[On Stage] Composer Jo Eunhwa: "Beethoven is Like a Mirror"

Beethoven Cello Concerto Homage Piece Performed on Classic Revolution Stage on the 30th
"A Composer Who Makes Me Reflect... Confirming My Growth Through Beethoven's Music"

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] The classical music festival 'Classic Revolution,' launched this year by the Lotte Cultural Foundation, will conclude its first festival stage on the 30th with a special piece.

Under the baton of Classic Revolution Artistic Director Christoph Poppen, the Seoul Tutti Chamber Orchestra will perform "Sometimes Freely, Sometimes Pursuing," composed by Jo Eun-hwa (47), a Korean composer residing in Germany. Jo Eun-hwa was the first Korean to win first place in the composition category of the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 2009.

During a press conference held on the 24th at the Lotte Concert Hall, Jo Eun-hwa explained, "'Sometimes Freely, Sometimes Pursuing' is a piece created as an homage to Beethoven's Cello Concerto."

"When I listen to music, I habitually think of the score. It's a kind of occupational hazard. One day, while listening to Beethoven's Cello Sonata, I imagined the score as usual, but when I actually checked the score, it was completely different from what I had imagined. This sparked my curiosity and led to the creation of this work. Personally, this piece is very important as it marked the beginning of my dialogue with Beethoven."

Composer Jo Eunhwa [Photo by Lotte Cultural Foundation]

This year marks the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth. Therefore, Beethoven is also the theme of this year's Classic Revolution. Jo Eun-hwa said Beethoven is like a mirror to her. "Beethoven is a composer who makes it easy for me to reflect on myself. Through Beethoven's music, I think about how much I have grown, what thoughts I have, and how well I understand Beethoven's music. Beethoven always brings something new, and the more years pass, the better he becomes. He is a composer who I find myself revisiting every year."

'Sometimes Freely, Sometimes Pursuing' was commissioned and composed by Jo Eun-hwa for the 50th anniversary concert of the Goethe-Institut in 2018. At that time, Artistic Director Poppen also conducted the performance. For the Classic Revolution stage, the piece was arranged into an orchestral version, which will premiere this time.

Jo Eun-hwa said, "I focused on the resonance given by the space," adding, "I arranged it so that the orchestra's sound would circulate and fill the hall as if swirling." She also mentioned that she was inspired by acquaintances who, during the 2018 premiere, described the music as "like a tsunami."

Jo Eun-hwa also noted the difference between listening to classical music on YouTube and experiencing it live, attributing this to the resonance of sound. "When listening to music on YouTube, I think it is difficult to fully grasp the overall feeling the piece conveys. YouTube amplifies very quiet sounds and reduces loud sounds, so you only hear an average sound. The tension felt in moments of silence or the tremor when the sound is loud, which can be experienced live, are not conveyed. Especially for music longer than 30 minutes, I believe there is music beyond the YouTube world."

Composer Jo Eunhwa [Photo by Lotte Cultural Foundation]

Jo Eun-hwa also has a strong interest in Korean traditional music (gugak). She composed the concerto for janggu titled "Nature, So It Is" in 2014 and recently composed "Jeongseon Arirang" for orchestra.

"I think Korean traditional music is very excellent and beautiful. When talking about Western music, we often think about form and theme, but gugak can be listened to for a long time without such form and theme. I have realized the great potential of gugak, so I am learning instruments and composing works whenever I have the opportunity. While my comfortable language is composing with Western instruments, I believe the works I need to create in the future will be related to gugak."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.