The Ahn Trio

Overview

The remarkable Ahn sisters, Juilliard educated, born in Seoul, Korea, and now redefining the art and architecture of chamber music.  The Ahn Trio breathes new life into the standard piano trio literature with commissioned works from visionary composers, such as Pat Metheny and Kenji Bunch, whose works will be featured in this performance. 

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Related Sites

• Ahn Trio concert video
• Ahn Trio Web Site

Program

PROGRAM

Paisagens Brasileiras Suite (Brazilian Landscape) For Piano Trio** by Nelson Ayres

1. De Bubuia

2. Mantiqueira

3. Agreste

Danceband***  by Kenji Bunch (b. 1973)

Slip Jig  Sarabande  Backstep  Waltz  Disco Boogie

Yu Ryung*  by  Pat Metheny (b.1954)

Song on the Land  by RonnYedidia (b.1960)

 Dies Irie*  by Bunch

Insensatez**  by Tom Jobim/Vinicius de Moraes/Andre Mehnari

Samba*  by Paul Schoenfield (b. 1947)

 *Written for the Ahn Trio

**Co-commissioned by University of Florida Performing Arts and the Univeristy of Notre Dame’s DeBartolo Performing Arts Center

***Commissioned by the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts

 PAISAGENS BRASILEIRAS (Brazilian Landscapes) (Notes by the composer)

“De bubuia” (first movement) is an expression that many Brazilians have never heard. It is used in the Amazon region – when you're traveling down a river and you just let the canoe follow its own way, without using oars, you're going “de bubuia”. You can then enjoy the landscapes and the sounds around you that keep changing as you float down in a steady rhythm. That's the feeling of the music.

The melody of "Mantiqueira" (second movement) comes from an original beautiful song I wrote. MANTIQUEIRA is an enormous mountain range that takes a good part of three Brazilian states: Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Minas Gerais. It´s environement is one of the richest in the world, with all kinds of animals, birds, insects, plants and trees in all shades of green. There are rivers, creeks and waterfalls everywhere and the music intends to capture the serene beauty of these mountains.

 "Agreste" (third movement) is a vast, hot and very arid region of Northeastern Brazil where rain is scarce and cowboys have to dress in crude leather clothes to avoid the sharp prickles of the entangled vegetation. It is a land of rude beauty and wide horizons. The music intends to depict this landscape through musical strength, drive and rhythm. It's a tonal piece with harsh voicings (predominantly on string double stops and piano chords) and driving bass lines on piano. Tone beauty is not important here – rhythmic accuracy and plenty of energy are.

danceband (notes by the composer)

“danceband” is a celebration of the inextricable link between music and dance. For centuries, this symbiosis has infused concert music with the robust flavors of folk dances, the elegance of the court, the sensuality of an evening soiree, and much more. This suite of five dances (each about five minutes in length) travels in time between the Old and New Worlds to explore just a few of these many moments. I was especially interested in dances that were is some way idiomatic for the instruments of the piano trio.

“Slip Jig” focuses on the highly syncopated 9/8 feel characteristic of that Irish folk dance, with elusive, unpredictably winding melodic lines over an angular, syncopated backup.

The distinctive rhythm of the “Sarabande” is an emphasis on the second of three beats. This dance, which was actually brought back to Europe from Central America in the 1600's, often has a slow, somber, almost mournful quality. After a Baroque inspired opening, this Sarabande wanders into more contemporary, increasingly passionate territory before inevitably retreating to a final statement in the cello with plucked piano strings suggesting a harpsichord. “Backstep” refers to a step in lively 2/4 Appalachian folk dances that is often reflected in the accompanying music by an extra, irregular beat, giving musical backsteps a "crooked" feel. To simulate the distinctive sound of this genre, the strings almost constantly drone an open A while playing their melodies, and the piano strings are muted with a towel to recall an open-backed banjo.

It's been suggested that the brutality of the 20th century killed the “Waltz”, or at least reduced it to a ghostly half-life of sentimental, bittersweet memories– an Old World souvenir from a more innocent, elegant time. With this notion in mind, I wrote a waltz that drifts in and out of the angst-ridden present, at times indulging in nostalgic reverie with varying degrees of conviction.

“Disco Boogie” pays homage to the much maligned music of the disco era. Ironically derided as synthetic, artificial drivel, this music was some of the last popular music to make full-fledged use of acoustic, orchestral instruments, with soaring string melodies over the insistent stride beat. I simply couldn't resist!

Danceband was written for and dedicated to The Ahn Trio through a commission from The Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts. It's a work that represents my long, fruitful, and ongoing collaboration with my dear friends the Ahns, who have been one of the most significant driving forces for my musical creativity throughout my career.

Yu Ryung (notes by the composer)

I first became aware of the Ahn Trio from their recording of "This is Not America", a piece that I co-wrote with David Bowie. Their thoughtful, original and evocative take on that composition made me want to hear more and I have become a major fan of theirs.  I had the occasion to meet them for the first time recently at the Tria Gallery in New York where we were all attending an opening. In that conversation, they asked if I would write an original piece for them. My first reaction was that it would be a lot of fun to do and my second reaction went to thoughts of the great musical tradition that writing for their instrumentation evokes and that it might be something that I might be able to offer after five years or more of research into the subject.  Much to my surprise, I went home and wrote this piece that night. I decided to sit down and just see what would happen.

In our conversation that night, we also spoke a lot about Seoul - the Ahn's hometown and one of my favorite places to play in the world - and the fascinating culture and people of Korea.   Coincidentally, I had read an article that day about a recent phenomenon in Seoul where there is an entire fleet of drivers who pick up people late at night who have been drinking too much and take them home. There are now apparently thousands of these drivers called "dae-ri un-jun-sa". I decided to write from the point of view of one of those guys, who gets a brief window into the lives of all these strangers and yet has a life of his own where a job like that (which must be especially unpleasant) is something that he himself has to get through to get to the next stage in his own life.

The Korean word "Yu Ryung" (which translates roughly to "ghost figure",)evoked the image of these drivers to me, thus the name of the piece.   It is rare that I actually create a narrative built on something from real life as an entry point into music. But in this case, a door flew open and the piece almost wrote itself. It was done in a matter of hours.

I would like to thank the Ahn Trio for this chance to write for such great musicians. When I heard them play the piece for the first time I was in awe of their amazing skills and their commitment to what they are doing. And their willingness to play new music at such a high level is an inspiring and exciting quality that will continue to define the unique spot that they are carving out for themselves in the music world.

Ronn Yedidia (b: 1960, Israel) “Song on the Land” was composed within one day in 1996 for Israel Philharmonic Orchestra’s bassoonist Uzi Shalev who has been a long-time colleague of Ronn’s and the lyricist for many of his songs. Ronn absorbed much of his love for his motherland Israel from touring the country as a child-prodigy pianist. Those tours acquainted him with the gorgeous rural places of the land - which always inspired the music of Israeli composers and song-writers. The strong imprint of battle and war on those lands is also apparent in the sound of Israeli music - reflecting sadness, poise and beauty. It was transcribed for the Ahn Trio in December 2004. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and children.

Dies Irie (notes by the composer)

One day in the spring of 2004, I was trying to write down the words Dies Irae, the Latin term for "Day of Wrath" used famously in the Requiem Mass. I noticed later that I had inadvertently written instead "Dies Irie" which I found really amusing. In the Jamaican Patois, Irie is a wonderful word that suggests a state of being perfectly content - of a certain peace with the universe that is light years away from a day of wrath. In a sense, I had stumbled upon a new term meaning "Day of Everything Being Just Right". Because of the long tradition of musical settings of the Dies Irae, I immediately began to wonder what a Dies Irie would sound like, and ended up with this short, sweet work for piano trio.

Insensatez 'How Insensitive' is a tender, almost Chopin-esque melody, in a slow bossa-nova frame that transcends the style and brings the song to a universal field of expression. After so many memorable performances and arrangements, this song already lives in the conscience of the listener. So my goal for this new arrangement was to portray the lyrical atmosphere but also to create contrasts and movement using odd measures like 7/8, in a more rhythmic fashion, with the aid of pizzicato strings. (Notes by Andre Mehmari)

Samba

"Bossa Nova and Samba are both inspired by the 'batuque', an Afro-Brazilian folk dance. This highly syncopated group dance (the group frequently being in a circle) is accompanied by percussion and responsive singing between soloist and chorus.

About the Artists

Born in Seoul, Korea, and educated at Juilliard in New York City, the members of the Ahn Trio-sisters Maria, Lucia, and Angella-are redefining the art and architecture of chamber music, breathing new life into the standard piano trio literature with commissioned works from visionary composers like Pat Metheny, Kenji Bunch, Maurice Jarre, Nikolai Kapustin and Michael Nyman. The trio's latest CD, Lullaby for My Favorite Insomniac (recorded by their own label, L.A.M.P.) made No.8 on the Billboard charts in the U.S. and the special edition release is now available on RCA Red Seal label. The Ahns are thrilled to have recently signed a multi-album exclusive recording artist contract with SonyBMG International.

Lucia, Angella, and Maria thrive on dissolving the barriers between art forms. They have fused their work with that of dancers, pop singers, DJ's, electronic music artists, painters, installation artists, photographers, lighting designers, ecologists, and even kite makers and received critical acclaim for their collaborative project with the David Parsons Dance Company in the past. This summer, the Ahns were the only Classical group to be invited to perform at the iTunes LIVE Festival in London where Michael Nyman was a surprise guest performing with the delighted Ahns (the live recordings are available on iTunes UK). Also in recent news, the success of their live performance at the Czech Grammys with the Tata Bojs (award-winning Czech rockband) led to the Ahns' recording a collaborative album 'Smetana' with the Tata Bojs. The Ahns have just returned from a sold-out CD-release tour in the Czech Republic.

This winter, the Ahns performed a China premiere of Kenji Bunch's "Hardware Concerto" (triple concerto written for them) with the China National Symphony Orchestra. They also performed their Chinese and Korean premieres of Pat Metheny's "Yu-Ryung," a work Mr. Metheny wrote for the trio. Next year, the Ahns will premiere Mark O'Conner's Triple Concerto as well as Nikolai Kapustin's second trio (Mr. Kapustin wrote his first and only trio for the Ahns).

Possessing an enviable combination of talent and style, they have long been natural subjects for the international press. They made their magazine premiere very early on, in Time's cover story, "Asian American Whiz Kids." They have gone on to frequent fashion pages the likes of Vogue and GQ. In 2003, they were named three of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People. Their first recording of Ravel and Villa-Lobos trios, brought raves, such as Audio Magazine's ..."this is one of Ravel's best and never better played..." and the next, an EMI recording of by Dvorak, Suk, and Shostakovich, won Germany's prestigious ECHO Award.

The Ahn Trio is in high demand, performing and leading master classes and workshops across the United States and around the world. Wherever the Ahns go, they share their innovative spirit and ever-evolving vision of music.

It is precisely this vitality and commitment to innovation that has the Ahn Trio continually drawing new audiences to classical music.