…I am particularly impressed by acclaimed concert pianist Klara Min’s efforts to spotlight works by Korean composers in her recording Pa-mun: Ripples on Water, released on the Naxos label in 2011.

…“Pa-mun,”…composed by Younghi Pagh-Paan, is a soothing musical description of wave reflections on water…The dynamics, superbly controlled by Min, are never overpowering and the ripples…never become aggressive either in speed or volume. This piece, as an opener, colors the rest of the pieces with a contemplative mood.

Western and Eastern ideas of aesthetic beauty merge on this recently released Naxos compilation of piano pieces by Korean composers…the expositions presented here…retain stillness, clarity and purpose…The opening piece on the CD—Younghi Pagh-Paan’s ‘Pa-mun’ exemplifies the Koreans’ collective approach to composition, demonstrating a style that resonates thematically within the pastoral tradition of the West while retaining the nuance and sense of stark natural beauty that characterizes many Asian musical works. Allusions to the natural world are…evident in Isang Yun’s ‘Five Pieces for Piano’, as well as the lumbering opening movement of Chung Gil Kim’s abridged suite, ‘Memory of Childhood’…it is pianist Klara Min’s impeccable performance here—and throughout the recording—that subtly suggests to listeners nothing in nature ends without something else being born. Profoundly affecting. © 2012 Scene Magazine Read complete review

El subtítulo “Música para piano de Corea” puede llevar a engaño al comprador que espere encontrar obras basadas en la tradición musical del país oriental. Más acertado habría sido hablar de “compositores coreanos” en dicho subtítulo puesto que, con algunas excepciones, el disco es un reflejo de la traslación del lenguaje y las técnicas expresionistas a la creación coreana de los últimos 50 años. Hablamos por tanto de obras atonales con algún perfume oriental en determinados casos. Las obras de Kim y Chae apuntan más en esta dirección y presentan un lenguaje vanguardista que no deja de lado la música autóctona, introduciendo además el último autor trazas minimalistas en sus Preludios. El núcleo “duro” está encabezado por Yun y sus Fünf Stücke, seguido de los menos conocidos Pagh-Paan y Kang con Pa-Mun y los Piano Scketches respectivamente. Una vez explicado esto, hay que destacar lo bien tocadas que están las obras por Klara Min, gran conocedora del lenguaje expresionista cuyo manejo del piano produce sonidos sumamente evocadores—Reflejos en el agua de Pagh-Paan—bellos—Preludio núm.8 de Chae—y coloristas—Memoria de la infancia de Kim—Con todo ello, el disco es recomendable. © 2012 Ritmo

Min plays with the most ravishing piano tone I’ve heard…She has a patience that most of these pieces require, and a love for intentional silences…

To read the complete review, please visit American Record Guide online.

…the music is absorbing in its way, and Klara Min’s piano playing is demonstrably intelligent, technically assured and, where necessary, delicate or muscly.

Sound quality is invariably excellent at the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and this recording is no exception.

There is tone poetry and twelve-tone abstraction and expressionist experimentation, and all of it is played both expertly and sympathetically by pianist Klara Min. Pagh-Paan’s title composition is one of the loveliest on the program, followed by Yun’s twelve-tone-influenced “Five Pieces.” Recommended.

…Émile Sauret left a small but attractive body of works for violin and piano, some of which are lovingly presented on this 2011 Naxos release. Performed by violinist Michi Wiancko and pianist Dina Vainshtein, the pieces are picturesque sketches and character pieces that are a mixture of sentimental melodies with flashy techniques, and their gentleness and piquante charm mark them as parlor pieces of the fin de siècle. Sauret was a world-renowned violinist, and his popularity was widespread at the turn of the 20th century, so it's easy to imagine how such crowd-pleasing pieces as the Scènes villageoises or the Souvenirs d'Orient would be frequently heard in concert. But fans of brilliant violin writing should be most excited about Farfalla and the Scherzo fantastique, two showstoppers that Wiancko and Vainshtein serve up with extra bravado…the music is always effervescent and lively, so listeners seeking light diversions with glittery reminiscences of the belle époque will find what they need here.