A melody shared with a mother, now carried on a daughter's keys

A 400-year-old cello and two generations at the piano

Noras takes the stage with Kim Kyu-yeon, daughter of Lee Kyung-sook

'A conversation of responding to each other's sound'

Cellist Arto Noras and pianist Kim Kyu-yeon [Seoul International Music Festival]

There is a cello made in 1600. For more than 400 years it has weathered wars and the turbulence of history. Finnish cello master Arto Noras, 84, has held it close and drawn his bow across its strings for 64 of those years. Now he is sharing a stage with pianist Kim Kyu-yeon, 40, a professor at Seoul National University — at the 18th Seoul International Music Festival, held Wednesday at Seoul Arts Center.

Nearly half a century separates the two musicians. Noras first came to Korea 50 years ago to teach, and shared a chamber music stage with Lee Kyung-sook, 81, the doyenne of Korean piano — who is Kim's mother. Across that generational divide, Kim now stands as an equal musical partner to the living legend who once performed alongside her mother.

"Korea is one of the countries I have visited most, and having come here for so long, I have many friends — not just students or fellow musicians," Noras said.

Half a century watching Korean cello grow: 'String players must speak in their own sound'

Noras first set foot in Korea in the late 1970s. Invited by his colleague, cellist Hyun Min-ja, he met the next generation of Korean musicians through a master class at Yonsei University.

"At the time, cello education in Korea had not yet taken root as broadly as it has today," he said. "Since then I have watched Korean music education and the standard of cello playing develop enormously over the years."

That growth is reflected in numbers. Noras served as jury president for the cello division at the George Enescu International Competition, held in Bucharest, Romania, in August and September. Of the 247 applicants, 52 were Korean, he said. One of the three finalists was Park Sang-hyuk, who took third place.

"Korean cellists have become a very significant presence in the international music world," he said. "Being able to witness that transformation firsthand over so many years has been a special experience."

Over a lifetime at the cello, Noras has lived through several shifts in the musical landscape — changing eras and generations. Watching the dazzling technique and growth of younger players, he said, is both astonishing and a source of joy.

Cellist Arto Noras [Seoul International Music Festival]

"Young performers today command far superior technique than in the past and handle remarkably difficult passages with ease," Noras said. Yet what he considers the true essence of music lies elsewhere.

"Someone may be able to play faster and more accurately than our generation. But what matters in music is not how fast or how skillfully you play. You must be able to convey what a work is trying to say to the audience — in your own sound. Technical brilliance alone does not complete musical expression."

What he prizes above all as a performer is his own voice. "Just as a singer's voice is the essential means of expression in a song, a string player's own sound and musical language are equally important," he said. "What ultimately reaches the audience is not the speed of the fingers or the technique itself, but the music expressed through that sound." It is why Noras continues to refine his relationship with an instrument that resembles the human voice. In an age when anyone can hear great performances through recordings and the internet, he draws a firm line between learning and imitation.

"Ultimately you must understand the score deeply and be able to convey the work in your own sound and interpretation. In that sense, I do not think we have advanced so much as discovered how much we still have left to learn." (Noras)

A sonata dedicated to a master: giving sound to what the score holds

The program for the two musicians' cross-generational stage includes Cello Sonata No. 3 by Ryu Jae-jun, the composer and artistic director of the Seoul International Music Festival. The work was written in honor of Noras's 80th birthday and dedicated to him. Ryu, a longtime friend, wove the arc of the master's life into the piece. Noras has collaborated closely with composers of his own era — Penderecki, Sallinen and Ryu among them. Premiering works by the late Krzysztof Penderecki and Aulis Sallinen and expanding the cello repertoire has been a central calling for him.

The master's attitude toward a newly born work is unhurried. "A new piece comes to life the moment it is performed," Noras said. "After the premiere, other performers play it and interpretations can shift little by little — the work begins to be understood in new ways."

An anecdote involving Penderecki illustrates his belief that a score is not a fixed answer. "At first I performed the work with direct guidance from the composer, and later I encountered a performance he conducted himself — the interpretation was quite different," Noras recalled. "When I asked why, Penderecki explained that when he conducts his own work he enters inside it. He becomes one with the piece." It was, Noras reflected, an experience that showed him even a composer's perspective on a work can change.

Ryu's music holds special meaning for both performers. "His works have something they clearly want to say musically," Noras said. "As a performer, I think it is important to understand that intention fully and bring the music in the score to life as faithfully as possible." Kim's thoughts pointed in the same direction. "Ryu puts so many stories into his scores," she said. "Every message the performer needs to convey to the audience is already there. So I try to stay as true to the score as I can — and to carry all of that within my own music and sound."

A 400-year-old cello and an ever-unfamiliar piano: 'The start of a new experience'

For both musicians, chamber music is a delicate conversation in the making of a single piece of music. When different musicians come together, Noras says the greatest danger is self-righteousness.

"The people playing together may each understand and express music differently. What matters is not insisting on your own ideas alone, but respecting each other's views and finding together what is best for the work as a whole." (Noras)

Kim shares that view. She defines chamber music as a process of constant response. "It is not simply several people playing at the same time — it is a process of responding to each other's sound and building a single musical conversation." Aligning phrases, intonation and the flow of the music without pause is, for her, a source of genuine pleasure. "A piano already contains dozens of instruments inside it," she said. "Making music with the people who play those instruments, sharing ideas and finding common ground — that is what I find truly exciting."

The journey to this point has brought inner change as well. The years have transformed her ear. "Looking back at when I was young, I have definitely changed a great deal — and I think I am still changing," Kim said. "Whether in concerto work or chamber music, I feel my ear for listening to others has opened up considerably." The more she hears, the deeper the questions become. "The more you hear, the more you think — so when you perform, you have to strip everything back." (Kim)

The 1600 cello Noras carries has been an extension of himself for more than half a century. Yet even an instrument so close is never quite the same from one day to the next. "It is an instrument I have been with for a long time, but the sound changes a little every day depending on the weather and the surrounding environment," he said. "The instrument responds to its surroundings, so every time I play I have to check its condition and adapt." In truth, he watches the changes in the player more keenly than those in the instrument. "A person changes as time passes, and so does the way you handle the instrument and the way you understand music," he said. Now past 80, the master also listens to what his body tells him. "Keeping the muscles in the neck and shoulders healthy is very important. If something hurts, you cannot play." (Noras)

For a pianist, the situation is the reverse. At every venue, Kim must face an instrument she has never met before — carrying her own piano across the country and around the world is simply not an option. "When the instrument changes, the timing and the imagined sound with which I press each key — everything I need to express the phrasing, intonation and harmony I have in mind — has to be worked out differently every single time," she said, revealing the quiet struggle that takes place before she ever walks onstage.

Though the two have arrived at this stage through a long shared history, for Kim the performance is not a looking back but a setting out. "The two of us have not actually played together for very long," she said. "So rather than a moment to revisit memories we have already built, this concert feels like the start of a new experience — making music together." She said she looks forward to many more days ahead.

shee@heraldcorp.com