Alpin Hong: Friend, Taskmaster, Teacher (2007)

Much-awarded American pianist Alpin Hong here turns a somewhat Asian concept, reverence for one's teachers, into an unusual device for structuring an album program. The album actually contains quite a bit of music that's common to the recitals of younger musicians, and except for a hidden track at the end (of which more below), none of it is really unusual. But Hong brings freshness to much of the music. The "friend, taskmaster, teacher" subtitle, wittily connected to a picture of the rather disheveled artist playing a ... Read More

Much-awarded American pianist Alpin Hong here turns a somewhat Asian concept, reverence for one's teachers, into an unusual device for structuring an album program. The album actually contains quite a bit of music that's common to the recitals of younger musicians, and except for a hidden track at the end (of which more below), none of it is really unusual. But Hong brings freshness to much of the music. The "friend, taskmaster, teacher" subtitle, wittily connected to a picture of the rather disheveled artist playing a dismembered piano, indicates the basic idea: Hong indicates in the booklet how he came to play these particular pieces, and most of them are connected with his teachers. Those teachers include the famed Jerome Lowenthal at the Juilliard School, who suggested, for example, the Liszt transcription of Mendelssohn's On the Wings of Song "during my uncertain transition from student to professional." The concept is absorbing even if only sketchily filled out, and Hong delivers unusual readings... Read Less