Articles

Musical Opinion

July - August 2007

Sejong Concert @ Cadogan Hall

The 14-piece conductorless string orchestra Sejong, Founded in New York by Hyo Kang, appeared at Cadogan Hall in a remarkable programme on 10 June. They began with a version for Solo Violin and String Orchestra by the Russian composer Leonid Desiantnikov of four Tangos by Astor Piazzolla which have been brought together under the title The Four Seasons of Buenos Aries. With witty quotations from Vivaldi's Four Seasons, this made a delightful start to the programme, each Piazzolla Tango Concerto being brilliantly played by four separate Sejong soloists, Frank Huang, Ji In Yang, Emilie-Anne Gendron and Yura Lee.

These Mini-concertos were followed by the British Premiere of The Four Seasons of Pyeong Chang by the South Korean composer Sukhi Kang. The work constituted another Four Seasons Series of Concertos for Solo Violin, Quire quperbly played by Stefan Milenkovich, although the post-modern melodic nature of the work did not quite match the outstanding technical resource which the 73-year-old composer, who was present, brought to his own music.

Finally, Tchaikovsky's Serendade for Strings received an outstandingly fine performance. On this showing, Sejong is, simply, a chamber orchestra of world class, and we must thank the Korean Shinhan Private Bank for bringing these highly gifted musicians to London.