Early music masters and a next-generation ensemble are taking the stage one after another, offering a rare chance to hear the sounds Bach, Mozart and Beethoven originally intended through instruments used in the Baroque and Classical eras.
On the 28th, Dutch fortepiano maestro Ronald Brautigam will perform at the Kumho Art Hall Yonsei as part of the "Kumho EXCLUSIVE" series. Brautigam is a performer who moves freely between the modern piano and period instruments, and his complete cycle of Beethoven sonatas recorded on fortepiano earned him the Edison Award and the German Record Critics' Award.
The fortepiano is the predecessor of today's piano and was widely used from the late 18th to the early 19th century. With a smaller body and lower string tension than the modern piano, it produces less volume but a lighter, more transparent tone. The delicate shifts in texture from note to note make it well suited to expressing the subtle phrasing and ornamentation of Haydn, Mozart and early Beethoven works.
In this concert, Brautigam will recreate the original sound of period instruments through Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 1 and "Pathétique," Mozart's Variations on "Ah, vous dirai-je, Maman" and Haydn's late keyboard sonatas.
On the 30th, Collegium Musicum Seoul will perform all six of Bach's "Brandenburg Concertos" at the IBK Chamber Hall of the Seoul Arts Center. Marking its 10th anniversary, the ensemble is regarded as a leading force in period-instrument performance in Korea. The "Brandenburg Concertos" are considered the essence of the "concerto grosso" form, in which a group of solo instruments and an accompanying group both contend and merge.
The concert will be performed entirely on period instruments, including not only Baroque violin, viola and cello but also recorder, traverso flute, natural horn, Baroque trumpet and harpsichord. These instruments differ significantly from their modern counterparts in materials and construction. Baroque string instruments using gut strings (made from sheep intestines) produce less volume than modern strings but offer a more transparent and three-dimensional resonance. Unlike the piano, which strikes strings with hammers, the harpsichord plucks them, giving it a clear and dry timbre. The traverso flute, made of wood rather than metal, produces a softer sound in which the texture of the breath comes through more directly. The valveless natural horn and Baroque trumpet are technically demanding but produce a more natural and rough resonance rather than a metallic sheen.
Collegium Musicum Seoul will share the stage with harpsichordist Cho Jae-hyuck, violinist Kim Da-mi, hornist Lee Suk-jun and Hidenori Saito, a member of Japan's Bach Collegium Japan. "We focused on bringing out the clear texture and balance of each instrument rather than the thick sound of modern instruments," the ensemble said.
Next month, Le Consort, a French ensemble drawing attention as a next-generation Baroque group, will meet Korean audiences for the first time. The concert is part of the "World Star Series" hosted by the Seoul Arts Center on June 26. Founded in Paris in 2015, the ensemble is made up of young performers around their early 30s.
All founding members will visit Korea, including violinists Théotime Langlois de Swarte and Sophie de Bardonnèche, cellist Hanna Salzenstein and harpsichordist Justin Taylor. The group is recognized as a team leading a new wave of 21st-century Baroque music, breaking away from the solemnity typical of early music with youthful and lively interpretations. Langlois de Swarte and Taylor sold out all seats at their duo concert in 2024.
The program includes works by Purcell, Rameau and Vivaldi, along with French and Italian Baroque repertoire rarely heard in Korea. The Seoul Arts Center said the concert offers "an opportunity to appreciate the diverse colors of European Baroque music through delicate and lively interpretation."
