Saehyun Kim’s recording debut will pay homage to the first European city where he ever performed, also the home city of his new label: Paris. “It was where my life changed,” he says. The program is dedicated to solo piano works by Gabriel Fauré and Frédéric Chopin, two iconic figures in the history of the City of Light who helped shape the innovative musical landscape of the 19th and early 20th centuries. While Chopin has long been a part of the young pianist’s repertoire, his interest was piqued in Fauré more recently, while preparing to perform in Paris; he admires the music’s mesmeric “charm and delicacy”, contrasted with the riveting “poetry and drama” of his Romanticist predecessor.
The program features Chopin’s set of 12 Études, Op. 25, alongside one of his most beloved nocturnes (No. 8). From Fauré’s early repertoire, he has included the Barcarolle No. 1, Valse-Caprice No. 1, Impromptu No. 2, as well as his very own arrangement of “Après un rêve”, part of the Trois Mélodies set written for voice and piano. In a final nod, the album closes with French singer-songwriter Charles Trenet’s dreamy “En Avril à Paris” (1953).
