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20th century

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Solo repertoire

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Alto flute

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Yun Isang

Aitken, Robert

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Zgraja, Krystof

Concerto for flute and small orchestra

By Yun Isang

Isang Yun: Concerto for flute and small orchestra was written in 1977 by commission of the Sommerliche Musiktage (Summer Music Days) in Hitzacker, West Germany. The piece was dedicated to the flutist Karlheinz Zöller, who premiered it at the Sommerliche Musiktage in Hitzacker, Germany, in 1977.

The concerto is inspired by a poem from the Korean Buddhist tradition. It depicts the dream of a young girl at a convent school who sees a stone Buddha in a temple yard transform into a handsome young man; she dances with him in a trance, only to wake up frightened by the coldness of the stone.
It is a three-part work designed as a "musical discourse about different states of consciousness," progressing through ideas of dance, trance, and ecstasy. The soloist alternates between the alto flute and the concert flute.

In 1977, Yun was living in permanent exile in Germany following his 1967 abduction and imprisonment by the South Korean government. This year marked a period where he increasingly used his music to express humanitarian beliefs and a longing for his divided homeland. 1977 was a year of high productivity in the concerto genre for Yun; he also composed his famous Double Concerto for Harp and Oboe that same year. Stylistically, he was moving toward a simplified musical language based on Eastern sounds, utilizing his "Hauptton" (main tone) technique to mimic traditional Korean wind instruments like the daegum.

Roswitha Staege

Hans Zender (conductor), Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Saarbrücken, 2004, Camerata Tokyo, Inc. / Believe SAS

1. Adagio – Allegretto; 2. Adagio; 3. Allegro

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Yun Isang

Isang Yun (1917-1995) was a Korean composer who initially studied violin, cello and composition in Korea and Japan. During Japanese occupation in World War II Yun was imprisoned for being active member of Korean independence movement. After the war he taught music at various schools and universities in Korea. In 1956 he managed to come to Europe to study composition in Paris and Berlin. He permanently moved to West Berlin in 1964 but was abducted in 1967 by Korean Park regime which sent him to Seoul and imprisoned him for life. Nearly 200 artists from around the world petitioned for his release until Yun was released in 1969. The petition was initiated by Igor Stravinsky and Herbert von Karajan. Upon his return to Germany, he became a professor of composition at the State College of Arts in Berlin where he worked until 1985.
Isang Yun’s music is characterized as a fusion of traditional Korean music with modern techniques of Western music called “sound compositions”. Among his most notable compositions: 5 symphonies, Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra (1975), Flute Concerto (1977), and Violin Concerto No.1 (1981). Among his other compositions for flute: Etudes I-V for flute solo (1974), Salomo for alto flute solo (1977), and Sori for flute solo (1988).