Hyeyoon Park : Reviews
VIOLIN
“Technical brilliance and rousing virtuoso fire, charmed by a unique natural sweetness in tone, free from sentimentality… Together with the great young British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor, Hyeyoon Park forms a world class duo. This was clear in Szymanowski’s “Myths from 1915” whose richness of colour and refined melodies require not only limitless sensitivity, but also narrative creative power … Then a spirited performance of César Franck’s A major sonata, in which the finale was particularly intoxicating. Two encores, a Hungarian dance which set sparks flying, and Schumann’s evening song: gentle and simple.”
Harald Eggebrecht, Sueddeutsche Zeitung, October 2020
“César Franck’s Violin Sonata – the second half of the programme – was a simultaneous showcase of Park’s huge palette of tone…her unaccompanied passages in the recitative-fantasia movement had all the poise of solo Bach (albeit on a Parisian opium trip).”
Flora Willson, The Guardian, June 2020
“She played ‘Fountain of Arethusa’ with glimmering, silver-toned purity high on the E string; ‘Narcissus’ was smoothly seductive, and ‘Dryads and Pan’ danced nimbly in double-stopped roulades. In Franck’s Sonata, portamentos and little dynamic swells shaped the first movement; the second had energy and panache, the Recitativo–Fantasia unfolded with rhythmic freedom. The finale had grandeur, with a fine dash to the finish.”
Tim Homfray, The Strad, June 2020
“The South Korean virtuoso violinist Hyeyoon Park … intones Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with an expressive passion, as if it had only just been written.”
Kerstin Holm, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, July 2018
“The highlight was Bartók’s Rhapsody. The musicians opened the work in a nimble, powerful and danceable manner … The second, faster part became a wild dance after an elegant entrance. This was as skillful as their playful dialogue.”
Ralf Snurawa, Haller Tagblatt, May 2018
“She played the Prokofiev concerto confidently by heart and with enchanting lyric intonation… She showed high virtuosity in the following wild scherzo, then again expressive intonation and brilliant passages in the finale.”
Gerhard Deutschmann, Coburger Tageblatt, January 2017
“Five Memos for violin and piano is based in ideas from Italo Calvino’s essays Six Memos for the Next Millennium… Each of the five movements relates to ideas from one of the essays, or you can listen to the music simply as fascinating character pieces. Lightness has a high suspended violin above an undulating piano, textures spare yet full of incident. Quickness has a busy, angry violin in dialogue with calmer piano, with a sense of contrast in the musical material. Exactitude has a long slow violin line, finely spun out by Hyeyoon Park, with spare piano chords giving a sense of suspension to the violin. Visibility combines a strong, elaborate violin part with glittering, rippling piano in a striking texture. Finally Multiplicity gives us a sense of the disparate voices, despite the busy material. Fine performances from Hyeyoon Park and Huw Watkins bring out the rich incident which Bowden gets from his two instruments…. The performances from Hyeyoon Park, Huw Watkins, Julian Warburton, Oliver Coates, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Grant Llewellyn are exemplary. Highly recommended indeed.”
✮✮✮✮½ Robert Hugill, Planet Hugill, December 2016
“Pianist Huw Watkins and violinist Hyeyoon Park are poised and expressive in the Calvino-inspired Five Memos — the third movement, Exactitude, is breathtakingly simple and played with masterful stillness.”
Kate Molleson, Gramophone, December 2016
“The violin skills of this 22-year-old South Korean are extraordinary; they are almost perfect. Her technique and control are breath-taking, resulting in some highly focused music-making.”
Martin Fahlbusch, Neue Westfäliche, May 2016
“Sometimes, concerts are full of magic. Such a moment was the opening of Sibelius’s Violin Concerto, when 22-year-old violinist Hyeyoon Park’s notes rose like a silent column of smoke. Suddenly, the world seemed to hold its breath and a perfect calm descended on the audience. The Korean played with a wonderful tone, full and round.
Its purity and clarity was a fascinating contrast to the warm, dark sound from the orchestra. Everyone here played with soul. The soloist was inseparably interwoven with the orchestra.”
Anna Mönks, Neue Westfäliche, December 2015
“Mendelssohn’s vivid and lyrical violin concerto, a well-known delicacy from the solo repertoire, was performed this season by a young Korean violinist with a bright future. Hyeyoon Park created a firework of virtuosity and a measure of unusually quiet yet fiery ingenuity in this loved work. She is a great talent who has potential for refinement.”
Carlhakei Larsen, Sydsvenskan, March 2015
“One of the most promising violinists of her generation, Hyeyoon Park is totally at one with her instrument. In Concerto No. 3 by Camille Saint-Saëns she resolutely cast herself into the Romantic mainstream.”
Reiga Paavola, Kymen Sanomat, March 2015
“Musicianship of the highest order.”
Gavin Engelbrecht, The York Press, February 2015
“Hyeyoon Park, the South Korean violinist who made her debut with orchestra at the tender age of nine, showed all the personality, technique and sheer musicianship, which her reputation promised. With her naturally flowing style, she graced the melodic themes in Prokofiev’s second Violin Concerto, with its most enjoyable rondo conclusion, complete with castanets to accompany the main theme.”
Rob Barnes, The Journal, January 2015
“This was my first look at soloist Hyeyoon Park who is emerging as one of the leading violinists of her generation. Standing elegantly on the stage wearing a stunning red gown, the South Korean born virtuoso provided some gorgeous and assured playing. Park’s Lorenzo Storioni violin from Cremona (1781) projected a large, magnificent singing tone that easily filled each corner of the hall. Her performance of the beautiful central movement Adagio contained a tenderness that bordered on the sensuous.”
Michael Cookson, Seen And Heard International, February 2013