This appears to be the first CD featuring the music of Gui Sook
Lee. Gui Sook is a young Korean composer, though how young exactly
neither the CD notes nor the Internet will yield. Although she
has Facebook and Twitter accounts, if she does have a website
it is most likely in Korean.
The McCormick Percussion Group has a higher profile: they have
recorded over 20 CDs under the direction of founder Robert McCormick,
who also doubles as percussionist to his flautist wife, Kim,
in the McCormick Duo - they too have four discs to their name.
At any rate, this Ravello release represents the debut of composer
and performers in these review pages.
Unfortunately the CD does not give any information on the instrumentation
used in each work. Whilst all 34 instrumentalists of McCormick
Percussion are listed by name, none of their instruments are,
apart from Gui Sook's own reference in her notes to marimbas.
For their soloist roles, the pianist in Stillness and
the flautist in Moving On are named separately, but all
other players are lumped together as "percussionists",
even though there are significant parts for most of them in
each of the works.
In fact, there is no CD booklet as such: the case is a cardboard
foldout affair, and the liner-notes are printed straight onto
the card itself, obviously reducing the amount of space available
for information. Gui Sook's comments on her works are jargony
rather than illuminating. The lack of notes is exacerbated by
the fact that there is nowhere to look the information up -
the website of Ravello
Records is as much use as the proverbial chocolate teapot.
As with her better-known compatriot Unsuk Chin, Gui Sook's music
is not obviously Korean, and any likeness to regional gamelan
music is really in spirit only. But the instrumentation of these
five works is certainly exotic in a Far Eastern way, although
in the first piece, Stillness, the inclusion of the piano
tempers the foreignness. Gui Sook describes it herself as
concerto-like in its treatment of the piano, but many listeners
may find that rather misleading - the piano generally blends
into the percussive narrative, deepening the grain rather than
providing contrast. As it happens, Stillness is anything
but still - it is a throbbing, brooding, dramatic, often martial
work; and very intoxicating.
The minimalistic Ostinato in Springtime, on the other
hand, does live up to its title. Gui Sook's description of this
piece is a mite optimistic. She says: "The ostinato theme,
which recurs consistently throughout the entire composition,
is interwoven with other parts that change in meter, tempo,
ornamentation, timbre, instrumentation, register, rhythm, pitch
and sonority." As true as that may be in a technical way
- and it is worth mentioning here that the 'quintet' refers
to players; all manner of percussion instruments are employed
- the listener is unlikely to be able to escape the feeling
that this is a slowish, repetitious piece, and will likely be
mystified at the composer's insistence that the ostinato theme
is evocative of spring. The four marimbas in unison that open
the extravagantly-titled The Movement are similarly "suggestive
of a cold snap in winter", according to the composer, and
in the middle section, "the tranquil mood [is] reminiscent
of a spring breeze". As in the previous piece, the quartet
refers to players, but this is much more of a work for marimbas
with percussion. The marimbas are silent for a while two-thirds
of the way through, for what sounds like the tribal equivalent
of an improvised solo for jazz drummer, but otherwise they are
always to the fore. This is the longest piece, and some may
find time passing very slowly. Nonetheless, the rhythms in both
The Movement and Ostinato in Springtime are sure
to set any listener's feet tapping, and the overall effect of
the music is pleasing to the ears, if not enlightening for the
mind.
According to the CD blurb, McCormick Percussion were formed
"to explore and record new and unusual works in the percussion
idiom", and Gui Sook Lee's music falls easily into this
category. Her works written solely for percussion are the least
successful on this disc - there is little question that the
addition of the piano in Stillness and the flute in Moving
On add enormously to the textures and therefore interest
of Lee's music. On the other hand, the final work, Refrain,
is one of the most exhilarating, with its considerable, and
considered, variety of timbre.
Gui Sook Lee does not yet have Unsuk Chin's international profile.
There are sporadic references on the internet to music by Gui
Sook for more Western-style forces, but her musical ambitions
would be helped handsomely if there were more information about
her work freely available in English. Meanwhile, this disc makes
an excellent starting-point for anyone interested in Eastern
composers in particular or attractive contemporary musical exotica
in general.
All the music is superbly performed by the McCormick Percussionists
and named soloists. Recording quality is very high throughout.
Byzantion
Collected reviews and contact at reviews.gramma.co.uk
Ji Hyun Kim (piano) 
