This disc mostly consists of slow moving, atonal, superficially pretty, skillfully put together yet ultimately academic, arid, anonymous, and unmemorable piano pieces by Korean composers. Granted, genuinely ear-catching and emotionally engaging moments do occur, such as the rapid decorative gestures intermingling with short, jabbing chords in Isang Yun’s Interludium A. But Uzong Choe’s momentary insertions of tonal counterpoint within atonal schemes sound forced rather than organic or inevitable, while his ideas about modulation throughout the toccata-like Eighth Prelude might be described as crude Poulenc. Similarly, the descending scale ostinato in the second excerpt from Chung-gil Kim’s Go-Poong wears out its welcome after two or three reiterations. To be fair, each selection might convey a stronger impact in the context of a mixed, stylistically diverse program, but that’s not what we have here. At any rate, Klara Min’s sensitive, colorful, polished, and well recorded performances make a most compelling case for these works.
