Liam Battle returns to the CCS with a second unique lecture/recital. Here he will introduce the audience to Glissées, for solo cello, by Korean composer Isang Yun ( 1917-1995). This rarely- heard work for solo cello was written nearly 75 years ago! Isang Yun (1917-1995) was born in Duksan, Korea and became one of the world’s leading 20th-century Korean composers, living and working for the last 26 years of his life in Germany. As a composer, he is recognized as a mediator of East Asian and Western musical traditions— combining Western avant-garde techniques with techniques associated with traditional Korean music, including glissandi (sliding pitch). Yun’s favorite instrument was the cello. Glissées was written in 1970 and dedicated to the internationally-acclaimed avant-garde German cellist, Siegfried Palm.

Liam will discuss Yun’s interest in the conflict between the European style of writing for fixed pitches and the Korean “flexibility” pitch (a type of glissando). This prominent feature of Korean music is almost omnipresent throughout Glissées and makes for an interesting contrast to the Western world 12-tone technique, also present in this piece.