the latest release on the Steinway & Sons label (STNS 30096) from pianist Klara Min, takes the listener on a journey through night, exploring the moods, feelings and musical works inspired by the nocturnal hours. Opening the album is “L’alouette-lulu,” a serene piece from Messiaen’s Catalogue d’oiseaux, Book 3, that features birdlike calls and poignant silences which work in tandem to evoke a tranquil scene at the close of the day. Featured next is Scriabin’s Sonata-Fantasie No. 2 in G sharp minor, Op. 19, inspired by the composer’s nighttime visit to a Latvian beach in 1892. Mozart’s Fantasia in D minor, K 397 follows, juxtaposing the musical themes of pathétique lamento, the sentimental aria, and the happy contradance.

Min also plays two other pieces by Scraibin on the record: Sonata No. 9, Op. 68, “Black Mass,” and “Vers la flame,” Op. 72. Both pieces explore the darker, more mysterious side of night, incorporating musical elements that shocked both the composer and the audience, such as an opening wailing motive in “Black Mass” and a flickering flame theme in “Vers la flame” that grows throughout the piece to a wrenching conclusion. Closing out the album is “La chouette hulotte,” another work from Messiaen’s Catalogue d’oiseaux, Book 3. This piece delves deeper into the ominous, fearful themes of the preceding Scriabin pieces, painting a religiously tinged, terror-filled scene. According to the liner notes, Messiaen describes the piece as “Darkness, fear, a racing pulse… the call of the tawny owl… gripped by terror, like the shriek of a murdered child... Silence. The owl’s hooting fades in the distance, like a bell tolling from another world.”

 

“In short, Min’s finest performances on this gorgeously engineered release will make Scriabin fans sit up and take notice.”

 Gramophone

 

“Klara Min’s piano playing is demonstrably intelligent, technically assured and, where necessary, delicate or muscly.”

MusicWeb International

 

“Min plays with the most ravishing piano tone I’ve heard in the last 50 discs I’ve listened to, at least! Her dynamic control is out of this world...”

American Record Guide

 

 “Min is an impressive Scriabin pianist, delivering the full virtuosity of the Piano Sonata No. 2 in G sharp minor, Op. 19 "Sonata fantasy", but keeping the music in touch with Chopin, as well as Liszt.”

AllMusic Guide

 

Album Credits

Evocation / Klara Min • STNS 30096

Release Date: 03/01/2019 

Recorded February 7, October 3 & 24, 2017 and October 3, 2018 at Steinway Hall, New York City.

Producer: Jon Feidner

Engineer: Lauren Sturm

Assistant Engineer: Melody Nieun Hwang

Editing: Jon Feidner and Renée Oakford

Production Assistant: Renée Oakford

Mixing and Mastering: Daniel Shores

Piano Technician: Lauren Sturm

Piano: Steinway Model D #597590 (New York)

Executive Producers: Eric Feidner and Jon Feidner

Art Direction: Jackie Fugere

Design: Cover to Cover Design, Anilda Carrasquillo

Cover Photo: Marco Borggreve

About the Artist

World-renowned concert pianist Klara Min is a Steinway Artist who makes her home in Berlin and New York. Respected also as a thought-leader in music industry, Ms. Min is the founder and artistic director of New York Concert Artists and Associates (NYCA). A native of South Korea, Ms. Min has performed extensively throughout North America and Europe as well as in her home country of South Korea, in some of the world’s most important concert venues including Carnegie Hall, Munich’s Gasteig, the Berlin Philharmonie, Berlin’s Konzerthhaus, Laeiszhalle, Vienna’s Konzerthaus, Paris’s Salle Cortot and South Korea’s KBS Broadcast Hall, Lotte Concert Hall. She has performed with prestigious orchestras such as Munich Kammerphilharmonie, Seoul Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonie Orchester Berlin, Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, and Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra among others.

Gramophone magazine describes Ms. Min’s 2016 recording of Scriabin works on the Steinway & Sons record label as, "In short, Min’s finest performances on this gorgeously engineered release will make Scriabin fans sit up and take notice." Klara Min’s first album Ripples on Water features modern Korean piano music; it was released on Naxos and complimented for “making every note count” (All Music). Her second release of a selection of Chopin’s Mazurkas was released on Delos. American Record Guide selected the album as one of six critics’ choices in 2013 raving, “her dynamic control is out of this world”. Klara Min was the recipient of a Samsung scholarship.

About Steinway & Sons label

The STEINWAY & SONS music label produces exceptional albums of solo piano music across all genres. The label — a division of STEINWAY & SONS, maker of the world’s finest pianos — is a perfect vessel for producing the finest quality recordings by some of the most talented pianists in the world.