THE OBOE WORKS OF ISANG YUN

BY

SARA E. FRAKER

B.A., Swarthmore College, 1999

M.M., New England Conservatory, 2002

DISSERTATION

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts in Music
with a concentration in Performance and Literature
in the Graduate College of the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009

Urbana, Illinois

Doctoral Committee:

Professor John Dee, Chair

Associate Professor Stephen Taylor
Professor Emeritus Bruno Nettl
Assistant Professor Jonathan Keeble
 UMI Number: 3362786

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© 2009 Sara E. Fraker
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 1
CHAPTER 1. BIOGRAPHY AND AESTHETICS 3
I. Biographical Sketch 3
II. Aesthetics 11
CHAPTER 2. PIRI 24
I. Influences of Korean Traditional Music 24
II. Piri for Oboe Solo (1971) 35
CHAPTER 3. THE TRIOS 44
I. Trio for Flute, Oboe, and Violin (1973) 44
II. Rondell (1975) 48
III. Sonata for Oboe, Harp and Viola (1979) 53
CHAPTER 4. THE QUARTETS 60
I. Images (1968) 60
II. Quartet for Oboe and Strings (1994) 78
CHAPTER 5. THE WIND QUINTETS 87
I. FestlicherTanz(1988) 87
II. Blaserquintett(1991) 91
CHAPTER 6. MISCELLANEOUS WORKS 105
I. Chamber Works for Small Ensembles 105
II. Chamber Works for Large Ensembles 110
III. The Concertos 114
CONCLUSION 124
APPENDIX - ISANG YUN'S MUSIC FOR OBOE: LIST OF WORKS & DISCOGRAPHY 126
BIBLIOGRAPHY 131
AUTHOR'S BIOGRAPHY 135

n
 INTRODUCTION

Isang Yun (1917-1995), a Korean composer who lived most of his professional life in

Germany, was a musician who pursued his art in the face of political, cultural, and personal

turmoil. In one lifetime he experienced foreign occupation of his homeland, war, cultural

reconstruction, poverty, illness, imprisonment, and exile. His solo, chamber, and orchestral works

represent an enormous contribution to the oboe repertoire, although these pieces are barely known

to most American oboists. This paper analyzes Yun's oboe works in terms of tonal language,

formal construction, historical genesis, relationship to East Asian musical thought, and European

contexts.

Yun's music, though widely admired in Europe and Asia, has not yet become well known

in the United States. Specifically, his works for oboe merit attention from musicians and scholars

alike. The oboe figures prominently in Yun's diverse body of work. In many cases, his

compositions for the instrument were inspired by friendships with prominent European oboists,

including Heinz Holliger and Ingo Goritzki. Despite the fact that Yun's works for oboe represent

a disproportionately large part of his chamber music output, these works, with few exceptions,

have not been examined individually, nor has their effect as a whole been appraised. A survey of

the oboe works takes us from Yun's earliest days in Germany to the final year of his life. From

intimate chamber pieces to ambitious concertos, this project examined a total of twenty

compositions.

Yun wrote music in a Western idiom which was deeply colored by East Asian aesthetics

and philosophy. Drawing upon a central idea of Korean traditional music, Yun's treatment of

musical tones as living entities developed into a practice he called Hauptton technique. Adeptly

fusing this technique with twelve-tone procedure, a European invention, Yun produced music of

great intensity and richness.

1
 Although my purpose has been to present a comprehensive review of all Yun's works

involving the oboe, 1 have also chosen a handful of pieces to study in greater detail. I selected

those pieces which seemed most artistically significant and might best illuminate the broader

themes in Yun's music. Chapter 1 provides a biographical sketch and an overview of the ways in

which divergent influences shaped the composer's aesthetics. Chapter 2 couples a discussion of

the piri, the oboe of Korean traditional music, with an analysis of Yun's only composition for

solo oboe, entitled Piri. Chapter 3 presents analyses of three trios written for various

combinations of winds and strings. Two of Yun's most important and profound chamber works,

Images and the Quartet for Oboe and Strings, are explored in Chapter 4. Chapter 5 is devoted to

the two pieces Yun wrote for wind quintet, Festlicher Tanz and Bldserquintett. Chapter 6 touches

briefly on the remaining nine chamber works for oboe, as well as the three concertos Yun

produced for the instrument: the Double Concerto for Oboe and Harp, Duetto concertante for

Oboe and Cello, and finally the Oboe Concerto. Exploring a total of twenty compositions, this

paper is intended to serve as a comprehensive resource for oboists performing Isang Yun's works.

2
 CHAPTER 1. BIOGRAPHY AND AESTHETICS

/. Biographical Sketch

Korea: 1917-1956

Isang Yun was born on September 17, 1917, near Tongyeong (formerly called

Chungmu), a coastal town in what is now South Korea.1 His father, Yun Ki Hyun, was a

yangban,2 or aristocrat belonging to a family with a scholarly tradition, who maintained his status

as a "noble gentleman" even when the family came under financial strain. The elder Yun was a

landowner and had a small furniture business, but his preferred activity was writing poetry. Yun's

mother, Sundal Kim, who was of lesser birth, came from a farming family and was not especially

well treated by her husband's class-conscious yangban family.3

Yun attended three years of traditional Chinese elementary school, and then continued at

a common European-style school. As a child, he always loved to sing. At age thirteen he learned

to play some basic violin tunes and began composing his own songs. Yun described many early

musical influences, including the sounds of fisherman songs, wandering opera troupes from the

Korean courts, shaman music, Buddhist chants, and traditional festivals.4

As a young man, Yun first attended a business college, but left home at age seventeen to

study music in Seoul. Although his father strongly objected, he soon went on to study cello,

theory, and composition in Osaka (1933-36) and Tokyo (1938-41). During World War II, Yun

participated in the anti-Japanese resistance movement but, after being imprisoned and tortured in

1943, lived in hiding in Seoul until the end of the war. During the following years of

1
For more detailed biographical accounts, see Byeon 2003, C. Kim 1997, and McCredie 2002.
2
For more about the yangban class, see Cumings (51-56).
3
"His father had two daughters with his wife so, and as was common until recently, a 'little wife' was
procured to ensure a son would continue the family line. Isang Yun's mother camefroma farming village
inland" (Howard 2006, 153).
4
Many colorful details of Yun's childhood are included in his conversation with Luise Rinser. See Byeon
(33-67).

3
reconstruction, he held various educational positions around Tongyeong and Pusan and continued

to pursue composition.

Yun married Soo-ja Lee in 1950 and moved to Seoul after the outbreak of the Korean

War. During those difficult years the couple had two children, and Yun managed to work as a

university lecturer and composer. He was awarded the Seoul Culture Prize in 1956 for his String

Quartet No. 1 and Piano Trio.5 This prize afforded Yun the opportunity to further his studies

abroad.

Europe: 1956-1967

Eager to study and compose at the center of Western musical culture, Yun traveled to

Europe where he attended the Paris Conservatoire (1956-57) and West Berlin Musikhochschule

(1957-59). He worked quickly to absorb the tradition of the great European masters as well as the

innovations of Schoenberg, Webern, Berg, and Bartok. He was stimulated by the contemporary

styles of Messiaen, Stockhausen, Boulez, Cage, and others. Still, Yun's compositional efforts

stood apart. He remarked, "It is hard for an East Asian who came from a totally different musical

world and had no tradition of polyphony to compose with counterpoint and harmony" (Byeon

103-104). Yun's principal teachers were Boris Blacher (composition), Pierre Revel (theory),

Tony Aubin (analysis), Josef Rufer (twelve-tone technique), and Reinhard Schwarz-Schilling

(counterpoint). Although he hoped to study with Olivier Messiaen, Yun found lessons to be too

expensive. Instead, after a somewhat dissatisfying year in Paris, Yun moved to Berlin to study

with Blacher6 (Howard 2006, 130). Yun described his experiences with his most important

teacher:

Blacher was not radically modern; he has almost never written actual serial music, but he
was a prominent teacher. He forced nothing on [his students]. He brought out the best
[...]. He looked at homework fast but precisely, said little, and that only when he had

5
Yun later withdrew all compositions from this period.
6
Boris Blacher (1903-1975) was an influential German composer and teacher who also served as the
director of the West Berlin Musikhochschule.

4
 found a fault. [...] He said to me that I must write in a less complicated way, more
clearly, and also take consideration of the interpretation, thus not write so heavily. He
also said I should develop my Asian timbre-presentation more clearly. [...] I had very
much wished to come into a human relationship with Blacher. He grew up in Asia, in
China. He could understand me, but he had no time. I failed to see the warmth in him.

Yun's original intention was to stay in Europe for only three years, but a blossoming

career postponed his return to Korea. He first gained recognition at the 1959 Darmstadt7 summer

course where his twelve-tone work Musikfiir sieben Instrumente was performed. Yun spent the

next several years in various German cities, where he began to make a modest living as a working

composer. In 1961 he was able to bring his wife Soo-ja to Germany; the children made the

journey a few years later. Upon receiving a 1964 Ford Foundation fellowship, Yun settled in

West Berlin. The Berlin printing house Bote & Bock began to publish his compositions, and

recordings and commissions came more frequently. In 1966 Yun had the opportunity to travel in

the United States for two months. Around this time, after the premiere of the orchestral work

Reak, his compositions began to receive international acclaim.

In the years between the end of the Korean War8 and Park Chung Hee's military coup in

1961, Yun considered himself "totally unpolitical." When Park seized power, however, Yun's

political sentiments resurfaced: "This coup was a great shock to me. At that time my political

consciousness was suddenly awakened again" (Byeon 119). After the coup, Yun founded a

Korean Society with friends. He described how, "Twice a year we held a seminar in which we

discussed the necessity and possibility of the recovery of South Korean democracy" (Byeon 163).

Yun worried about the integrity of the democratic process in South Korea, but most of all he

mourned the division of his homeland. He was never a Communist, nor did he ever work as an

operative for North Korea. Yun did visit Pyongyang in 1963, but for non-political purposes.9

7
Darmstadt was an important center of activity for European avant-garde composers.
8
Major hostilities lasted 1950-53.
9
For an explanation of Yun's ties to North Korea in his own words, see Byeon (163-170, 220-224). Yun
gives a detailed account of his kidnapping in the same source (170-180). J. Kim records Yun's public
political statements (1999, 110-112).

5
According to Soo-ja Lee's account,10 the primary reason for the trip was to see a Korean friend

Yun had met while studying in Japan. Yun also wanted to observe the state of North Korean

society after the war and to view some famous tomb murals located outside Pyongyang. These

treasures of Korean art later inspired his quartet Images (see Chapter 4).

Abduction and Imprisonment: 1967-1969

After living in Germany for nearly ten years, Yun was lured into custody on June 17,

1967, by the South Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) and taken to Seoul, where he was

imprisoned and tortured under suspicion of treason. His wife Soo-ja Lee was arrested five days

later. Yun was one of dozens of artists and intellectuals who were abducted from Germany during

this period as part of a covert operation now known as the "East Berlin Incident." On July 9, 1967

a front page article in the New York Times reported the incident. It reads like a classic account of

a Cold War spy conspiracy:

[PJhysicians, musicians and painters, several newspaper reporters and many students
studying in West Germany and other European countries were involved. Several leading
members were said to have been taken to Pyongyang [...] for training. The Central
Intelligence Agency said that members of the ring were sent to South Korea, beginning in
1962, for clandestine activities. [These] were said to include sending intelligence reports
to North Korea by radio, instigating student demonstrations, spreading propaganda
against the United States and the South Korean Government and organizing secret party
cells [...]. The agency director said the espionage network [...] was part of North Korea's
program to achieve eventual communization of South Korea. Agency sources said the
Communists planned to plant at least 500 agents in intellectual circles in South Korea in
the next 10 years.

When Yun's colleagues and friends realized what had befallen him, they began to

organize acts of protest. In October 1967 a letter signed by dozens of world-renowned musicians

was sent to President Park. An excerpt reads:

Mr. Yun has value not only in Europe, but also in practically the whole world as a
prominent composer [...] his work and personage should be regarded as a priceless
medium for making known Korean culture and art to the outside world. Without him we
would know only very little about your country. Like nobody before him, he has

Quoted by Hur (10): Soo-ja Lee, Nae Nampyon Yun hang, Seoul: Changjak-gwa Bipyong Sa, 1998.

6
 mediated for us through his artistic effort an understanding and love for the Korean way
of thinking. (Byeon 208)

American composer Elliot Carter wrote to US Secretary of State Dean Rusk seeking US

intervention, citing Yun's involvement with the Ford Foundation. Musicians boycotted their

engagements in Seoul, gave public speeches and concerts, and organized letter campaigns

petitioning for Yun's release.

In prison, Yun was interrogated extensively, tortured, and forced to live in extremely

harsh conditions. He even made a suicide attempt in July of 1967 (Byeon 160). Soo-ja Lee was

given three years in prison, a sentence later commuted to probation, although she refused to leave

South Korea until Yun was given proper medical care for a heart condition. Yun was put on trial

and convicted of treason, though there was never any evidence of spying activity beyond his

forced confession. On December 13, 1967, the court sentenced him to life imprisonment, but this

sentence was gradually reduced to ten years. Finally in February 1969, the South Korean

government yielded to international pressure and dropped all charges. Yun was released and

returned to Berlin, where he resided for the rest of his life.

Curiously, the South Korean composer Kang Sukhi (b. 1934) describes the East Berlin

Incident and Yun's detainment in Seoul as a "unique opportunity" which spurred the

development of contemporary music in Korea. According to Kang, the shocking nature of these

events led to

a flood of reports on musical trends in the European music world. Whenever one of
Yun's new works, such as Images [...] was staged, they were given in-depth coverage in
the Korean press and so served as important stimulus for domestic composers of
contemporary music. (Kang 13)

Kang was able to benefit greatly from numerous meetings with Yun during his hospitalization,

noting that "the lessons of Yun's ten-year search for his own distinct voice using a Korean

7
vocabulary and Western techniques had been compressed into a single year of conversations"

(Kangl3)."

In Exile: 1969-1995

Yun was never permitted to return to his native country. He became a German citizen in

1971, although he resolutely loved the country of his birth. In a 1994 message to the citizens of

his hometown, Yun said, "I've been carrying all the precious mental and emotional elements from

Tongyeong all my life while writing music. During my 38-year stay in Europe, I've never once

forgotten Tongyeong." Soo-ja Lee once remarked, "Spending his life in a foreign country, his

heart was always aimed toward his homeland. How do you imagine it felt when people were

celebrating the reunification of the two Germanies?" (Ilbo 2005). Understandably, Yun's

kidnapping marked an artistic turning point in his life. His wife said that the ordeal "changed his

thinking, music, ideology, everything. He felt the reality and pains of the nation's division so

directly. After that, his music became heavy, he composed music that reflected Korean people's

agony" (Seo 2006).

Following his release from KCIA custody, Yun's musical career flourished for another

25 years. At times he used his art as a medium to speak out about issues of human rights,

disarmament, reconciliation, and peace. He told Luise Rinser:12

Basically to me art and politics are segregated. I am only a musician, nothing else, and as
a musician I have nothing to do directly with politics. As a musician I have only one goal:
to follow my artistic knowledge and its high demand for purity and great dimensions of
consciousness. But remember what I explained to you about my father: he was only a
scholar, nothing else, and he just sat down and read and composed poetry. But when once
a flood came and threatened the house, he sprang up and helped to build a dam. Always
in a catastrophe an artist is also a human like all others, and must do something for all,
hence, to get involved in politics. (Byeon 298)

" Kang's founding of the Pan Music Festival in 1969 marked a turning point in Korean musical culture.
For more information on the development of contemporary music in Korea, please see: Babcock 1995,
Killick 1992, K. Lee 1980, and S. Lee 1991.
12
Luise Rinser (1911-2002) was a German writer, political activist, and close friend of Yun. The two
collaborated on Der verwundete Drache [The Wounded Dragon], a 1977 biography of the composer.

8
A few important political works include the cantata An der Schwelle (1975), a "testament to the

suffering of all victims of political persecution" (Byeon 334); Exemplum: in memoriam Kwangju

(1981), a work about the military massacre which took place at Kwangju, South Korea in May of

1980; and Symphony No. 1 (1982-83) about the perils of the nuclear age, premiered by the Berlin

Philharmonic. Although Yun tackled weighty subjects in many of his pieces, his outlook was not

pessimistic. Yun spoke of how he balanced the expression of suffering and hope in his musical

works:

I'm very optimistic. That's why I compose! I haven't given up hope by any means. In
spite of the fact that very often I deal with very negative or tragic themes, I never
personally find myself in a situation of depression or uncertainty. At the end of every
piece, no matter how tragic the theme or the events around it, I always leave the
possibility of hope in that piece. (Duffie 1987)

After his imprisonment in the South, Yun's relationship with North Korea became only

more complex. He did accept subsequent invitations to visit the North and was always highly

regarded there, even meeting with Kim II Sung. The Isang Yun Music Institute (Yun Isang Umak

Yon'gushil) was established in Pyongyang in 1984, and the Isang Yun Orchestra was formed

there in 1990. As Sparrer explains, both parties had their own motivations for pursuing this

liaison:

Kim II Sung might have wanted to have some representative figure like Yun in his
country, [but] Yun also wanted to give new idea[s] and impact to North Korean music
and culture. He wanted to give relief to North Korean society. He wanted to help and to
open North Korea. (Park Song-wu)

Nevertheless, Yun's relationship with the dictatorship in North Korea could not have been an

easy one. He composed avant-garde music that did not pander to any external idea of what was

politically appropriate,13 and, beyond that, he was a fully integrated member of German

democratic society. Howard presents the most nuanced picture of Yun's association with North

Korea:

13
See Portal 2005.

9
 Yun ignored the ideological control over creativity maintained by the northern regime.
He was ill at ease accommodating the demand for popular art. [...] He chose to remain
silent, even if privately disapproving of how his life was represented in the North; the
soundtrack to 'Yun sangmiri' [a 1992 propaganda film about his life], and including the
symphony he had supposedly composed, was written not by him but by five popular
composers [...] since Yun wrote music unacceptable to the ideology of populist culture."
(Howard 2006, 133)

Yun also became the chairman of the Overseas Headquarters of the National Alliance for the

Country's Reunification, an organization backed by North Korea (Howard 2006, 132).

Yun was the recipient of many honors in Germany, including the Kiel Culture Prize

(1970), German Distinguished Service Cross (1988), Medal of the Hamburg Academy (1992),

and Medal of the Goethe Institute (1994). He was also inducted into the distinguished Akademien

der Kiinste of both Hamburg and Berlin. In 1977 he was appointed professor at the West Berlin

Musikhochschule, where he was an important teacher of composition, especially for students of

Asian descent.

Yun died in Berlin in 1995 at the age of 78. In commemoration of his life and artistic

legacy, the Internationale Isang Yun Gesellschaft was founded there in 1996. Recognition from

South Korea, however, came more slowly. In 1994 a festival of his works was planned in South

Korea, but Yun was ultimately prevented from attending because of political difficulties with the

government. In 2006, a South Korean government panel investigating the dark history of the

KCIA concluded that the East Berlin spy case was fabricated, recommending that apologies be

made and the victims' honor restored (Seo 2006). In September of 2007, Soo-ja Lee, Yun's

widow, returned to South Korea for the first time in forty years, where she attended the first Isang

Yun Festival. The festival was presented simultaneously in Seoul, Pyongyang, and Berlin.

The Tongyeong International Music Festival, held since 1999 in the town of Yun's birth,

has developed into a biannual event celebrating Yun's music. The Isang Yun Peace Foundation, a

Seoul-based organization established in 2005 and directed by Yun's daughter Djong Yun, now

seeks to secure him that place of honor in South Korea. The Foundation sponsors an annual

composition prize and cultural activities to foster peace and understanding. As one journalist

10
remarked in 2006, "People say a tidal change has occurred. South Korea now considers Yun an

icon of peace" (Park Song-wu).

//. Aesthetics

Stylistic Periods

Yun divided his own works into five stylistic periods (Figure l.l). 14 Preceding all of his

mature works was the Study Period (1940s-1958), during which he composed songs, film scores,

and more serious pieces for orchestra and chamber ensembles. These works, composed in Korea

and "reportedly conservative in style," were later withdrawn (Morris 273). Yun felt they

represented an immature stage in his creative development and rejected the neo-Romantic

approach from which they grew.

Works from Yun's First Period (1959-65) reveal an artist pursuing the serialism of his

European forerunners, but in a unique way which engaged his own Eastern sensibilities. The early

pieces of this period were written with strict twelve-tone technique; however, after 1961, Yun

began to use these procedures more freely. The ethos of Korean traditional music began to

penetrate his music as well. In keeping with one European trend of the time, he utilized large

batteries of percussion instruments, while incorporating several types of Korean percussion into

his scores. During this time, Yun "searched for a proper chemistry of the two styles" (Gray 5), as

the "technique of combining Korean musical idioms with Western compositional techniques soon

became Yun's central concern" (Yoo 14). McCredie describes this as a time when Yun

"succeeded in rationalizing influences of Paris, Berlin, and Darmstadt and evolved the first works

of his matured language and idiom" (588).

The Second Period was dominated by the composition of four operas, each employing an

original German libretto based on East Asian stories and themes. Yun's first opera, Den Traum

14
See Yoo (13-17). His source is Sung-whan Jeon, "Special Interview with Isang Yun," The Eumak Dong
- A Monthly Journal of Music. (October 1992): 30.

11
Figure 1.1. The Works of Isang Yun: Compositional Periods.

Period Years Comments Major Works

Study Period 1940s -1958 Early Korean works and student [withdrawn]
compositions.

First Period 1959- 1965 Strong influence of 12-tone serialism. Musik fur sieben Instrumente
Exploration of Asian themes. (1959), Bara (1960), Colloi'des
sonores (1961), Loyang (1962),
Gasa (1963), Om Mani Padme Hum
(1964), Fluktuationen (1964)

Second Period 1965--1975 Focus on operas. Four operas (1965-72), Reak (1966),
Images (1968), Riul (1968),
Dimensionen (1971)

Third Period 1975 - 1981 Focus on solo concertos. Cello Concerto (1976), Double
Concerto for Oboe and Harp (1977),
Flute Concerto (1977) Octet (1978),
Muak (1978), Violin Concerto No. 1
(1981), Clarinet Concerto (1981)

Fourth Period 1981 - 1986 Focus on symphonic works. Symphonies No. 1-5 (1982-1986),
Exemplum in memoriam Kwangju
(1981), Clarinet Quintet No. 1
(1984), Violin Concerto No. 2
(1986)

Fifth Period 1987--1995 Focus on chamber music. Distanzen (1988), String Quartets
Simplified lyricism. No. 4-6 (1988-92), Violin Sonata
(1991), Violin Concerto No. 3
(1992), Clarinet Quintet No. 2
(1994), Quartet for Oboe and Strings
(1994)

des Liu-Tang ("The Dream of Liu Tang," 1965), was based on a 14"-century Chinese tale by Ma

Chi Yuan, translated by Hans Rudelsberger and adapted for the stage by Winfried Bauernfeind. It

was commissioned by the Deutsche Oper and performed at the 1966 Festwochen (Festival Week)

in Berlin.

For his next three operas, Yun collaborated with librettist Harald Kunz (b. 1928), the

German music critic and editor, also Yun's publisher and close friend. Die Witwe des

Schmetterlings ("The Butterfly Widow," 1967-68), the first opera they created together, was

based on a 16n-century Chinese novel. This one-act piece, commissioned before Yun was

kidnapped, was completed in prison and premiered at Nuremburg while Yun was still held in

Seoul. Wolfgang Weber directed the production, and Hans Gierster conducted. Yun's third opera,
Geisterliebe ("Love of Ghosts," 1969-1970), was a commission for the Oper Kiel. Rinser

explained Yun's fascination with the opera's subject matter, the transmigration of shaman souls:

What tempted him was to express musically the difference between the human and spirit
worlds and the transformation of creatures from one to the other: the growth of a human
spirit in the voices of female foxes, and the shrinking of human energy in the voice of the
demonically consumed man. The chance came here to call up one of his strongest
childhood memories in modem music language: the voice of the female shaman [...].
(Byeon 253-254)

The premier production was part of the 1971 Kieler Woche (Kiel Festival), directed by Harro

Dicks and conducted by Hans Zender.

Yun's greatest operatic success was the two-act opera Sim Tjong (1971-72). The work

retells a classic Korean folktale in which a girl named Sim Tjong sacrifices herself to the gods to

heal her father's blindness. Sim Tjong later reappears from within a giant lotus flower and

ultimately marries the emperor. It was commissioned for the occasion of the 1972 Munich

Olympics. The Bavarian State Opera production was directed by Giinter Rennert, conducted by

Wolfgang Sawallisch, and staged with a set design by Jurgen Rose.

It is again the "dimensions,"15 the three planes, on which life takes place and thus
require three different kinds of music: the heavenly, where Tjong came from; the
earthly, where she had to fulfill her destiny in the midst of the good and bad reality; and
finally the elementary underwater world, into which she dived in order to come back
transformed. All the characters of the opera have their own sound-world according to
their relationship to one of these three realms. (Byeon 265)

In 1999 Sim Tjong was staged at the Seoul Arts Center after being banned in South Korea for 27

years.

These years of writing for the opera stage represented a period of tremendous growth for

Yun. Summarizing the stylistic transformation which took place in the decade after Darmstadt,

Yun said, "At the beginning [there was] a search for my own identity, through my tradition and in

combination with modern European or international techniques of composition; and then, in the

15
Here Rinser refers to Yun's orchestral piece Dimensionen (1971), which also explores the different
realms of existence.

13
second phase, a consolidation and many-sided development of my technique." After this critical

period of change, his artistic development continued.

During his Third Period in the mid-1970s, Yun's attention shifted to the composition of

solo concertos. His first composition in this genre was the Cello Concerto (1975). Composed for

Siegfried Palm, 16 it is a very personal work reflecting the struggle between the individual and

society. During this period, Yun worked with many prominent soloists, including Heinz
•f'7 10 • 1 Q Oft 01

Holliger, Ursula Holliger, Akiko Tatsumi, Karlheinz Zoller, and Eduard Brunner.

Morris describes the process of distillation that many have noted in Yun's works from

this period: "At the same time the more avant-garde aspects of his idiom became diluted into a

more direct style, the tone-colour emphasis being partially replaced by less dense textures and an

emphasis on solo lyricism" (Morris 273). This is the time when Yun's Hauptton technique came

into its full maturity (see Chapter 2). Moving away from the thick block textures of larger

ensemble pieces, Yun explored the expressive possibilities of solo voices. Yun remarked: "My

conception of sound [...] has become far simpler, more immediate and clear - it is growing

transparent and even more concertante in manner" (Yun 1981, 35). There is also a marked

decrease in the use of percussion instruments (Feliciano 41). Alan Kozinn of the New York Times

commented that "by the mid-1980s, the sometimes acerbic edges of his early style had softened.

16
Acclaimed German cellist Siegfried Palm (1927-2005) premiered solo concertos by many important
avant-garde composers, including Stockhausen, Zimmerman, Penderecki, and Xenakis. He served as
director of the Deutche Oper in West Berlin (1976-81) and the International Society for Contemporary
Music (1982-88).
17
Swiss oboist, conductor, and composer Heinz Holliger (b. 1939) is one of Yun's most important
interpreters. One of the foremost champions of contemporary oboe music, he has premiered works by
Berio, Carter, Henze, Lutoslawski, and Stockhausen.
18
Solo harpist Ursula Holliger is especially known for her performances and recordings of contemporary
music.
19
Japanese violinist Akiko Tatsumi played in several German orchestras and is now a professor at the Toho
Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo.
20
Karlheinz Zoller (1928-2005) was the long-time Principal Flute of the Berlin Philharmonic.
21
Swiss clarinetist Eduard Brunner played principal in the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra for thirty
years. He is now a professor at the Musikhochschule in Saarbriicken.

14
In recent works like Distanzen (1988), string and wind quintets play off each other, creating a

magical shimmer that eludes stylistic classification" (21).

The Fourth Period represented an outpouring of orchestral writing in the form of five

symphonies, completed within the span of five years. The symphonies were an opportunity for

Yun to deeply explore forces which had already become mainstays of his mature style: the Taoist

principles of yin and yang, the rich traditions of Korean court music, Hauptton technique, and

humanitarian concerns. Symphony No. 7 is a consideration of the world's nuclear threat, the

irresponsible use of atomic energy, and environmental abuse. Symphony No. 2 is a view of the

earth from a distant vantage point in space. Symphony No. 3 explores the mediation of opposite

realms (heaven, represented by the strings; and hell, represented by the percussion and brass)

through the human element (the woodwinds). Human rights, especially the oppression of women,

became the concern of Symphony No. 4. Finally, Symphony No. 5, using poems by Nelly Sachs, is

a meditation on an "overcoming of the past, the task of mourning, reconciliation, and peace."

Though each work takes up a unique theme, the symphonies are quite unified in spirit, especially

because they were composed within such a concentrated period of time. Therefore, "despite their

different instrumentation, formal structure, and content they are related in thought and can even

be said to constitute a cycle" (Sparrer 1991, 1).

The Fifth Period of Yun's musical achievement is marked by greater consonance,

refinement of texture, and a more lyrical style. In later years, this simplification of texture and

technique corresponded with an inclination towards smaller ensembles and shorter pieces. "After

1988 Yun's musical output seems to have crystallized in terms of scale and instrumentation. [...]

During this period, Yun embarked on a new direction, suggesting a more introspective and

personal focus" (J. Kim 1999, 192). McCredie calls this a "trend toward ever greater euphony and

cantability" (588). When asked about the future of contemporary music, Yun once said, "I can

say for myself that my music is becoming more understandable, and I find a quality of human

sympathy that is becoming more prevalent in it" (Duffie 1987).

15
 What stands out most about Yun's composing career is the intensity with which he

worked in specific genres, especially the four operas of 1965-72, the five symphonies of 1982-86,

and the flurry of solo concertos composed 1975-84. This attests to the interrelatedness of Yun's

music, especially in the case of the operas (which bear great narrative kinship) and the

symphonies (which form a thematic cycle). Perhaps Yun felt the need to explore one genre

exhaustively before moving on to the next musical form, as if one work could not contain the

essence of what needed to be said. A cosmological conception embracing continuous flow is just

one way in which Yun's music was shaped by Eastern musical ideals.

Influences East and West

The interaction between Eastern and Western traditions has proven to be fertile ground

for musical scholarship.22 Many themes in this area have been well-considered, including the use

of Asian theoretical systems, the incorporation of Eastern instrumental colors, the effects of

Western music on Asian indigenous traditions, and even the employment of Exoticism and

Orientalism. Yun's place in the vast story of cultural encounters and exchanges is an important

one, since he was one of the few Asian composers to gain notoriety in the European musical

establishment in the 20'n century. Joining Yun in this small group of transnational composers

were Chou Wen-Chung (b. 1923) and Tan Dun (b. 1957) of China, Jose Maceda (1917-2004) of

the Philippines, and Toru Takemitsu (1930-1996) of Japan.

Noted for achieving a musical synthesis of Eastern and Western sensibilities, Yun was a

true product of both worlds. Although certain pieces were inspired by Korean subjects, Yun did

not seek to quote tunes from traditional Korean music or emulate its genres literally. In Yun's

catalogue, there are copious titles which make reference to Korean music.23 His scores employ

For further discussion of East-West exchange, see Cage 1946, Chou 1971, Everett 2004, Corbett 2000,
Chang 1995, Morris 1995.
23
Yoo provides a list of Buddhist, Taoist, Shamanist, Korean, and Chinese elements which occur in Yun's
works, listed by piece (55-56).

16
some Korean percussion instruments, while several of his programmatic works engage East Asian

themes.24 More importantly, Korean aesthetics penetrate Yun's music on an abstract level (see

Chapter 2).

Throughout his musical career, Yun was deeply engaged with Taoism, the Asian

philosophy which embraces the Tao (the "Way") as the ineffable source of all being in the

cosmos.25 The Tao "creates the world and remains in it as the seed of primordial harmony,

original purity, selfless tranquility" (Kohn 11). Taoism embraces the "inexorable and

uninterruptible process of change and transformation" (McCredie 589). The Taoteching, an

essential text in the Taoist tradition, begins:

The way that becomes a way

is not the Immortal Way
the name that becomes a name
is not the Immortal Name
the maiden of Heaven and Earth has no name
the mother of all things has a name
thus in innocence we see the beginning
in passion we see the end
for one and the same
the one we call dark
the dark beyond dark
the door to all beginnings
(Lao-tzu, trans. Red Pine, 2)

Yun composed with a great awareness of yin and yang, the Taoist principles which represent the

balance and integration of cyclic opposites. He said that "during every second, two opposing

elements are present" in his music. "And in the course of time, from beginning to end (on a broad

scale), both elements are generally present, complementing and compensating, succeeding each

other as they go on" (Yun 1983, 38-39). Jeongmee Kim explains:

The main tone is ever present in the long-sustained tone as ycmg, yet at the same time the
elements of yang are surrounded by yin: perpetual fluctuations in dynamics, the
microtonal modifications of the main tone, melismas, other types of embellishments. In

24
Important examples include Loyang (1962), Gasa for violin and piano (1963), Exemplum in memoriam
Kwangju (1981), the oratorio Om manipadme hum (1964), and Yun's four operas.
25
Chul-Hwa Kim (1997) explores Taoism and its implications for Yun's music (5-20).

17
 other words, the two opposite elements, yin and yang, are alive, yet in harmony. (2004,
185-186)

The devices typically understood as mere ornaments in Western style (pitch bends, trills,

glissandi, grace notes, etc.) formed the basis of a syntax inspired by an Asian conception of the

single tone. He called this procedure Hauptton technique, or "main-tone technique" (see Chapter

2). Yun often used the metaphor of a pencil and ink brush to explain this idea:

While in European music the concept of form plays a decisive part, and notes become
significant only when a whole group of them are related horizontally as melody or
vertically as harmony, the thousand-year-old tradition of Eastern Asiatic music places the
single note, the constructive element in the foreground. In European music only a series
of notes comes to life, so that the individual note can be relatively abstract, but with us
the single note is alive in its own right. Our notes can be compared to brush strokes as
opposed to pencil lines. From beginning to end each note is subject to transformations, it
is decked out with embellishments, grace notes, fluctuations, glissandi, and dynamic
changes; above all, the natural vibration of each note is consciously employed as a means
of expression. A note's changes in pitch are regarded less as intervals forming melody
than as an ornamental function and part of the range of expression of one and the same
note. This method of treating individual notes sets my music apart from other
contemporary works. It gives it an unmistakably Asiatic color, which is evident even to
the untrained listener. (Feliciano 46)

Yun perceived this to be the greatest point of divergence between the Eastern and Western

approaches to musical composition, and it was this essential idea that propelled so much of Yun's

thinking. "Above all," Yun said in summing up this guiding principle, "conscious use is made of

the natural vibrations of every tone as a means of construction" (Yun 1978, 58).

However, Yun drew inspiration from Western music as well. In fact, the twelve-tone

technique of the Second Viennese School made a profound and lasting impression on Yun, who

extensively studied the works of Schoenberg (Byeon 287). Jeongmee Kim (1999) argues that by

fusing two apparently opposite techniques, twelve-tone and Hauptton, Yun achieved a kind of

"musical syncretism." At Darmstadt, Yun experienced the aleatoric experiments of Cage,

Stockhausen, and Boulez. For a short time Yun felt a great tension between these two radically

different musical philosophies: strict determinism and indefinite freedom (Yoo 18). It was in part

the music of Ligeti and Penderecki which spurred Yun to progress through this period and

continue on his own direction. Yun kept an ear open to the work of his colleagues, but never

18
compromised his own voice. He remarked, "There are some modern composers whom I very

much value: Lutoslawski, Stockhausen, Nono, Ligeti, Penderecki, and Bernd Alois Zimmerman.

But I always walked with them only a short distance, and then I continued alone on my

compositional path" (Byeon 288).

Further blurring the false dichotomy between Yun's Eastern and Western influences is

the point that the tone cluster techniques at work in pieces like Penderecki's Threnody (1960) and

Ligeti's Atmospheres (1961) owe a certain debt to the East:

Although the ancestry of phase (minimal) music as well as other brands of musical stasis
is traceable in part to [...] specific Western precursors, its foundation in Eastern traditions
is also apparent, as its most noted practitioners will insist. Thus it is obvious that this new
sense of time without end, of a music that seems to continue after the music has stopped,
is not the creation of the Minimalists. (Watkins 577)

Jeongmee Kim explores Yun's case from an anthropological perspective, viewing his career

through the lenses of diaspora and post-colonialism. Kim describes Yun as a "diasporic

composer," asserting that it was "geographical displacement that enabled him to discover his own

identity." She writes that the diaspora experience

is defined not by essence or purity but by the recognition of a necessary heterogeneity

and diversity. It is a conception of "identity" that lives with and through, not despite,
difference, and by means of hybridity. Yun was to acknowledge and explore in his works
this "diasporic aesthetic" and its formations as a part of the postcolonial26 experience.
(Kim 2004, 171-172)

At his core, Yun was uninterested in the question of East and West polarities, hoping only to craft

a musical language which was totally his own, totally original: "I write the music that I have to

write, because I am just myself (Byeon 287). He saw composition as a spiritual act - a universal

act - and rejected efforts to categorize his music:

The inner truth is, in actuality, a music of the cosmos. Realistically seen, I've had two
experiences, and I know the practice of both Asian music and European. I am equally at
home in both fields. [...] My purpose is not an artificial connection, but I'm naturally

Postcolonial refers not only to past European domination of Asian cultures, but also the Japanese
occupation which so deeply affected Yun's formative years: "Before Yun became a diasporic artist in
Germany, he was and remained a postcolonial intellectual surviving the unfortunate legacies of Japanese
colonization of Korea" (Kim 2004, 173).

19
 convinced of the unity of these two elements. For that reason it's impossible to categorize
my music as either European or Asian. I am exactly in the middle. That's my world and
my independent entity. [...] In the cosmos, there is neither East nor West! (Duffie 1987)

Compositional Process

Yun's method of composition was intuitive but also deliberate. He started at the

beginning of a piece, composed straight through, and rarely changed a thing when he was

finished. He never composed with the aid of a piano or other instrument, instead relying purely on

his inner hearing, or mental perception, of the music. It was also very important for Yun, who

worked solely on commissions, to work on only one piece at a time. In a 1987 interview, Yun

gave this glimpse into his compositional process:

Do you ever go back and revise works?

Yun: Never.
When you 're writing a piece, how do you know when it's finished?
Yun: My music doesn't have a beginning nor an end. You could combine elements from
one piece into another piece very well. This is a Taoist philosophy. Music flows in
the cosmos and I have an antenna which is able to cut out a piece of the stream. The
part which I've cut out is organized and formed through my own thought and body
processes, and I commit it to paper. That's why my music is always continuous - like
the clouds that are always the same but are never alike to one another.
When you 're writing, are you in control of the music, or is the music in control of you?
Yun: My deep-lying inner feelings dictate to me. I'm not sure that's myself, but I'm
fortunate to have a Godly gift speaking through me. So I can sound very Asiatic, or
very Buddhist, or very religious, or very philosophic. But that's how I think. That's
why I don't consider what I'm doing "composing." I'm writing down that which my
deepest feelings and instincts tell me to write. [...]
Are you conscious of the playing time of the piece even as you're working on it?
Yun: Yes. I know exactly how long it will be. As I said before, I'm taking a snip out of
the cosmos and I know how many minutes I need, [laughter] (Duffie 1987)

Apparent in this statement is how explicitly Yun related his compositional process to a Taoist

world view. Howard elaborates on this theme:

Yun talked during the last decades of his life about the cosmic nature of his music, how
endless flow gave him a potentially infinite amount of material [...] and since time or
flow is continuous, an artist cuts into the motion at a particular point and breaks away at a
later appropriate point. Endless flow makes exact repetition unwarranted, either within a
work or between different works, because this would create disjuncture and disruption.
Hence, Yun's music is through composed. As an overarching structural concept, endless
flow has its counterpart in Yun's concept of main tones, a concentration on individual
tones rather than melodic sequence: "In the East, it is the individual tone which is the
musical happening. Each tone has its own life." (2006, 151)

20
This idea of continuous flow and change, a central point in Taoist philosophy, is an important

aspect of understanding the meaning of form in Yun's music. Although the Western mode of

composition traditionally relies on harmonic relationships or extreme alternations of tempo to

define formal structure, Yun's music does not depend upon these things. Formal structures are

based more on details texture, melody, and dynamics. Yun wrote, "My music is not structured out

of large variations in tempi. [DJuring every second, two opposing elements are present. [...]

These are called yin and yang" (1981, 38). Fast and slow often coexist: "slow tempi in the

succession of the Haupttone, fast tempi in the execution of ornaments" (Yoo 39). For Yun, it was

important to bring opposites into balance, to realize the microcosm and the macrocosm, in every

moment of music.

Yun occasionally employed a multi-step process of development on paper, although it

seems this was quite rare: "Sometimes I also make a musical sketch, a sort of stenographic

concept, which I then expand. But mostly I work in such a way that only when I am sure the piece

is ready in my head, do I sit down and begin to write" (Byeon 303). Yun described the craft of

composition as a synergy of inspiration and technique. For him, there was an ineffable force of

creativity involved, which he understood as being finely attuned to a cosmic music already in

progress. Beyond this, however, a certain amount of technical dexterity was needed to shape the

material:

Is musical composition something that can be taught?

Yun: The idea of receiving thoughts through your antenna is not a very easy thing to
teach. The student must be quite developed in the soul and spirit. In Europe or America,
one says, "to be inspired." The second thing is also difficult, and that is to organize and
write down these ideas or inspiration that one received through the antenna. That's what
we call compositional technique, and to get that across you need a very experienced
teacher. (Duffie 1987)

Though he was well-attuned to a potent creative force and also blessed with remarkable technical

skill, Yun nevertheless encountered occasional difficulties during his process, most often at the

very beginning of a composition. He told Rinser:

21
 The beginning is always very difficult for me. Only when I have thirty or forty measures
do I come into my stride. [...] What is important is that the first forty measures work
sound. In these first measures are contained all the structure-elements of the whole piece.
If the beginning works, then the piece will come by itself. (Byeon 303)

This may be a simplistic encapsulation of Yun's compositional process, but closer study of the

oboe works reveals an interesting dynamic between two aspects: the continuous and the discrete.

In one sense, Yun creates an "endless flow" which does not appear to be bound by constrictions

of form. The vitality of a single tone is valued over melodic organization. However, there is a

contrary tendency in his compositions which favors clean proportions of phrase and rigorous

twelve-tone techniques. These divergent qualities mingle, like East and West, in every work Yun

composed.

22
Figure 1.2. Portraits of Isang Yun.

-l--/1
rs<-

source: www.timf.org

source: www.timf.org source: www.yun-gesellschaft.de

23
 CHAPTER 2. PIRI

Piri for solo oboe is one of several pieces that Isang Yun wrote for a solo instrument.

These solo works include Glissees (1970) and two sets of Etudes (1993-4) for cello; Salomo

(1978), Sori (1988), and two sets of Etudes (1998) for flute; Monolog (1983) for bass clarinet;

Monolog (1984) for bassoon; as well as several works for solo piano, organ, and harp. In addition,

Yun composed many solo concertos in which he sought to maximize the expressive power of the

solo voice.

Of all Yun's compositions for oboe, Piri is the piece that most directly references Korean

traditional music. Its title is taken from the oboe-like double reed instrument used in Korean court

music and folk music. Piri was composed in 1971 for Georg Meerwein (b. 1932), former

Principal Oboe and English Horn of the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra. Meerwein premiered the

piece on October 25, 1971, at a portrait concert which he organized for Yun in Bamberg. Eduard

Brunner was the first to perform Piri on clarinet, initiating a lasting relationship with the

composer. (Yun composed his Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra for Brunner in 1981.) The

most widely recorded of Yun's oboe works, Piri has been interpreted by artists including Heinz

Holliger, Burkhard Glaetzner, Eduard Brunner, and Omar Zoboli.

This chapter will discuss attributes of the piri and highlight the ways in which Korean

traditional music influenced Yun. An introduction to Hauptton technique will follow. Finally, an

analysis of Piri will demonstrate how Yun synthesized his Eastern-minded Hauptton technique

and Western-derived twelve-tone technique to create a unique musical language.

/. Influences of Korean Traditional Music

The Korean Oboe

The piri is the oboe of Korean traditional music. One of the major melody instruments in

Korean court, folk, and Shamanic music, the piri carries important spiritual connotations.

24
Versions of the piri have been known in Korea since the Unified Silla period (668-935 CE),

though some believe it arrived from Central Asia (via China) during the middle Koguryo

kingdom period (6th century CE) (Song 29). Since ancient times, different variations of the

instrument have been developed for specific repertoires and musical contexts (Killick 2002)."7

Three traditional variants of the piri exist in Korea: the hyang-piri, sei-piri, and tang-piri

(Figure 2.1). The hyang-piri ("native piri") is made of a cylindrical bamboo tube approximately

25 centimeters in length. It is played with a long, broad double reed and has eight finger holes

(seven anterior holes and one posterior thumb hole). The instrument produces a loud, strident

sound employed extensively in court ensemble music, in which a large group of piri often play

the dominant melodic voice. The hyang-piri is also commonly used as a main melodic instrument

in sanjo,2& various types of folk music, and the Shamanic dance music known as sinawi.29 "Its

techniques include ornamental grace notes, vibrato, glissando, dynamic changes and rests.

Gradations of pitch are obtained by varying the pressure of the lips on the reed, the air pressure,

and the position of the reed in the mouth" (J. Kim 2004, 177). Manipulation of the piri reed,

much like in the case of the western oboe, is the critical technique by which the tone is shaded

and controlled. Feliciano notes, "The instrument's sound results from the delicate regulation of

lip aperture and air pressure that allows for the production of numerous timbral, dynamic and

rhythmic changes" (35).

For examples of traditional solo piri music, see:

"Piri Sanjo" and "Sinawi," National Classic Music Institute, Kugak, vols. 4 and 10 (Korea: SDK
1987).
Red Sun and SamulNori, Then Comes the White Tiger (ECM Records 1499, 1994).
Musique de Coree, vol. 2 (Paris: LD 379 BAM).
Park Bum-Hoon, Piri Sanjo.
28
Sanjo is the multi-movement solo form characterized by great melodic and rhythmic virtuosity. The solo
instrument is accompanied by the changgo (hourglass drum).
29
The sinawi ensemble is usually made up of the piri, taegum (bamboo flute), haegum (two-string spike
fiddle), changgo or puk (barrel drum), and other percussion such as the ching (large gong), para (cymbals),
or kkwaenggwari (small gong).

25
Figure 2.1. Piri: the traditional Korean oboe.

a) Comparing the three traditional types of piri (source: Lee Hye-ku 1977, 36)
J
fi0^^^ ^i^^4m%
tang-piri

iij—•^inf^~y W

» 1 <
sei-pin mimJmt***amwmi®wtm i wm 'nmimi

b) Musician playing the piri

(source: Howard 1995, plate 17)

d) The taepyongso
(source: www.ncktpa.go.kr)

c) Fingering system for the piri

(source: Lee Hye-ku 1977, 36)

• • •
• • • • • • • G o • •
• • • ooG • •
• # • o r~'t o c • •
1. : ;~~'\ r
• • • § o o 9 m
.'•• O G C C c • •
• •o : )C
' •' )
:
(J O • •
A :"\ 3O r*, • " " ' I ' " ' " •
c, • o
e d d# f g a a# c' d" F g'
e b d#
c'

26
 Although the same length as the hyang-piri, the bamboo tube of the sei-piri ("slender

piri") is narrower. The softer tone produced by the sei-piri makes this instrument ideal for vocal

accompaniment in kagok and sijoi0 and chamber music with strings (Korean Dance and Music

p41-42 and Song 29). Both the hyang-piri and the sei-piri possess a true range (that is, with no

over-blowing) of a tenth, but notes as much as a fourth higher can be attained by increasing lip

pressure on the reed (Howard 1995, 52). The resulting range is A flat to f.

The tang-piri ("Chinese piri") is made from a slightly conical tube of dark, aged bamboo

(Byeon 125n). Compared to the other two types of piri, the tang-piri has a wider diameter and

shorter tube; it also has a harsher, more brazen sound. The tang-piri is pitched differently than the

hyang-piri. Consequently, it is only used to play a limited repertoire of Chinese origin, especially

ancestral shrine music (derived from Chinese Confucian rites) and tangak (court music derived

from the Tang dynasty). The tang-piri has an approximate range of C to a' (Song 30).

Occasionally the Korean piri has been brought into contact with Western instruments and

musical formats. American composer Lou Harrison studied the piri during his two visits to Korea

and used it in some compositions, including Nova Oda for orchestra (1961-1963), Prelude for

Piri and Harmonium (1962), and Pacifika Rondo for large ensemble (1963). He also designed a

plastic version of the piri tuned to A=440 as a part of his "basic Sinitic orchestra" (Killick 1992,

59). Symphony No. 35 (1978) by Alan Hovhaness, composed for Korean orchestra plus Western

orchestra, also utilizes the piri. Kim Jin Hi, a contemporary Korean composer, has written a piece

entitled Piri (1993) for three piri and oboe/English horn.31

In North Korea, several modifications have been made to the traditional forms of the piri.

Similar to the hyang-piri is the so-piri ("small piri"), made with birch or rosewood rather than

30
Kagok is a genre of vocal music in which the singer is accompanied by an instrumental ensemble for
multi-movement lyric songs. Sijo is a sung in a shorter three-section form with changgo accompaniment,
with the optional addition of sei-piri, taegum, or haegum (Song pi4-15).
31
Available on the CD release Living Tones (OO Discs, 1995).

27
bamboo. It has an extended range of over two octaves. The tae-piri ("large piri") is also made of

hardwood but has a cylindrical body with a conical top section to extend its range. The tube of the

cho-piri ("bass piri") is constructed so that it doubles back upon itself, making the tone sound an

octave lower. These final two instruments are more similar to bassoons and bass clarinets

(Howard 1995, 53).

The taepyongso ("great peace oboe"), another Korean double reed instrument, deserves

mention as well. It is a shawm-like instrument made from the wood of the jujube (Chinese date).

It has a conical bore and plays the main melodies in royal processional music (T'aech 'wit'a) and

also in rural band music, where it is called the nallari. Like the piri, the taepyongso has seven

finger holes plus one thumb hole. It has a detachable metal bell and a short, narrow double reed.

The small reed is put entirely inside the mouth so that the lips rest on the metal mouthpiece. Its

loud and piercing sound makes it ideal for outdoor occasions (S. Chang 333). In North Korea, a

modified version of the taepyongso is called the chang saenap. Made of sandalwood, it is

equipped with a simple key system, "boasts a repertory based around updated folk melodies, and

often replaces the so-piri as the Western oboe equivalent in orchestral ensembles" (Howard 1995,

54).

Traditional Elements in Yun's Music

In Korea today, traditional music is called kugak, while Western classical music, which

has achieved great prominence in contemporary Korean culture, is known by the term yangak.

Yun's music is widely described as syncretic, fusing select aspects of both kugak and Western

music.32 Still, the degree of Yun's faithfulness to Korean sources has been questioned. Howard

argues that the composer's experience as an expatriate left him somewhat removed from the sonic

influence of his native country: "Isang Yun's sound palette reflects knowledge of Korean

In her 1999 dissertation, "The Diasporic Composer," Jeongmee Kim provides an in-depth discussion of
this "musical syncretism."

28
traditional music remembered largely from his youth or experienced from geographical distance.

Moving to Germany left him isolated, and he was restricted to a few recordings and books"

(2006, 147).

There is an intimacy in the sounds of temples and the countryside. In respect to musical
evocations, while it is dangerous to suggest a lack of familiarity, geographic distance
clearly hindered Yun. Many Korean commentators find little in his music that can be
identified with the indigenous. (Howard 149)

On this point, Yun himself made his feelings quite clear. It was never his intention to write

Korean music for Western instruments, nor did he seek to adapt native folk tunes or genres to

Western forms. Yun did not make a detailed study of kugak, as Chou Wen-Chung studied the

traditions of Chinese music and visual arts.33 Yun stated it most concisely to Luise Rinser when

he said, "I worked with Western technique, but behind that was always the East Asian sound

imagination" (Byeon 125). But what phenomena lie behind this imagination? What resonances

can be found between Yun's philosophy and the indigenous traditions of Korean music?

Living Tones

The most important stimulus that shaped Yun's creative work was the notion that musical

tones are living entities, and therefore constitute the essential substance of a musical idea,

regardless of their positional relationship to other tones or their place in a larger musical structure.

This awareness of tone is common throughout Asian musical traditions, and Yun was certainly

not alone in recognizing it. Hwang Byung-ki, a scholar who has written much about Korean

musical aesthetics, made the following observations:

Korean music is founded on a principle called him, meaning universal vitality. First, each
musical sound must carry a powerful, vibrant tone color, rather than a tone color that is
clear, sweet, or voluminous. Second, each musical sound must be dynamic, varying
delicately in tone color, volume, and pitch. What gives such variation to one sound or one
voice is called sigimsae—the term indicates something that "ferments" a sound in order

The career of Chinese composer Chou Wen-Chung (b.1923) offers an interesting contrast to Yun's work.
See Peter Chang's dissertation, Chou Wen-Chung and His Music: A Musical and Biographical Profile of
Cultural Synthesis (1995).

29
 to make it flavorful. The major melodic instruments of Korea are all constructed so as to
give sigimsae free expression. (Hwang 815)

To trace the history of this conception, it is useful to first consider the ancient attitude

toward music (Aak) in Korea, 34 as documented in a 15th-century text: "Aak is an artistic

accomplishment to cultivate a sage's moral character, to harmonize man with the supreme being,

to calm both the heaven and the earth, and to balance yin and yang." Aak was a "cosmological

concept of music" and was alternatively called chongak ("righteous music") or taeak ("great

music "). 3 5 This type of music commonly employed a slow pulse and beat structure (for example,

quarter note = 30 with a 20-beat metric cycle); it was not to be enjoyed on a sensual or kinesthetic

level, but rather "appreciated through meditation" (Hwang 2002, 813).

Yun took this musical conception to heart; the philosophy of Aak was the basis for his

own art.36 He took care to differentiate this music's "literary orientation" from the folk traditions

of East Asia. As he understood it, Aak was "based on the rules of philosophy and of the religious

cult, and on the practical rules of life laid down by the philosophers. In these, music is regarded

and promoted as a vitally important form of expression for philosophy, for cult and for everyday

life" (Yun 1978,57).

Born from this overarching view of music's place in spiritual life and the natural world

was the idea that tones are inhabited by a life force which animates all musical sound. Korean

musical thought is suffused with the principle that musical tones are living entities. 37 Yun

believed that tones were more than mere pitches or numbers on a scale; each tone was already in

It is important to note that the development of music in Korea was deeply intertwined with the musical
cultures of China and Japan. For historical accounts of the development of music in Korea, see Howard
(1995, 10-24) and Song (2000, 3-38).
35
Today, the Korean equivalent of the English word "music" is umak, a term invented in the late 19th cent,
when Western music was first introduced into Korea. Kugak or Hanguk umak are the terms used for
traditional Korean music.
3
Yun was one of many contemporary Asian composers to incorporate an understanding of kugak into their
music. Howard (1997, 2006) discusses many of these composers, including Youghi Pagh-Pan (b.1945),
Suki Kang (b.1934), Byng-dong Paik (b.1936), and Jin Hi Kim (b.1957).
37
The concept of living tones is certainly not unique to Korean music. It is a notion that has penetrated the
musical traditions of many Eastern cultures, including China, Japan, India, and Indonesia. See Chou Wen
Chung 1968.

30
itself "a complete cosmos" and "full of life" (Kim 1999, 69). When Yun contrasted Western and

Eastern ideas about the significance of musical tones, he often used the metaphor of the pencil

and calligraphy brush (see Chapter 1). This is a fundamental notion that pervades all of Yun's

works. His scores reveal remarkable attention to pitch variations, ever-evolving dynamics,

changes in vibrato, glissandi, trills, grace notes, and articulations. These details are not superficial

decorations arranged upon an underlying structure, but the very essence of Yun's musical

creations.

Yun's compositions and Korean traditional music both absorb ornamental tones as a key

aesthetic feature. In Western music, ornaments typically decorate the main note, or the melodic

note with the most harmonic/structural significance. In Korean music, this hierarchy is less clear

as ornamental tones become part of the melodic fabric of the music. In addition to being a vehicle

for personal expression, the practice of ornamentation is also important for musical structure.

"During the performance, the ornamental pattern, not the metronomic beat, plays a decisive role

in determining the extent of the elasticity of the rhythm and in signaling the imminent completion

of the phrase" (B. Lee 1997, 61). Chou Wen-Chung points out that Korean wind players "seem to

be particularly aware of almost every potential on their instruments, and often display a dazzling

agility in varying the lip aperture and air pressure to control various types of vibrato and tremolo

in addition to fluctuations in pitch and loudness" (1968, 89).

One obvious feature of Korean music that manifests in Piri is the treatment of pitch-

bends at the ends of certain notes (Figure 2.2). In Korea's traditional music, a sustained note often

bends a quarter-tone higher or lower; the pitch slide can also be enhanced by an accent or

crescendo. Yoo writes, "Strong accents at the beginning or ending of the sustained tone recall, as

Yun has suggested, brush strokes of Oriental calligraphy" (Yoo 41-2). Howard suggests that the

"rising portamento ornament" (e.g. m. 6, 15, 31) is drawn specifically from the Rite to Confucius,

while the "vibrato that increases as a tone progresses echoes the literati suite Yongsan hoesang"

(2006, 147).

31
Figure 2.2. Piri, mm. 107-111.

PIRI© Copyright 1971 by Bote & Bock Musik - Und Buhnenverlag GMBH & Co.Reprinted by permission of Boosey & Hawkes, Inc.

Yoo has connected Yun's use of ornamentation to the Korean technique called Sigimsae,

the traditional mode of ornamentation used mainly by wind instruments like the piri and taegum.

"Yun used ornaments from Sigimae to create typically Korean woodwind figurations and timbres

[...] to convey a sense of delicacy and to decorate the Haupttone of the melodic line" (35). Yoo

also describes Yun's use of Nong-Hyun, the traditional Korean instrumental technique made up of

trills, glissandi, vibrato, tremolo, and quarter-tones (97-103). Yun himself remarked, "In Korea

there are of course about thirty kinds of glissando" (Byeon 109).

In a 1981 discussion of his solo music, Yun provides the following descriptive narrative

for a single tone:

[Virtually every tone [...] beginfs] with a grace-note. When the tone is settled, that is the
start, quite without vibrato: and this tone wants to live on and on. This fixed
concentration continues for a while, and when it can go no further, then it begins to take
on just a little vibrato. As the vibrato grows, something must explode in order that it may
go on living. There is a closing gesture or an ornament; then a tone continues of further,
on a different plane. Again there is a new start, so as to concentrate the tone once again,
and this new concentration again carries it further into life; by now the human breath is
nearly at an end. Then a strong conclusion is needed, through either an accentuated
embellishment or a simple falling or rising glissando. (1981, 36)

An oboist performing Piri must be conscious of this process throughout the performance. It is

also interesting that Yun explicitly makes the connection between Haupttone and the human

breath. This recognition of the breath as a fundamental unit of musical time should encourage any

wary performers. He actually defines Hauptton as "sounding for the duration of a breath" (1981,

36). Yun's music really does breathe, and there are few instances in which the performer

encounters a passage which fights the natural cycle of the breath.

32
 Youm, meaning the continuation of music after the sound stops, is one important concept

in Korean music. There is a performance technique associated especially with string instruments,

like the komungo and kayagum, in which the plucking hand continues to move over the string

even though the sound has decayed already. Through this visual suggestion, the audience should

imagine the continuation of the vibrato - that is, the continuation of the life of the tone (B. Lee

1997, 62). A connection can also be made here with the visual arts, since negative space (yobaek)

is an important concept in Korean painting. Hanh Myung-hee observes that this negative space

shares a kinship with the "sonic rest" between musical notes and can be related to the Asian

philosophical concept of void or emptiness (41). In ancient times, listeners at the royal court

"took pleasure in the idea that youm was something mystical, and that it was analogous to

nature," like the outward expansion of ripples in a pond (Hwang 813). Yun was very conscious of

this aspect: "After the tone has finished sounding, it remains in our sonic memory, our

imagination, and goes on sounding further" (Yun 1981, 35). This also relates to his compositional

process and his belief that the music of the cosmos was without beginning or end. Youm is an

important idea to keep in mind when performing any Yun composition, but especially a solo work

like Piri. The last multiphonic tone of the piece should fade into nothingness, observing Yun's

instruction fast unhorbar ("nearly inaudible").

Hauptton Technique

Yun's theory of musical tones became encapsulated in what he called Hauptton

technique, or "main tone" technique. He wrote:

The basis of my composition is "Einzelton" [a single tone]. Each tone, involving the
power of the chameleon, becomes a foundation along with ornamentations, vibratos,
accents, glissandos, which envelop the sound unit of a single note. I called this Hauptton.
(J. Kim 1999, 73)

Hauptton can be defined as a structural unit comprised of a tone's initiation (often

decorated with grace-notes), a sustained central pitch, and an ending gesture. The entire Hauptton

is typically embellished with glissandi, trills, vibrato, dynamic changes, and pitch bends. In Yun's

33
music, the quarter-tone upward pitch bends one hears at the ends of many Hauptton phrases are

derived from similar gestures in Korean traditional music, especially the vocal genres of kagok,

kasa, and sijo (Yoo 42).

Though some Haupttone do focus on one central pitch, it is more common for a Hauptton

to progress through several pitches. It is important to understand that the concept of Hauptton

should not be conflated with the idea of a single central pitch. Rather, the "main tone" here is the

organizing musical principle of the phrase, a vital being which undergoes many surface changes

but remains essentially one integrated stream. Yun once explained, "I do not write notes that

suddenly appear or disappear. My notes always gain preparation notes and then settle down. As it

repeats, musical vitality occurs" (Hur 27). In this way, Yun's Hauptton technique is inextricably

bound up with the idea of musical sound as a living substance.

Yun also equated Hauptton technique with the Taoist principles of yin and yang. The

sustained central core represents the dominant yang, while yin is embodied by the active

ornamental tones:

The main tone is ever-present in the long sustained tone as yang, yet at the same time the
elements of yang are surrounded by yin: perpetual fluctuations in dynamics, the
microtonal modifications of the main tone, melismas, other types of embellishments. In
other words, the two opposite elements, yin and yang, are alive, yet in harmony. (Kim
1999,76)

Taoist philosophy also proposes that the tone, like all things in the cosmos, should be in constant

flux:

Taoism indicates the inexorable and uninterruptible process of change and

transformation. [...] Taoism promulgated the analogy of a seamless fabric of unimpeded
constant change as experienced in the slow movement of inner transformation within the
immutable. (McCredie 589)

Yun used the term Hauptton within the context of a single musical voice or small

chamber work, while he used the term Hauptklang ("main sound") when discussing denser

ensemble textures. Two or more Haupttone occurring simultaneously create a Hauptklang. The

term can also be understood as "a pitch collection used as a compositional focus throughout a

34
section" (Yoo 43). Hauptklang is usually an obvious feature in a score, since there is almost

always parallel motion of voices moving in one sound block, so that "the general impression is of

one quite large motion or current" (Yun 1983, 37).

The first major statement of Hauptton/Hauptklang technique was Reak (1966), an

orchestral piece that marked a turning point in Yun's artistic development. Influenced more by

the tone cluster technique of Penderecki and Ligeti, rather than the twelve-tone theories which

had driven earlier compositions, Reak employed

a musical texture determined through long-sustained sounds comprising sonic surfaces,

threads, bands, or blocks that follow on or emerge out of each other, as parts as though
extracted from an unending continuity of sound. The emphasis is thus primarily on
timbral inflection and subtle kaleidoscopic change. (McCredie 589-590)

Multiple voices are needed to create a Hauptklang texture, of course, and this term will be

discussed in later chapters in reference to Yun's chamber works (see Chapters 3 and 5). Since

Piri is a solo composition, however, the following analysis will focus on the interplay between

twelve-tone composition and Hauptton technique.

//. Piri for Oboe Solo (1971)

The Prisoner's Cry

The intensity and expressiveness of the piri creates a strong association with human

emotion and the human voice. Shamans believe that/?//-/ music "attracts the spirits better than any

other" and is the most effective when "pleading with ancestral spirits." The case is similar in folk

music, since "to many in the countryside, the piri most closely amongst all instruments imitates

the human voice" (Howard 1995, 5; 1997, 63). Moreover, the piri "has traditionally been

considered an instrument of the soul." In Isang Yun's composition Piri, the intention is not

merely to conjure sounds of a traditional Korean instrument. In this music, written just a few

years after Yun's release from a South Korean prison, "the oboe becomes the prisoner's cry"

35
(Howard 2006, 132). Heinz Holliger, one of the premiere interpreters of Yun's works, wrote that

Piri

embodies the quintessence of Yun's monadic composing: a sound materializes -

blossoms - dies away; energy picks up in ever richer, upward aspiring appoggiatura
figures; the sound dies away in gently descending gestures. - Ritual stasis intensifies into
almost orgiastic tumult. - An epilogue whose individual, continually mutating iridescent
single tones, like temple bells, might be marking the verses of a Buddhist prayer. - The
infinitely high, infinitely sustained sounds of the oboe as traumatic memory: a narrow
beam of radiant light penetrating the somber prison cell from far above. (Holliger 2003,
24)

In this regard, the Cello Concerto (1975-76) shares a special relationship to Piri, since the

solo cello in that work is also meant to represent the voice of the prisoner. Yun said that the

Concerto "is a protest against imprisonment, both physical and spiritual. It is very direct music:

the cello is the voice of the imprisoned spirit, the orchestra that of the oppressor, which, being

human itself, can turn to love and reconciliation" (Byeon 244). The cello's last note, ascending in

an octave leap, was meant to symbolize "desire and demand for freedom, purity, and

absoluteness" (Byeon 33). Yun used this device throughout his music: "My music always ascends

from the bottom to the top. This ascending pattern suggests liberation to me" (J. Kim 1999, 69).

The characteristic which most relates Hie piri to the character of the human voice is the

agility with which it can bend, inflect, and connect pitches. This flexibility of expression allows it

to plead with spirits, become the voice of the prisoner, and convey desperate sadness. Yun gave

his own colorful summation of the aesthetic of Piri: "It is an example of linear structure which,

according to the principle of the main-tone, but in a sense very much like the growth of a

vegetable, reaches out upwards; and at its peak the tone, glowing, tries to go on living" (Yun

1981,37).

The fluid pitch bending so characteristic of the piri is consciously imitated by Yun in

another composition, Loyang (1962). Yun told how he conceived the brass glissandi in the third

movement of Loyang to resemble piri:

I did not take any East Asian instruments, but I wrote out special techniques to play for
European instruments. For example, through the up and down movement of flute a strong

36
 vibration is produced. Or the brasses have glissandi up a minor second. It will be like the
playing of Piri, the East Asian oboe. (Byeon 125)

One context in which Yun surely heard the piri played during his youth was "monkey

music" (Wonsung'I Umak), which "made a strong impression on me" (Byeon 55-56). This was

folk music of Chinese origin that accompanied dancing or dish-spinning tricks, played by the piri,

flute, and changgo (J. Kim 1999, 31). More than folk music, however, it was the traditional music

of the Korean court that would have the most influence on Yun.

Many scholars have written on the ways Yun's music reflects his Korean heritage.38 In

the case of Piri, it is possible to examine how these influences acutely affected one specific

composition. Obviously, the work pays tribute to an indigenous instrument, even though it was

written for performance on a Western oboe. In a 1990 interview with Keith Howard, Yun

described his efforts:

I wanted to bring both the sounds and the philosophical associations of the Korean piri to
the Western oboe. I use a full range of sounds from very low to very high, and explore
the whole spectrum of yin and yang. New techniques for producing new sounds give
height and depth, and different breathing techniques give new sounds. It is in the nature
of man to breathe. In reality, it is our spirit that breathes. (Howard 2006, 151)

Analysis

Piri is made up of four distinct parts, each comprising one page of the score. Part 1

(quarter note ca. 60) is a series of sustained tones with minimal embellishment which explores the

outer reaches of the oboe's range. The tempo hastens a bit in Part 2 (quarter note ca. 66) and the

surface activity of the music increases as well. The texture completely shifts at the beginning of

Part 3 (quarter note ca. 78), where frenzied 16th- and 32nd-notes create wild arabesques. At m. 120

the tempo pushes even more (quarter ca. 100), but there is a return to sustained tones, again with

many accents, pitch bends, trills, dynamic swells, and glissandi. The concluding passage of this

section offers great freedom in pitch and tempo (and can be omitted if desired, according to the

38
For detailed discussions of specific references to Korean traditional music in Yun's music, see Howard
2006 (147-152) and Yoo 2000 (23-25).

37
score), serving as a transition into Part 4. This last section is marked Langsam, misterioso and is

somewhat improvisatory; every note is to be played as a multiphonic to be determined by the

performer.

Figure 2.3. Piri, Twelve-tone matrices.

Matrix A Matrix B
(Primary Tone Row) (Secondary Tone Row)

Is I9 h Io I, l7 h I2 I4 I10 In Is I7 I10 111 I3 1, h I9 15 I„ U lo I,

p8 8 9 3 0 1 7 6 2 4 10 11 5 Rs P7 7 10 11 3 2 8 9 5 6 4 0 1 R7

PT 7 8 2 11 0 6 5 1 3 9 10 4 R7 P4 4 7 8 0 11 5 6 2 3 1 9 10 R4

PI 1 2 8 5 6 0 11 7 9 3 4 10 Ri P3 3 6 7 11 10 4 5 1 2 0 8 9 R3

P4 4 5 11 8 9 3 2 10 0 6 7 1 R4 P., 11 2 3 7 6 0 1 9 10 8 4 5 Rn

P3 3 4 10 7 8 2 1 9 11 5 6 0 R3 Po 0 3 4 8 7 1 2 10 11 9 5 6 Ro

P9 9 10 4 1 2 8 7 3 5 11 0 6 R9 p„ 6 9 10 2 1 7 8 4 5 3 11 0 R6

Pio 10 11 5 2 3 9 8 4 6 0 1 7 Rio Ps 5 8 9 1 0 6 7 3 4 2 10 11 Rs

P2 2 3 9 6 7 1 0 8 10 4 5 11 R2 Po 9 0 1 5 4 10 11 7 8 6 2 3 R9

Po 0 1 7 4 5 11 10 6 8 2 3 9 Ro p8 8 11 0 4 3 9 10 6 7 5 1 2 Rs

P6 6 7 1 10 11 5 4 0 2 8 9 3 R6 Pio 10 1 2 6 5 11 0 8 9 7 3 4 Rio

Ps 5 6 0 9 10 4 3 11 1 7 8 2 R5 p2 2 5 6 10 9 3 4 0 ! 11 7 8 R2

P11 11 0 6 3 4 10 9 5 7 1 2 8 Rn Pi 1 4 5 9 8 2 3 11 0 10 6 7 R,
RI„ RI, RI 3 Rio Rl, Rl, Rlf, RI2 R I 4 R I 1 0 R I 1 1 RI5 RI7 RI10RI11 RI3 RI2 RIs RI, RIs RI6 RI 4 RI,, RI,

Part 1 of Piri is an interesting passage for study because two methods of analysis can be

utilized simultaneously: twelve-tone analysis and Hauptton analysis (Figures 2.3 and 2.4). The

results of both analyses can be superimposed upon the score, giving a rich picture of how the

piece operates. The first Hauptton begins with two preparatory 16th-notes and ends on the

downbeat of m. 9 (Figure 2.5). Even though the first Hauptton is made up of three different

written pitches (E flat, C, C sharp) and is interrupted by brief rests, the Hauptton gesture

supersedes these things. This is why Yun said, "Every single tone subordinates itself to the

Hauptton, which is the valid forming principle for the whole sound group" (Byeon 139). These

first eight measures encapsulate the life of a singular tonal idea, with its variations of pitch and

dynamics. A new Hauptton gesture commences with the G in m. 9. From the standpoint of

38
Hauptton technique, the notion of absolute pitch is immaterial, since the sounds created by pitch

bends, glissandi, and multiphonics do not correspond to fixed notes on the page. From the

perspective of twelve-tone analysis, however, the concept of pitch is still firmly in play. This

creates a fascinating tension between Yun's procedure (twelve-tone composition) and his creative

product (Haupttone). While the score is a concrete artifact of serial process, live performance

blurs the rigid conception of pitch inherent in that process.

Figure 2.4. Twelve-tone and Hauptton analyses ofPiri.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

mm. row Hauptton mm. row mm. row row
1-20 Ps 1-9 64-74 h 112-113 Po+ R8
9-16 75-87 U 113 Io+ R8
17-20 87-95 I7 113-114 R7+*
21-40 Pn 21-27 96-101 P11 114 IS+
27-36 101-104 I7 114-115 R5*
41-48 P2 41-44 104-111 I4* 115-116 R„
45-48 116-117 R2
48-51 P5 48-54 117-125 R5
51-61 U 125-133 R1,0
54-60 133-135 -
135-139 RI,
140-144 -

partial tone row + secondary tone row

Figure 2.5. Piri, mm. 1-16.

PIRI© Copyright 1971 by Bote & Bock M u s i k - Und Biihnenverlag GMBH & Co.Reprinted by permission of Boosey & Hawkes, Inc.

Nevertheless, of all Yun's works for oboe, Piri employs the most rigorous application of

twelve-tone technique. The initial statement of the row is completed in m. 20; it comprises three

39
complete Haupttone. Subsequent treatment of the row is quite straightforward, with few

exceptions (e.g. the reversal of B and F in m. 45; also the reclaiming of F to start the row P5 in m.

48). Yun chooses rows that ascend by three half steps (P8, PH, P2, P5) then moves on to inverted

rows in the same increments (I10, Ii, I4,17). Part II still engages the Hauptton principle, but its

gestures are more varied and condensed. As a result, each Hauptton (with its own preparations

and inflections) typically lasts for a shorter duration (Figure 2.6). However, these shorter tones

are organized into larger phrases which continue the feeling of long, expansive tones (e.g. mm.

64-74). Howard has said, "Main tones can be made to flow into each other, as different coloured

threads, colours, or streams." The Hauptton technique could become complex and opaque in large

ensemble works, due to the layering of multiple voices and textures. Yun's clearest articulation of

the technique was made in the medium of the instrumental solo. Howard observes that "solo

works such as Piri and Etiiden refract main tones to give clarity to the ornamentation complexes"

(152).

Figure 2.6. Piri, mm. 64-68.

PIRI© Copyright 1971 by Bote & Bock Musik - Und Buhnenverlag GMBH & Co.Reprinted by permission of Boosey & Hawkes, Inc.

Part 3 introduces a secondary tone row, which Yun uses four times before returning to the

original row. In the highly melismatic passage from mm. 112-117, the concentration of tone rows

is much greater because more pitches are used (Figure 2.7). At m. 117 the pace slows again, and

the rows stretch over several bars. The end of Part 3 contains passages which do not clearly

conform to either of the tone rows (mm. 113-135 and mm. 140-144). Part 4 states the retrograde

40
form (R8) of the original row exactly twice, although every notated pitch is actually meant to

sound as a multiphonic.

Figure 2.7. Piri, mm. 112-117.

PIRI© Copyright 1971 by Bote & Bock Musik - Und Buhnenverlag GMBH & Co.Reprinted by permission of Boosey & Hawkes, Inc.

Performance Issues

Of all Yun's pieces for oboe, Piri is one of the most technically challenging works.

Endurance is the primary difficulty; the oboist alone must sustain the energy of the piece

(performances typically last between 11 and 15 minutes), often holding and manipulating

extremely high pitches for several measures at a time. Great strength and flexibility are required

to accomplish the tonal and dynamic inflections notated in the score. An important element of

Holliger's interpretation of the piece is the constant variation in amplitude and frequency of the

vibrato. This aspect, which goes beyond any written instruction in the score, gives a sense of

energy and vitality to the sustained tones. On the modern Conservatoire oboe, glissando effects

can be difficult to execute, since the keys

preclude the fingers from being drawn gradually across the holes. Portamenti and
glissandi not only require special digital technique involving the gradual uncovering or
covering of holes, but subtle manipulation of the lips and breath to disguise the steps and
to compensate for the changes in resistance resulting from partially closing the holes.
(Burgess 269)

41
American oboists, who typically play less supple reeds than Europeans, might find they need to

adjust their reed style to perform Yun's works. On the other hand, an inflexible reed may help

facilitate the low C sharp rolling tone in m. 63. This effect is "produced by distorting the

harmonics of a monophonic" as the performer over-blows and slightly bites the reed. "The rolling

actually consists of the beats between the partials as they become non-harmonious" (Burgess

274). The final section of the piece (Part 4) requires imagination and patience to master the

idiosyncrasies of each multiphonic. The score for this last page includes fingerings and notes by

Georg Meerwein.39

A dialogue between Yun and Luise Rinser revealed some of the composer's thoughts

regarding the demands he placed upon the performers who would interpret his music:

Yun: [Composers] must understand what is playable or not, or what will be possible in
the constantly developing performance technique for the future.
Rinser: Do you believe that composers must set higher and higher expectations for the
instrumentalists?
Yun: Not for the sake of the perfection of virtuosity, rather in order to constantly find
new possibilities of expression and sound.
Rinser: But you yourself write pieces that are actually demanding for soloists. For
example, Piri in which the oboe and Glissees in which the cello must achieve
miracles [...].
Yun: But the reverse is also important to me: that in their cooperation with composers the
instrumentalists understand more and more the compositions, and that they in turn set
higher and higher demands for the composers, along with their technical possibilities.
(Byeon 295-296)

This exchange reveals two important facets of Yun's attitude toward composition. First, he was

not interested in virtuosity for its own sake, but was instead always searching for new resources

In addition to these suggestions by Meerwein, players might consult other sources on multiphonic
technique, including:
Bruno Bartolozzi, New Sounds for Woodwind(London: Oxford UP, 1967).
Heinz Holliger, Notes for Berio's Sequenza VII (London: Universal Edition, 1971).
Libby Van Cleave, Oboe Unbound: Contemporary Techniques (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2004).
Peter Veale and Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf, The Techniques of Oboe Playing (Kassel: Barenreiter,
1995).

42
of expression. Second, Yun sought true collaboration between composer and performer, as

evidenced by the many dynamic relationships he built with musicians throughout his career.

Piri conveys a rawness of emotion that wells up from the composer's deeply personal and

traumatic experience. It is also an elegant study piece which demonstrates how Yun unified

twelve-tone technique and Hanptton technique to satisfy his artistic needs. Yun would continue to

feature the oboe prominently in his compositions until the end of his career, enchanted with the

instrument's expressive possibilities and also spurred on by close working relationships with

some of Europe's premiere oboists. In subsequent pieces for oboe, he furthered his exploration

into the sonorities and techniques which make Piri such a fascinating work.

43
 CHAPTER 3. THE TRIOS

In the 1970s Isang Yun produced a series of intimate chamber works for oboe. Each of

these three pieces was a trio scored for a different combination of instruments. Considered here

in chronological order, the trios each bear their own unique character and utilize the oboe in

different ways. The following analyses will highlight Yun's varying approaches to formal design

and tonal organization in each of these trios.

/. Trio for Flute, Oboe, and Violin (1973)

The Trio for Flute, Oboe, and Violin was premiered on October 18, 1973, by Hermann

Pfister,1 Georg Meerwein, and Walter Forchert2 in Mannheim. In this piece, Yun exploited the

similarity of ranges and timbres among the three instruments to create a work of stunning depth

and variety. The high tessituras of these three soprano instruments are especially highlighted. The

oboe part is exceptionally high, frequently ascending to high A flat throughout the piece.

Formal Structure

The Trio consists of three main parts which form an A-B-A structure (Figure 3.1). The

music can be further broken down into seven smaller sections, most of which have separate

tempo designations. Section 1 (mm. 1-40) is a sort of microtonal collage, weaving the three

voices into rich blocks of sound. The tension builds throughout this section until the music

culminates in an energetic burst of activity (Section 2, mm. 41-46). A fermata on the violin's low

G sharp closes Part I of the Trio.

Part II opens with an extended alto flute solo (Section 3, mm. 47-60), leading to a

passage of intense high notes and piercing sonorities (Section 4, mm. 61-68). In Section 5, one or

1
Hermann Pfister was the Principal Flute of the Bamberger Symphoniker.
2
Walter Forchert was the Concertmaster of the Bamberger Symphoniker.

44
two instruments play acrobatically virtuosic lines, while the remaining voices hold sustained

tones. The texture constantly shifts to feature different members of the trio. For the oboist, this is

the most technically challenging section of the piece.

Section 6 signals a return to the tone-cluster texture of the work's opening. There is more

intensity in the sound, however, since all three instruments play mostly in the third octave above

middle C. In mm. 120-122 the music gradually becomes more active, building to a frenetic high

point in m. 131. The dynamic range of the closing passage, Section 7, is pp to pppp. The piece

ends in a placid retreat of sustained tones, punctuated only by subtle octave leaps.

Figure 3.1. Trio for Flute, Oboe, and Violin, Formal Structure.

mm. Tempo Comments

Section 1 1-40 quarter ca. 46 microtonal collage
Section 2 41-46 quarter ca. 66 energetic culmination

Section 3 47-60 quarter ca. 60 Alto Flute solo

Part II Section 4 61-68 quarter ca. 52 extreme heights
Section 5 69-82 quarter ca. 60 acrobatics

Section 6 83-132 quarter ca. 60 high intensity, microtonal collage

Section 7 133-143 quarter ca. 46 placid retreat

Tonal Organization

The Trio is a twelve-tone composition with some innovative features. Section 1 (mm. 1-

40) is not based on the tone row, but does touch on all twelve tones in the aggregate. Each phrase

in this first section revolves around a few specific tones (Figure 3.2). In m. 1, the flute begins on

a C sharp, the oboe plays C, and the violin plays D. Though they bend the pitch one quarter-tone

upwards and downwards, the three voices do not leave these written pitches until a brief flourish

of escape in m. 10. The same procedure is repeated in mm. 11-20, so that the same wonderfully

dense texture is created by three new semitones (E flat, E, and F). The color shifts in m. 21,

where each instrument now plays a quasi-unison, with constant microtonal fluctuations, on A flat

(although the violin hints briefly at G). A sharp and B are the next two semitones, occupying

mm. 25-29. As the dynamics grow louder, the color begins to spread as tone collections with

45
wider intervals are introduced (mm. 30-40). This entire passage can be understood as a trio of

Haupttone in their most essential form, presented with only minimal embellishment and

variation. Yun's layering of consecutive semitones is very much in the spirit of the tone cluster

works of Ligeti and Penderecki, though in miniature form.

Figure 3.2. Trio for Flute, Oboe, and Violin. Tonal organization and phrase structure, Section 1
(mm. 1-40).

mm. 1-10 mm. 11-20 mm. 21-24 mm. 25-29 mm. 30-34 mm. 35-40

Section 2 arrives with a burst of energy and the presentation of a twelve-tone row (Figure

3.3). Although three versions of the row are presented simultaneously, the oboe's version has

been designated as the primary form (P6), since the violin's row (I5) is incomplete and the flute's

row (R3) is slightly re-ordered (Figure 3.4). Yun continues to use the tone row liberally

throughout Sections 2, 3, 4, and 5. As Figure 3.5 illustrates, Yun incorporates microtonal bends,

trills, and grace notes into his twelve-tone language. Pitches are freely repeated, omitted, and re-

ordered, though the persistence of the tone row is obvious.

Figure 3.3. Trio for Flute, Oboe, and Violin. Presentation of the tone row, m. 41.

TRIO FOR FLUTE, OBOE AND VIOLIN© Copyright 1973 by Bote & Bock Musik - Und Buhnenverlag GMBH & Co.Reprinted by
permission of Boosey & Hawkes, Inc.

46
Figure 3.4. Triofilr Fldte, Oboe, und Violine. Twelve-tone matrix.

16 I7 h I9 lo Is I2 li 110 In I5 U
P6 6 7 3 9 0 8 2 1 10 11 5 4 R6

P5 5 6 2 8 11 7 1 0 9 10 4 3 Rs

P>; 9 10 6 0 3 11 5 4 1 2 8 7 Ro

P3 3 4 0 6 9 5 11 10 7 8 2 1 R3

Po 0 1 9 3 6 2 8 7 4 5 11 10 Ro
P4 4 5 1 7 10 6 0 11 8 9 3 2 R4

PHI 10 11 7 1 4 0 6 5 2 3 9 8 Rio

Pn II 0 8 2 5 1 7 6 3 4 10 9 Ri,

P2 2 3 11 5 8 4 10 9 6 7 1 0 R2

Pi 1 2 10 4 7 3 9 8 5 6 0 11 Ri

P7 7 8 4 10 1 9 3 2 11 0 6 5 R7

Ps 8 9 5 11 2 10 4 3 0 1 7 6 R8

Rl<, RI7 Rl3 RI9 Rio RI8 Rl 2 Rl, RI 1 0 RIi, RI5 RI4

Figure 3.5. Trio for Flute, Oboe, and Violin. Use of the tone row, mm. 69-71.

Jca60,

Ob.

Viol

Ob-

Vioi.

ffmp

TRIO FOR FLUTE, OBOE AND VIOLIN© Copyright 1973 by Bote & Bock Musik - Und Biihnenverlag GMBH & Co.Reprinted by
permission of Boosey & Hawkes, Inc.

47
 Although the tone-cluster aesthetic returns in Section 6, the arrangement of pitches is

more dynamic and complex. Compared to Section 1, the pitch collections shift more rapidly and

the intervals become more diverse. Although the three voices begin in stacked semi-tones (F, F-

sharp, G), the vertical relationships quickly expand to various other intervals. After the

melismatic climax of Section 6, the texture in Section 7 is finally simplified to a single focal

point. Each instrument plays a second-octave G, inflected with pitch bends, octave escape tones,

and subtle dynamic shadings.

II. Rondell (1975)

Rondell was premiered by the Berliner Blasertrio in Bayreuth on September 30, 1975. It

is one of Yun's more conservative chamber works for oboe, which is surprising given the fact

that Yun's music tended to be quite experimental in the 1970's. Few extended techniques are

utilized and the composition possesses a charming simplicity. The instrumental combination of

oboe, clarinet, and bassoon creates an attractive homogeneity of warm, reedy sounds. The word

rondell carries connotations from architecture and poetry, and could also be connected to the

musical term rondo. A rondel (rondelle, roundel) is a small circular object such as a window or

emblem. The term also refers to a poetic form consisting of three stanzas with a rhyming refrain.

According to Sparrer, the title "points to the carefully constructed architectonic design of the

work" (1993). Indeed, form seems to be the central concern in this piece, a feature which is

atypical of Yun's style.

Formal Structure

The form of this work is quite accessible, especially because the sections are clearly

delineated in terms of tempo and texture. Formal analysis reveals an elegant structure of two

main sections separated by a brief interlude, with the addition of a brief coda (Figure 3.6).

Sections 1 and 2 are well balanced: both are made up of the same three-part structure with

48
identical tempo schemes and are closely matched in length (80 and 82 measures, respectively).

The piece has a linear, or narrative, dimension as well. As a result, the material in Section 2 is

greatly intensified, building to a climax in the passage at mm. 139-161.

Figure 3.6. Formal Structure, Rondell.

mm. Tempo Comments

Section 1 1-25 A1 60 oboe solo, dolce
26-48 B' 76 wide leaps, grace notes, staggered entrances
49-80 A2 60 clarinet solo, dolce

I Interlude | 81-106 B 76 free, melismatic, chromatic, tremolos

Section 2 107-138 A3 60 bassoon solo, dolce

139-162 B3 76 agitato, upward pitch bends, climax
162-188 A4 60 wide leaps, grace notes, staggered entrances

Coda [ 188-207 60 microtonal treatment of high E's, then resolution

Each instrument in the trio is featured in its own solo passage, although Yun's treatment

of texture is different in each. Rondell begins with the oboe marked solo, while the clarinet and

bassoon answer in rhythmic unison for the entire passage (mm. 1-25). The opening has a dolce

sostenuto quality and the writing shows a great economy of pitches. There is also a conspicuous

absence of ornamentation; subtle dynamics and a few accents are the only tone inflections

required.

The second part of Section 1 (B1) is a contrast to the first in many ways: nearly every

entrance is accented, the tempo moves ahead, grace notes are introduced, and there is new

emotional intensity. Each part now asserts complete rhythmic independence from the others, as

wide interval leaps in every voice become the melodic focus. Sparrer notes the "melismatic

impulses" of this passage, a quality which resonates in the other B sections of the piece (1993, 9).

However, the original mood returns at the third part of Section 1 (m. 49). This time the

clarinet is marked solo, although the texture is somewhat homogenous because of the three-part

rhythmic unison. All three voices are also given identical dynamic markings, down to each

49
crescendo and decrescendo. The only factor which gives the clarinet solo more presence than the

other voices is its higher tessitura.

The Interlude (mm. 81-106) is an explosion of free chromatic shapes which bring the

"melismatic impulses" of B1 to full fruition. This section of the piece can be heard in three

discrete phrases. The first phrase (mm. 81-94) introduces tremolo figures which change character

according to their dynamics. The second phrase (mm. 95-100) concentrates tremolos and double

trills into ascending frenetic terraces. Forte dynamics overtake the melismatic idea in the third

phrase (mm. 101-106).

Section 2 (mm. 107-188) begins with a bassoon solo, marking a return to the tranquillo

quality of the work's beginning. In this part (A3), the oboe and clarinet work mostly in concert.

However, at m. 125 there is an intrusion of the tremolo idea (at ppp), and tension builds toward a

transition into the next section (B3). At m. 139, the texture becomes thick with flutter-tonguing,

pitch bends, and trills. The music builds to tremendous heights until m. 162, as the three

instruments are pushed to the edges of their range. Here at the ensuing A4 section (mm. 162-188),

there is a return to the familiar sostenuto quality but remnants of dramatic tension now linger in

the foreground. Transformed by pitch bends and bold melodic leaps, the A section does not

resemble its previous statements; it has been altered by everything that has transpired up to this

point. Quite mysteriously, the music flows into the Coda (mm. 188-206), which begins as a

sustained high E in the oboe. This tone, colored by pitch bends, is picked up by the clarinet and

bassoon, creating an eerie quasi-unison (mm. 188-197). Sparrer comments that "[f]he union of

the parts on e shortly before the conclusion almost has the effect of a peripeteia" (1993, 10).

Tonal Organization

Rondell is highly ordered formally, and it exhibits a similar degree of tonal organization.

Yun composed the piece using twelve-tone technique, a fact not immediately obvious

considering the straightforward sound of the work. As Attinello has written, Yun's "vertical

50
sonorities avoid serial density" (779). The first eight measures of the piece contain the prime

form (P9) of the twelve-tone row (Figure 3.7). The two tetrachords of this row each contain six

consecutive pitches: [9,0,8,7,11,10] and [4,3,5,1,2,6].

Figure 3.7. Rondell, Twelve-tone matrix.

I9 Io Is I7 In I10 I4 I3 h h h h

9 0 8 7 11 10 4 3 5 1 2 6
6 9 5 4 8 7 1 0 2 10 11 3
10 1 9 8 0 11 5 4 6 2 3 7
11 2 10 9 1 0 6 5 7 3 4 8
7 10 6 5 9 8 2 1 3 11 0 4
8 11 7 6 10 9 3 2 4 0 1 5
2 5 1 0 4 3 9 8 10 6 7 11
3 6 2 1 5 4 10 9 11 7 8 0
1 4 0 11 3 2 8 7 9 5 6 10
5 8 4 3 7 6 0 11 1 9 10 2
4 7 3 2 6 5 11 10 0 8 9 1
0 3 11 10 2 1 7 6 8 4 5 9
RI, Rio Rls R b Rln RI10 RU Rl 3 RI5 Rli RI2 RI*

In the first eight measures, certain notes in the row are repeated, but only when sustained

from a previous attack, such as the oboe's repeated A in mm. 1-4. The remaining 17 measures of

the first section do not follow the twelve-pitch rule as rigorously: P9 is re-ordered, although the

pitches do appear in familiar clusters. The pitches in m. 1 (A, G sharp, C) are repeated

melodically in the oboe part at mm. 9-14. The two clarinet/bassoon dyads in mm. 2-3 (G - B, E -

B flat) are echoed at mm. 9-11 with the voices reversed. In the next passage, the twelve-tone

technique becomes more strict. Pi is rendered as the oboe melody in mm. 15-34, and also

repeated as a clarinet/bassoon duo in mm. 26-28.

Rondell encompasses the full range of possibilities of Yun's twelve-tone method. The

piece is a composite of strict twelve-tone passages (e.g. mm. 26-33); sections of free melismatic

writing which sporadically quote the entire row (e.g. mm. 81-94); and sequential passages which

do not reference the row at all. These sequential parts (e.g. mm. 55-64 and mm. 150-162) tend to
follow a chromatic line spread over the three voices. Often where Yun treats the row formally

there are accompanimental parts which are either row fragments or freely composed (e.g. mm.

34-48 and mm. 65-80). There are even passages which border on tonality (e.g. mm. 174-179),

with diatonic interval relationships and repeated tones. Adding more variety to the work's pitch

organization is the microtonal treatment of unison high E's in the Coda (mm. 188-197).

Immediately following this passage, the final nine measures of Rondell use only five pitches

[11,1,6,0,5] which happen to occur as a collection in the middle of row I7.

Figure 3.8. Rondell, mm. 148-162.

RONDELL© Copyright 1975 by Bote & Bock Musik - Und Buhnenverlag GMBH & Co.Reprinted by permission of Boosey & Hawkes,

52
 Like Piri, Rondell shows how the twelve-tone technique and Yun's Hauptton technique

can interact within one composition. Feliciano has cited Yun's treatment of the Hauptklang

concept in Rondell. The trio certainly illustrates his description of the Hauptklang technique:

"Parts belonging to the same sound complex are easily identifiable since they have certain

common traits seen in the manner of ornamentation, register and their occurrence in time"

(Feliciano 48). As an example, he describes the passage at mm. 150-162, where each instrument

clearly operates within its own Hauptton (Figure 3.8). Yun employs similar effects - trills,

melismas, microtonal bends, and a high tessitura - in each instrumental part to unify the texture,

creating one homophonic soundscape in which the pitch is continuously pressed upward. The

passage has a textural richness which typifies the Hauptklang approach:

A sound complex sounding in isolation or sound complexes sounding simultaneously are

usually 'embroidered' by short sounds or splintered particles to give added color to the
complex accomplished most often by pizzicatos with glissandos, punctuations by
percussions, short legato figures with the gaps between the notes filled in by glissandos
and many others. (Feliciano 48)

///. Sonata for Oboe, Harp and Viola (1979)

Inspired by Yun's Double Concerto for Oboe and Harp (see Chapter 6), Ursula and

Heinz Holliger commissioned the composer to write a chamber piece which again featured their

two instruments. The Sonata for Oboe, Harp and Viola was premiered by Heinz Holliger, Ursula

Holliger, and Hirofumi Fukai in Saarbriicken on July 6, 1979. The work is dedicated to Harald

Kunz, Yun's publisher and close friend, and his wife Ulla Kunz. The Holligers later

commissioned another German composer, Frank Michael Beyer (1928-2008) to write for this rare

combination. Beyer's Trio for Oboe, Viola, and Harp was completed in 1980.

Formal Structure

Among Yun's chamber music for oboe, the Sonata is unique for its programmatic design.

According to Sparrer, "the composition presents, at least in the first two parts, the game of

53
affecting, wooing, first approach and fulfilled love" (2002, 3). In his analysis, the oboe and harp

become highly personified, recalling a relationship which Yun first explored in the Double

Concerto. Yun did not intend the title Sonata to imply a traditional treatment of sonata form, but

the title did have significance for him. Though no indications are marked in the score, the piece is

clearly formulated in three movements, in the spirit of a classical sonata plan. Nevertheless, the

sprawling and fragmented formal construction of the Sonata is one of its most challenging

aspects. The narrative design, made up of many discrete episodes, is reminiscent of the Double

Concerto (see Chapter 6). Tempo changes appear more frequently than usual, and the

juxtaposition of different textures and moods changes constantly. Two commentators have given

their own outlines of the Sonata's form: Vogt proposes a five-part structure, while Sparrer

describes three tripartite sections (Figure 3.9). Sparrer's solution is the more convincing of the

two.

Figure 3.9. Sonata for Oboe, Harp and Viola. Two alternative explanations of formal structure
by Sparrer (2002) and Vogt (1982).

Sparrer's analysis: Vogt's analysis:

Section Meas. Section Meas.

Introduction 1-20 Introduction 1-55
First Part First Allegro 56-121
Section 1: wooing 21-62 First Adagio 122-170
Section 2: falling in love 63-97 (lyrical interlude) 170-181
Section 3: contrast and annoyance 98-121 Second Adagio 182-218
Second Part — densification and integration Final Allegro 219-285
Section 1: nocturnal overture 122-142
Section 2 143-181
Section 3: oboe d'amore 182-219
Third Part
Section 1: constant driving 219-243
(tranquil interlude) 244-249
Section 2: 250-274
Section 3: Finale 275-285

The first movement can be divided into four sections, beginning with the Introduction.

The opening is an exuberant display highlighting each of the three instruments in the roles they

will play for most of the piece (Figure 3.10). The viola lays down the rhythmic and textural

54
foundation with its chord of a perfect fifth (C sharp - G sharp), played in what Sparrer describes

as "stylized dance rhythms." The oboe represents the melodic element; since F is the melodic

destination of the first phrase (mm. 1-6), the oboe adds (enharmonically) the major third to the

viola's chord. This surprising triadic quality returns at various points throughout the piece. The

harp, meanwhile, plays chords and fragmentary interjections which adorn and animate the

texture. Yun designates the oboe to embody the yang principle, the dominating and constructive

voice associated with the male character. The harp, meanwhile, represents yin as the feminine

character, or negative principle. In the context of the piece's descriptive program about love and

romantic pursuit, the female-male overtones of the yin-yang dynamic are especially prominent.

Figure 3.10. Sonata for Oboe, Harp, and Viola, mm. 1-4.

J ca. 72

SONATA FOR OBOE, HARP AND VIOLA© Copyright 1979 by Bote & Bock Musik - Und Biihnenverlag GMBH & Co.Reprinted by
permission of Boosey & Hawkes, Inc.

55
 After the Introduction, there is a long section in which the oboe and harp trade off solo

passages. Sparrer explains that here the oboe attempts to woo the harp, which finally responds

with emphatic chords at mm. 59-62. In the meantime, the viola's role is that of mediator and

commentator. Throughout the next section (mm. 63-97) the oboe plays a series of extended long

tones which build to a highpoint (high F sharp) in m. 97. The final section of the first movement

(mm. 98-121) is pure frenzy and rowdiness.

The peaceful second movement of the Sonata is set apart immediately by the oboe and

viola's use of mutes (m. 122). In this scene, which Sparrer describes as a "noctural overture," the

harp responds with soft harmonics. There is a brief rhapsodic moment at m. 143, but when the

mood calms again, the oboe changes to oboe d'amore. This exchange brings a new sweetness to

the trio sound, especially when the oboe d'amore is used in the high range. At the same time, the

harpist weaves a silk shawl between the strings to dampen the sound.

The mood shifts unmistakably for the final movement (mm. 219-285). The Sonata drives

with little respite until the end of the piece. The oboe returns with wild tremolos, double-trills,

wide leaps, and fast pyrotechnics, while the viola and harp parts are equally virtuosic. After all of

this cacophony, as the oboe declares its half-step entreaty (G - A flat) over and over, the piece

ends on a surprisingly tender note. There are echoes of Yun's quasi-tonal design as the fifth from

the work's opening measures is retraced (Figure 3.11).

56
Figure 3.11. Sonata for Oboe, Harp, and Viola, mm. 281-285.

SONATA FOR OBOE, HARP AND VIOLA© Copyright 1979 by Bote & Bock Musik - Und Buhnenverlag GMBH & Co.Reprinted by
permission of Boosey & Hawkes, Inc.

57
Performance Issues

For the oboist, the Sonata may be one of Yun's least approachable works. Its disorderly,

non-linear structure is difficult to grasp, with many twists and turns of mood, texture, and

character. This piece represents some of the most brash oboe writing Yun ever produced (Figure

3.12). The technique required encompasses awkward tremolos, double-trills, difficult leaps,

precise control of multiphonics, fluttertonguing, and doubling on the oboe d'amore. In his 1980

recording of the piece, Holliger relished these difficulties and rendered Yun's score with

uncompromising attention and skill.

In his score, Yun left a few instrumentation options for the performers. The oboe

d'amore part is marked ad libitum, and a transposed oboe part is offered as an alternative. A cello

part is also printed as an alternative to the viola part. The Sonata has also been recorded in a

version for oboe, piano, and viola.

Figure 3.12. Sonata for Oboe, Harp, and Viola, mm. 113-121 (oboe part).

SONATA FOR OBOE, HARP AND VIOLA© Copyright 1979 by Bote & Bock M u s i k - Und Buhnenverlag GMBH & Co.Reprinted by
permission of Boosey & Hawkes, Inc.

The three trios analyzed in this chapter each exhibit unique approaches to form and

twelve-tone composition. Rondell is almost classical in its sense of proportion, balance, and

58
simplicity, while the Sonata for Oboe, Harp, and Viola utilizes dense musical language and

complexity of technique within a tangled narrative form. On the other hand, the Trio for Flute,

Oboe, and Violin is a more whimsical piece, a free exploration of instrumental texture and tone

collage with some deference to twelve-tone serialism. Taken as a collection, these works

demonstrate the diversity of Yun's style within a short period of time. The next chapter takes up

two of the most important chamber works of Yun's career, though they were composed decades

apart: one written during a great personal crisis, and the other near the end of his life.

59
 CHAPTER 4. T H E QUARTETS

1. Images (1968)

Images was one of three works that Isang Yun composed while living in custody of the

South Korean government in Seoul after his abduction by the Korean Central Intelligence

Agency (KCIA). The other works from this time period were Riul for clarinet and piano and Die

Witwe des Schmetterlings (The Butterfly Widow), the opera which Yun had begun prior to his

incarceration. Images is a quartet for flute, oboe, violin, and cello. The piece was inspired by a

spectacular Koguryo tomb painting, which Yun visited near Pyongyang in April 1963.

Genesis: Imprisonment

In the biography Der verwundete Drache, Luise Rinser asked Yun how it came to pass

that he was allowed to compose in prison. "One day, I believe in August 1967, they informed me

that I was allowed to work in the cell, and I received notebooks, pencils, and erasers at the

request of my German music publisher. It was not until October 6 that I obtained the things"

(Byeon 231). Yun resumed work on his comic opera Die Witwe des Schmetterlings, a third of

which he had finished before his capture. The score was completed in February 1968 and, after

being inspected by the KCIA for secret messages, was transported to Germany by Yun's wife,

Soo-ja Lee. The opera was premiered at Nuremberg that spring (Byeon 234).

Rinser pressed Yun on the question of how he could compose, especially a comic opera,

while imprisoned and facing a possible death sentence. She suggested that there was the external

motivation not to disappoint friends in the West who were waiting to perform the opera, not to

mention his family who depended on the money from the commission. Rinser continued:

But I know that all these things were only secondary reasons. The actual impulse that
drove you to write this opera [...] was exactly the effort to contemplate your physical
bondage as a "dream." One can say, with dead certainty, that you found yourself in the
same situation as Chuang Tzu in your opera buffa. Working on this opera, you achieved
your true, spiritual, and ultimately genuine freedom. (Byeon 232-233).

60
To this, Yun replied:

Yes, I was in prison and was not imprisoned. [...] And I was often actually happy. I
always heard music around me, a music, which was in myself but also around me. But
the outside circumstances were miserable. I had no desk in my cell, so I had to put the
notepaper on the floor and work on my knees or in a squatting position. Later I got a
small desk. It was very cold in the late autumn and the winter. My hands were stiff from
the chilliness, and every couple measures I had to make them warm with my breath. My
whole body was swollen, and it made it hard to move and to stand up. Often I had strong
dizzy feelings. [...] At the beginning it was not easy to compose. But I remembered the
sounds that I had written earlier, and with that I found the base on which I could work
again. Then as I actually lived again in the musical fantasy, I forgot pain and despair, and
I felt free. Really, I could fly in the air, I could exist anywhere I wanted. [...] I did not
think that my score would survive into the future. I was not all sure that it should be
performed. On the contrary, I was almost convinced that the KCIA would confiscate and
destroy it. What drove me to work was the work itself. (Byeon 233)

Rinser asked, "Do you realize that pain of the prison time has brought you to great and new

knowledge, which transfers to music? Isn't this extreme experience also expressed in Images,

which you have composed in prison?"42 Yun replied:

Yes, in the form of abandonment, of relinquishment. At that time I had to fight against
serious depression. It was in the time when I thought I would get the death sentence in
the second trial. There I wrote Images, and although I lived really in the dark of
hopelessness, where my release was concerned, in my soul I saw again a light, and I
could work. It was exactly in this piece that I was successful in attaining harmony, and
seeing life and death as completion, and waiting for death in complete peace. But you
must consider also that I had planned this piece when I was still free [...]" (Byeon 246)

The commission for Images originated during a trip to the United States in 1966. Yun

was invited by the Ford Foundation to spend three months lecturing at venues including

Tanglewood, Aspen, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. On this trip he met

Charles Boone, director of the electronic music studio at Mills College in San Francisco. Boone

and Yun discussed the possibility of commissioning a chamber piece for the Mills Performing

Group. The following year Boone learned of Yun's imprisonment, contacted Bote & Bock

(Yun's publisher) to arrange the commission, and urged the press to write about Yun's precarious

situation. Boone described his involvement in program notes about the piece:

According to Choi, Yun was actually hospitalized for severe heart problems at the Seoul National
University Hospital when he composed Images and Riul (152).

61
 After I contacted his publisher to arrange the commission, a check was sent which I was
told would be used to help support the two Yun children who were left behind in Berlin.
[...] It was even reported in the Korean press that, although Yun was on trial for treason,
he had received a commission from the U.S. and was at work on the piece in prison.
(Boone 1999)

Yun described the commission from his perspective:

One day in the South Korean press a report appeared, that I had a commission for a
composition from the USA. I was asked whether I could fulfill that or not. I agreed and
immediately started to write. The memory of the grave-frescos in North Korea strongly
inspired me again. (Byeon 246)

Images was premiered at Mills College on March 24, 1969. The oboist for the performance was

Jean-Louis LeRoux.

Inspiration at Pyongyang: The Koguryo Tomb Murals

Until Yun visited North Korea, he had only seen the famous Koguryo cave murals in

photographs, which he admitted made a deep impression on him (Byeon 111). Yun recalls

beholding the mural called Sasindo (The Painting of the Four Gods) for the first time:

Of course, I saw nothing at first because it was dark. But then I began to see gradually in
that darkness. Of course the colors radiated. They are so fresh as if they were applied just
now: red, white, blue, and yellow. Very powerful colors, which for 1500 years have been
in the damp earth, amazingly. (Byeon 116)

The mural, created circa the 6th century CE, is located in the Great Tomb of Kangso near Uhyou-

ri, southwest of Pyongyang. Noting that Yun's 1960 composition Symphonische Szene was

inspired by a copy of the same fresco, Rinser asked Yun how he felt when he stood before the

actual mural. His reply:

I was speechless. The original was much more beautiful and powerful. These colors
radiating from the darkness, the impression that this underground grave room made as a
whole, which was overwhelming. The most fascinating to me was the flowing elegance
of the direction of line. (Byeon 116)

The Four Deities appear on each of the four walls, as was typical in Koguryo tombs; but Yun

describes another part of the grave in which the four animals are unified in one composition:

On the one wall of the grave room these four animals were painted as a oneness [...]
together in one unique animal. All four are contained in this one animal. Four is one, and
one is four. If you stand in front of the drawing longer, the individual animals start to

62
 move. One picture goes colorful to the fore, then another: the white tiger, the phoenix,
the tortoise, and the dragon. The movement happened in perfect harmony, but this
harmony is full of tension, full of well-balanced harmony. (Byeon 116-117)

Sparrer explains that the Tiger fresco on the western wall of the tomb incorporates fragments of

the Tortoise-Snake, Phoenix, and Dragon (2003, 2).

Tomb murals like the one Yun described are among the only surviving artifacts of the

Koguryo kingdom, which originated during the 1st century BCE in the Yalu River region.

Koguryo became one of three states to occupy the Korean peninsula during the Three Kingdoms

period. This period came to an end in 668 CE when Koguryo was conquered by two enemies, the

Tang Dynasty of China to the north and the Silla kingdom to the south (S. Lee 2005, 7-10).

Today little material culture of the Koguryo kingdom survives, with the exception of its

mountain fortresses and subterranean burial tombs. These ancient graves are clustered in three

main areas: in the Taedong river basin near Pyongyang, the Anak region in South Hwanghae

province, and in Ji'an, now a part of China (Scofield 2003). The tombs, over 10,000 of which

have been discovered in modern-day Korea and China, were built for royalty and aristocrats, and

can be divided into two main types. The first type of tomb was built underground with stones

piled on top in the shape of a pyramid; the second type had a subterranean or semi-subterranean

stone chamber, often with a corbelled (vaulted) ceiling, and covered by an earthen mound. The

later tombs tend to be of this second variety, and it is among these sites where intricate wall

paintings have been found (S. Lee 2005, 10-11). These mural paintings preserved on the walls of

ancient tombs are the only source culture information available to modern scholars who seek

knowledge of Koguryo culture. For this reason, UNESCO has worked with the government of

DPRK since 1998 to preserve many of the Koguryo tombs as World Heritage sites.

In the absence of contemporary historical texts from the Goguryeo Kingdom, the wall
paintings have great historical and artistic value since they bear a rare and early
testimony to a painting tradition in East Asia, and constitute a unique testimony to the
religious beliefs pervading this kingdom. They represent the earliest known of Taoist
imagery and one of the earliest astrological representations in Korea. (Perrin 2000)

63
Tombs fashioned in the Koguryo tradition have been discovered even at the Japanese sites of

Takamatsuzka and Kitora, suggesting that the kingdom was an important vehicle for the

transmission of culture, especially Buddhism, to other parts of East Asia (Cambon 17). Sungsi

Lee describes how Koguryo was uniquely situated to absorb and transform a variety of

influences:

As it was in political conflict with Chinese dynasties over centuries, Koguryo was, at
each stage of development of the kingdom, influenced by various cultural elements from
China, including Confucianism, administrative and penal laws, and Buddhism [...] Just
like Chinese characters, these cultural elements were eclectically adopted and merged
with Koguryo's tradition, which resulted in the creation of a distinct new culture. (S. Lee
2005, 11-12)

Although the relationship between China and Koguryo was adversarial, the states enjoyed

centuries of mutually beneficial trade. Goods exported by Koguryo included gold, silver, pearls,

furs, ginseng, and fabrics; from China the kingdom imported items such as weapons, paper, and

silk (Nelson 1993, 210).

Koguryo's cave murals are incredibly beautiful and depict a variety of subjects, including

portraits of the dead, scenes from everyday life, visions of heaven, Buddhist iconography,

hunting and battle scenes, constellations, and abstract patterns. In later murals of the 6th-7th

centuries, one of the most important themes is the Four Guardian Deities (called Sasindo, Sasin,

or Shishin): the Red Phoenix of the south, the Black Tortoise-Snake of the north, the White Tiger

of the west, and the Blue Dragon of the east (Figure 4.1). Derived from Chinese cosmology,

these beings were painted on each of a chamber's four walls in order to protect the dead from

each of the four directions.

The fantastic representations of the Four Deities in Koguryo art constitute an important

artistic achievement:

Even though these are typical creatures of Chinese mythology, their representation and
stylization here show a very high degree of plasticity, a sense of composition and
concision—purified images, almost heraldic, of a marvelous, quite fantastic, world,
standing out from the walls in an abstract space. (Cambon 15)

64
The figure of the Red Bird is known to be revered in China as early as the as the Warring States

period (ca. 450-221 BC). The bird was believed to "chase away evil spirits and accompany

people in the ascent to heaven" (Pradel 271). Kim Il-Gwon gives important insights into the

astronomical origins of the four animal deities:

The stars visible around the equator during the spring season seemed to take on the shape
of a Blue Dragon while in the fall they were transformed into a White Tiger. In summer
the stars looked like a Black Turtle and in the winter they appeared as a Red Phoenix
with wings spread wide. These visions developed into four sacred symbolic animals
which guard both the four seasons and the four directions of heaven and earth. (30)

Furthermore, Kim describes how the deities came to take on specific characteristics. The dragon

and tiger were fierce defenders against demons, always depicted so that they would face the

entrance of the tomb. On the other hand, the turtle and phoenix "were painted in magnificently

harmonious shapes and hues" to represent the Taoist principles of yin and yang. Kim explains

that "Red Phoenixes are often painted in harmonious male and female pairs and the Black Turtle

is usually depicted intertwined with a snake into various complimentary shapes" (30). Pratt gives

a vivid description of one early 7th-century tomb at Taean:

Four designs are based on long sweeping curves, the outlines infilled with careful details
of scales, feathers, fur, and shell and painted with colour combinations that subtly
enhance the impression of the rounded form. The powerful head and thrusting chest of
each creature are balanced by a long and sinuous tail, firm legs, and sharp claws. Flames
spurt from the dragon's jaws and wings; the phoenix bends its knees and spreads its
wings in preparation for flight; the tiger's mane streams out behind it as it races through
the mist; and the imaginary double-headed tortoise-serpent loops its coils around its own
body in an interlocking design of ageless artistic appeal. (31)

Most of the tombs were painted with a fresco technique on a lime-plaster base containing

aluminium oxide and iron, the "delicate though rich" colors "bound with a mixture of sesame oil

and lead oxide" (Barinka 17).

The Koguryo tombs are a source of great pride for Koreans and the governments of

North and South Korea. They are one of the only surviving archaeological artifacts of the

Koguryo age, some of the only remaining objects which can speak to us of that time in Korea's

cultural history. Many regard the Koguryo kingdom as the spiritual ancestor of Korean

65
Figure 4.1. Four Guardian images from Koguryo cave murals in the Kangso tomb.

a) Black Snake-Tortoise (source: Rousset, Arts de laCoree, p. 46)

b) White Tiger (source: Mural Paintings of Koguryo, pp. 92-93)

M m
*?

« •

66
Figure 4.1 continued

c) Blue Dragon (source: Mural Paintings ofKoguryo, pp. 82-83)

d) Red Phoenix (source: Mural Paintings ofKoguryo, p. 96)

67
nationhood. The importance of Koguryo's legacy is especially strong in North Korea (Cumings

30). Kim Il-sung, through his manipulation of archaeological findings in his country,

sought to use archaeology to establish a history that suited his purposes. His main
purpose was to try to show a line of descent that would legitimize his Communist state's
lineage, in a strange contortion of traditional Confucian practice - where the lineage of a
family was all-important to its status. (Portal 2005: 105)

The DPRK is not the only nation to revise cultural history for its own objectives. Since 2002,

when UNESCO sent experts to evaluate the Koguryo tomb sites in North Korea, China has

waged a campaign called the Northeast Asian Project to portray Koguryo as a Chinese vassal

state. "Behind the campaign, China fears that one day the two million ethnic Koreans in

northeastern China will support a 'greater Korea' that will spill over modern borders" (Brooke). "

Visual and Musical Composition: Correspondences

Of course it seems natural that a chamber work depicting the Four Guardians mural

would be a quartet. In one sense, the Gods of the Four Directions are depicted by the instruments

of Images in a one-to-one correspondence (Figure 4.2); but Yun also made it clear that his vision

was more holistic, so that the quartet represents the confluence and interrelatedness of the four

gods rather than their separateness. "The effort of the composition consists in the attempt to

converge the diverging into a harmonious entity" (Sparrer 2003, 3). Rinser says on this point:

In that piece you had coordinated one instrument to each of four animals, just as in the
fresco each color belongs to an animal. The instruments are flute, oboe, violin, and cello.
But it is not as if the instrument expresses the characters of the animals like cello for
tiger, flute for tortoise, the oboe for dragon, and the violin for phoenix. There is rather a
principle, but above all it is an entirely philosophical principle. Just as each animal on the
fresco is at the same time individual and part of the whole, and expresses the
individuality and unity interchangeably, the instruments also do that. Just as sometimes
the one animal, sometimes the other comes forward from the unity on the fresco, here the
instruments do the same. But it is clear to me that one cannot express in words this

For more information on the Northeast Asia Project and the controversies surrounding the UNESCO
World Heritage sites, see Ahn (2006), Herman (2006), Perrin (2000), Petrov (2004), Portal (2005), and
Scofield (2003).

68
 phenomenon, which is mysterious. People should see the picture and listen to the music.
(Byeon 117-118).

Figure 4.2. Correspondences: Images and Four Guardians Cosmology.

color animal Korean name instrument direction element season

black Tortoise-Snake Hyeon-mu flute North water winter yin
blue Dragon Cheong-ryong oboe East wood spring yang
red Phoenix Ju-jak violin South fire summer yang
white Tiger Baek-ho cello West metal autumn yin

Though each voice in the quartet is remarkably independent, the sustained long tones that

are a hallmark of Yun's music shift constantly among the four voices. These held notes, governed

by the Hauptton principle, stitch together the quartet texture so that there is almost always the

feeling of continuity despite the diversity of instruments involved. Beaujean writes:

Here the largely linear texture that Yun adopted from the basically monophonic music of
Korea is expanded into sound streams and sound fields without sacrificing the
independence of the lines in the contrapuntal fabric. Yet the significance of main tones
goes beyond compositional technique. Yun viewed them in the Taoist tradition as a
symbol of the microcosm in the macrocosm, of the particular that dissolves into the
immutable whole, of motion in motionlessness - as a symbol of the relation between yin
and yang, the twin poles in the all-encompassing Tao. (3)

The most important philosophical premise of Images is this expression of Tao, both in the music

and the fresco which inspired it. Above all, Yun was fascinated by the fusion of the four animals

- and therefore four directions, all directions and all being - into one; the coexistence of

movement and stasis in one image; and the tempering of yin and yang dynamics within the

musical/visual composition. Yun alluded to this when he remarked in the score: "The colors,

lines, contrasts and blendings of this paradoxically unified mural correspond to the structural

details and formal aspects of the quartet" (trans. Stevens 1970).

Some of this information was taken from Taoism and the Arts of China (129), in which Stephen Little
discusses the symbolism of the Four Directions in Chinese cosmology.

69
Textures and Formal Structure

Images is through-composed in one movement. There is a grand pause at the center of

the work which effectively divides the piece in half. The first half of the piece can be understood

as a series of episodes which are connected by high sustained intervals in the flute and oboe

(Figure 4.3). These intervals are shown in the diagram as arcs connecting each episode. Although

the intervals are all consonant, Yun uses different note spellings to signify equivalent distances

(A5 = m6; d4 = M3). This quirky detail does not alter the aural effect of the sustained tones.

They provide a stunning contrast to the chromatic activity of the episodes, giving the sensation of

sudden stasis. These tones bring the listener back to a laser-like focus, unifying the once-

fragmented complex of sound into one pure sonority. It is a musical device that recalls the Taoist

vision of the Four Guardians tomb painting, causing four separate gods to suddenly fuse into one.

The length of the intervening episodes is not prescribed by any pattern. They are freely composed

and exhibit a wonderful variety of musical textures and techniques.

Figure 4.3. Images, episode structure in mm. 1 -145.

(focusing tone intervals) -> A5 M3 d4 m6 M3

mm. 1-20 20-30 38-76 78-96 98-123 124-145

Episode 1 Episode 2 Episode 3 Episode 4 Episode 5 Episode 6

J
The form of the work's second half must be studied within a different framework

entirely. This music is structured according to instrumental texture. Figure 4.4 shows that the

three main sections can be divided into two segments each. Fluid transitions connect each of the

segment pairs, while the three main sections are demarcated by brief silences.

70
Figure 4.4. Formal structure, Images, mm. 146-288.

Description Measures Notes

animate 146-188 kaleidoscopic

percussive 189-209 pizzicato, staccatissimo

1
improvisational 210-227 return to first cello chord, meditative

more active 228-260 tension builds

1
furioso 261-269 melisma, fluttertonguing and trills

pitch bends 270-288 oboe: Hauptton A -> B flat

The first segment, labeled here as "animato," offers a kaleidoscope of musical gestures:

portamento, tremolos, wide-leaping grace notes, extreme crescendos and decrescendos, accents,

slurs with staccatissimo releases, trills, and rapid 32nd-note flourishes. The music becomes spare

and percussive in the next segment, then builds to an intense tuttifermata in m.208. The voices

splinter apart frantically, then the solo cello emerges with an echo of the piece's first sound:

the D - C sharp chord. In this next segment the music takes on an improvisational character.

Gradually the tension rebuilds throughout the "more active" segment. In the segment labeled

"furioso," the quartet converges upon one musical device after another: melisma, fluttertonging,

and trills. Ultimately, all four instruments use pitch bends to forge an entirely novel sonority. The

flute, violin, and cello dance freely about the staff, while for the final fourteen bars the oboe

fixates on one haunting and persistent Hauptton: an A which bends up eerily to B flat (Figure

4.5).

71
Figure 4.5. Images, mm. 278-288.

72
Figure 4.5 continued

IMAGES© Copyright 1968 by Bote & Bock Musik - Und Buhnenverlag GMBH & Co.Reprinted by permission of Boosey & Hawkes, Inc.

Yun indicates several tempo changes throughout Images, and these changes always

correspond to textural shifts in the music. The markings range from "quarter note ca. 50" to

"quarter note ca. 86." In this piece, as in most of Yun's music, there is not a strict correlation

between tempo and musical character. The slowest passages in Images are the most

contemplative in character. However, the most frantic music (mm. 261-269) also occurs within a

slow pulse.

73
 Though it seems that Yun did not attempt to translate visual aspects of the painting to his

music literally, there are some gestures which deserve further reflection. The muted opening

passage, for instance, evokes the dark passage of a tomb. The rapid, flowing melismas of the

flute suggest the circular tails and feathers of the mythical creatures. The strings' elegant

glissando-grace-note motive heard at various times throughout the piece (m. 21, 31, 53, etc.)

resemble the animals' lithe movements. Like the Guardians, Yun's music has more aggressive

elements as well, such as the fluttertonguing passage at mm. 68-76, marked with crescendos toff

in the low register (Figure 4.6).

Figure 4.6. Images, mm. 68-76.

IMAGES© Copyright 1968 by Bote & Bock M u s i k - Und Biihnenverlag GMBH & Co.Reprinted by permission of Boosey & Hawkes, Inc.

74
Tonal Organization

Twelve-tone rows are used in the quartet, but it seems their significance is often eclipsed

by the principle of the twelve-tone aggregate. The original twelve-tone row appears in various

permutations throughout the composition, though Yun's treatment of this row is not usually

rigorous (Figure 4.7). Numerous other rows emerge through the course of the piece, though

subsequent reiterations of these rows are not obvious. The constellation of twelve tones,

regardless of ordering, seems to govern Yun's approach to this highly chromatic music.

Figure 4.7. Images, Twelve-tone matrix.

I2 I. I10 I« I9 h In lo I5 I4 IT I3

P2 2 1 10 6 9 8 11 0 5 4 7 3 R2

p3 3 2 11 7 10 9 0 I 6 5 8 4 R3

p„ 6 5 2 10 1 0 3 4 9 8 11 7 R6

P.o 10 9 6 2 5 4 7 8 1 0 3 11 Rio

p7 7 6 3 11 2 1 4 5 10 9 0 8 Ry

p8 8 7 4 0 3 2 5 6 11 10 1 9 R8
p5 5 4 1 9 0 11 2 3 8 7 10 6 R5
P4 4 3 0 8 11 10 1 2 7 6 9 5 R.
Pll 11 10 7 3 6 5 8 9 2 1 4 0 Rn

Po 0 11 8 4 7 6 9 10 3 2 5 1 Ro

P9 9 8 5 1 4 3 6 7 0 11 2 10 R9

Pi 1 0 9 5 8 7 10 11 4 3 6 2 Ri

RI2 RIi RI10 RI« RI, RIs Rln Rio RIs RI4 RI7 RI3

It is instructive to examine the opening bars, for instance (Figure 4.8). The row sounds in

pairs of pitches in the first two measures: [2,1] [T,6] [9,8] [E,0] [5,4] [7,3]. These designated

pairs are repeated in mm. 2-6; in mm. 7-9 the row (still in its prime form) is loosely stated in a

linear fashion. The row reappears at m. 20 (RI3); the same form is played in the flute mm. 23-26.

Meanwhile, this same row enters in the oboe at mm. 22-30, but with the first two trichords

reordered: [2,T,1,0,5,6,9,8,E,7,4,3]. The cello and viola lines pick up RI4 at mm. 22-30,

concluding the episode.

75
Figure 4.8. Images, mm. 1-11.

IMAGES© Copyright 1968 by Bote & Bock M u s i k - Und Buhnenverlag GMBH & Co.Reprinted by permission of Boosey & Hawkes, Inc.

An in-depth analysis of one passage from the second half of Images demonstrates the

various ways in which Yun adapts the twelve-tone technique to his own unique compositional

practice. The passage starts at the outset of the second half (m. 147). It begins with the row R5,

though several pairs are reordered from the original sequence. In m. 147, the oboe dovetails its

76
fragment of R5 with the beginning of a different row, P3. A closer look at the subsequent oboe

melody reveals why twelve-tone analysis of a Yun score can be challenging. P3 appears five

consecutive times, but each time the pitch order is slightly different and never corresponds with

the true P3 found in the matrix (Figure 4.9).

Figure 4.9. Images. Occurrences of tone row in oboe part, mm. 147-162.

occurrence mm. Tone Row

original row (P3): 3 2 E 7 T 9 0 1 6 5 8 4
s
I* 147-150 2 3 E 0 7 T 1 9 6 5 8 4
nd
2 150-152 E 3 T 2 9 7 0 1 6 8 5 4
3-d
153-156 3 2 E 7 T 9 1 0 6 5 8 4

4* 156-158 E 2 3 7 T 9 1 0 6 5 8 4
th
5 159-162 3 2 E 7 T 1 9 0 6 5 8 4

Complicating the picture is the fact that some tones are repeated, and certain occurrences of the

row overlap with each other (as at m.156). Yun duplicates this procedure in the flute part, but the

twelve-tone rows are more concealed. An altered form of RI2 appears in m. 148 (Figure 4.10).

Figure 4.10. Images. Occurrences of tone row in flute part, mm. 147-162.

occurrence mm. Tone Row

original row (RI2): 1 9 0 E 4 5 8 7 T 6 3 2
st
1 147-149 9 1 0 5 E 4 7 8 6 T 3 2
nd
2 149-152 9 1 0 E 5 4 8 [6] 7 T 3 2
->rd
152 9 1 0 5 E 7 8 T [4] 6 3 2
4th 152-154 9 0 1 E 5 4 8 7 T 6 3 2
5,h
154-156 1 [9] 0 E 5 4 8 7 T 6 3 2
,h
6 156-158 1 9 0 5 4 8 E T 6 3 2
-yth
158-159 9 1 0 5 E 7 [4] 6 8 3 2
g.h
159-160 9 1 0 5 E 4 7 6 8 3 2
9't> 160-162 1 9 0 E 5 4 8 7 T 3 6 2

This row is stated by the flute in its prime form nine consecutive times with several pitch

omissions and significant alterations to the pitch order. Several tones (shown in brackets) are

borrowed vertically from other instruments. A similar process is at work in the violin part, which

77
uses R5 (mm. 147-170). The row is played eight times, and the pitch order is greatly obfuscated

(Figure 4.11). Two tones are borrowed vertically from the cello line. Yun's serial technique in

Images validates Feliciano's comment that Yun uses tone rows "only to support the framework

of his structures, ignoring the rows once he feels that they restrict his imagination." (33-34).

Figure 4.11. Images, Occurrences of tone row in violin part, mm. 147-170.

occurrence mm. Tone Row

original row (R5): 6 T 7 8 3 2 E 0 9 1 4 5
1* 147-149 T 6 7 8 5 2 3 E 0 9 1 4
«^nd
150-152 6 E 7 8 9 2 3 E 0 5 1 4
•jrd
153-154 6 T 8 7 [5] 2 3 E 0 9 1 4
th
4 154-156 6 T 7 8 2 3 E 0 9 1 4 5

5th 156-157 6 T 7 [8] 2 3 E 0 9 1 4 5

6lh 157-160 6 T 7 8 2 3 0 E 9 1 4 5
-ylh
161-162 6 T 7 8 0 3 E 2 9 1 4 5

8* 162-170 6 T 7 E 3 2 T 9 0 4 1 5

//. Quartet for Oboe and Strings (1994)

The Quartet for Oboe, Violin, Viola and Cello was one of Yun's final works. With the

exception of a brief epilogue to the choral piece Engel in Flammen, the Oboe Quartet was the

last piece Yun would compose. The premiere at the "Wien Modern" concert series in Vienna was

given four days after his death on November 7, 1995. Playing in that performance were

musicians Heinz Holliger, Christian Altenburger, Kim Kashkashian, and Patrick Demenga.

Holliger, to whom the piece is dedicated, tells of his astonishment when he first saw the

score:

Isang Yun brought me the score of the newly completed quartet in 1994. [...] I was
amazed at the vitality and unbroken vigour Isang Yun had wrenched from his frail body
for the outer movements. And then the middle movement, which was dematerialization,
disembodiment made sound - an utterance of pure spirit. (Holliger 24)

78
Yun had been quite ill and was just able to resume composing in the autumn of 1994, the period

when he also produced his second Quintet for Clarinet and String Quartet. The Oboe Quartet

was written during October 10-16 of that autumn in Hohegiess, Germany. Holliger remarks,

"Shortly after completing the Quartet, composing became virtually impossible for Isang Yun"

(24).

The genre of the oboe quartet is extremely important in the history of oboe chamber

music. About one hundred quartets for oboe and strings survive from the 18th century (Burgess

and Haynes 91); in our modern consciousness, however, the archetypal work for this ensemble is

Mozart's Oboe Quartet in FMajor (K. 370). Other important pieces include the Phantasy

Quartet (1932) by Benjamin Britten, the Quartet (1938) by Gordon Jacob, and Elliott Carter's

Oboe Quartet (2001).

Formal Structure

The Quartet consists of three movements played without break, although these

movements are not explicitly indicated within the score. The two outer movements share the

same tempo (quarter-note ca. 60) and 4/4 time signature; they also express a similar exuberance

of character. Movement I is sparkling and audacious, but at the same time intensely lyrical.

Movement III is more raucous, chaotic, and technically unforgiving. The contrasting inner

movement, extremely meditative and haunting, is marked with a slower tempo (quarter-note ca.

52) in 6/4 time.

Though parsing out separate phrases can be somewhat difficult in this piece, it is useful

to take a comprehensive view of how Yun structures this music (Figure 4.12). Each movement

has its own distinct internal structure. Movement I, for instance, is organized around the idea of

seven-measure and five-measure units. The details at juncture points joining musical ideas

certainly blur the distinctions between these phrases. However, this structure is persuasive

particularly when looking at melody. In a few cases, the seven-measure phrase includes one or

79
two pick-up beats from the previous measure (as at m. 7 and m. 14). An obvious textural shift at

m. 41 marks the midpoint of Movement I, dividing it into two equal sections of 40 bars each.

Figure 4.12. Oboe Quartet. Formal structure.

Movement I Movement II Movement III

mm. phrase length mm. phrase length phrase length

1-7 81-86 6 129-136
8-14 87-92 6 137-144
Section 1: 15-21 93-98 6 145-152
40 bars 22-28 99-104 6 153-160
29-35 105-110 6 160-168
36-40 111-116 6 169-176
41-47 117-120 4 177-180
48-54 121-124 4 181-188
55-59 125-128 4
Section 2:
60-65
40 bars
66-72
73
74-80

Movement I can be described in six-measure and four-measure units, although these are

not necessarily meant to be perceived by the listener. In this music, which is nearly devoid of

pulse, time is suspended and tones are seamlessly woven together. The lugubrious phrases of the

oboe, however, easily betray the very fixed structure which underlies one of Yun's most ethereal

movements. This movement is remarkable not only for the sonic world it creates - a fascinating

tension between stasis and change - but also for the almost meditative state one must reach in

order to perform it. It is quite similar to the Movement II of the Blaserquintett in both mood and

performance demands (see Chapter 5). This movement also bears some resemblance to the

Lamentoso of Yun's String Quartet No. 6 (1992), another late piece in 6/4 time that Sparrer

described as "one of the first of those extended slow movements in late Yun which, as Heinz

Holliger once formulated it, 'know of the last things'" (Sparrer 1997, 12).

Yun reveals his phrase structures most brazenly in Movement III, which jaunts along in

regular 8-measure clips (except for one 4-measure phrase just before the end). This third

movement is more frenzied in character. A denser quartet texture, as well as rapid passages for

oboe in the high tessitura, give the sound a nervous edge.

80
Hallmarks of Yun's Late Style

The Oboe Quartet bares many of the defining characteristics of Yun's late style. A

comparison with the earlier work Images brings these features into stark relief. The regularity of

formal structure described above is one way that Yun simplified his musical language towards

the end of his career. The uniform phrase structures of the Oboe Quartet can be contrasted with

the irregular constructions in Images. Furthermore, whereas in Images Yun relentlessly obscures

the pulse with ties and irregular divisions of the beat, the rhythmic landscape of the Oboe Quartet

is relatively uncomplicated and clean. In the outer movements, for instance, not only is the

quarter-note pulse well defined, but the eighth-note grooves easily as well. The result is a

rhythmic design which, despite its intricacies, never obscures the music's forward momentum. In

the earlier quartet, it is far more common to find instances in which competing beat-divisions

create complex polyrhythms.

Figure 4.13. Oboe Quartet. Oboe Hauptton melody, mm. 14-25.

—— *» f ,#•=—*/=^3fcP — -V

QUARTETT FOR OBOE, VIOLIN, VIOLIN AND CELLO© Copyright 1994 by Bote & Bock Musik - Und Blihnenverlag GMBH &
Co.Reprinted by permission of Boosey & Hawkes, Inc.

Going hand in hand with this evolving rhythmic sense is Yun's fresh treatment of

melody. In the later style, melodies coalesce around shared tones, rather than using chromatic

81
fragments of a twelve-tone row. The result is a more lyrical musical language that relies more on

the expressiveness of individual voices than the textural color of the whole ensemble. There is

also versatility in this melodic voice. Some parts of the oboe's melody resemble Yun's typical

Hauptton construction, defined by their focus around only a few central pitches (in this case A,

C, and C sharp) and expressive glissando style (Figure 4.13). There is a great contrast between

this style and that of Section 2 in this movement (mm. 41-80), where the oboe bounds through a

vivacious 16th-note melody line which often spans over two octaves (Figure 4.14).

Figure 4.14. Oboe Quartet. Oboe melody, mm. 66-69.

QUARTETT FOR OBOE, VIOLIN, VIOLIN AND CELLO© Copyright 1994 by Bote & Bock Musik - Und Buhnenverlag GMBH &
Co.Reprinted by permission of Boosey & Hawkes, Inc.

The Oboe Quartet, unlike Images, is not a twelve-tone composition. This is yet another

hallmark of Yun's late style, since he digressed farther from twelve-tone technique as his career

progressed. The first movement of the Quartet epitomizes the trend towards simplification,

consonance, and clarity in Yun's late works. In fact, the first six measures of the piece express a

concise tonal structure organized by consonant intervals, especially the major third (Figure 4.15).

The oboe melody and accompanying string parts are centered around three central tones - A, C

sharp, and F - which form a circle of major thirds. In mm. 1-2, these relationships are plainly

defined: A is the pitch which maintains its supremacy throughout the entire movement. A is often

the goal of long-range melodic movements and is frequently supported (in the vertical and

82
horizontal dimensions) by triadic, leading-tone, and fifth-root relationships. Yun associated the

tone A with heaven, a perfected state, the absolute (Sparrer 1997, 9).

Figure 4.15. Oboe Quartet, mm. 1-6.

J ca. 60

QUARTETT FOR OBOE, VIOLIN, VIOLIN AND CELLO© Copyright 1994 by Bote & Bock M u s i k - Und Buhnenverlag GMBH &
Co.Reprinted by permission of Boosey & Hawkes, Inc.

83
 Despite their stylistic differences, the Oboe Quartet and Images share an important

quality: ultimately, both works strive to be the embodiment of Tao, the expression of cosmic

energies, the resolution of yin and yang. For this reason, blending instrumental colors was

especially important to Yun, "who was always concerned to bring divergent forces into balance"

(Sparrer 1997, 9). The oboe's place in the quartet is dynamic. In one sense it is an ever-present

expression of the yang principle, dominating the string trio in terms of timbre and melodic

interest. Especially in the last two movements, however, the oboist must achieve integration with

the strings by playing with maximum responsiveness, delicacy, and flexibility.

"Movement within Stillness"

Music is not only dramatic and is not only still; on the contrary my music lies in between
and moves from the one to the other - i.e. from one center of gravity to another center of
gravity, on to yet another. And in this approaching from a distance (also the process of
approach), there is always motion/stillness, motion and stillness. Therefore I think that,
so far as dynamics or dramatics are concerned, my music - 1 stress this - is motion
within non-motion. (Yun 1983)

One of the most powerful aspects of this quartet is the relationship created between

movement and stillness. The meditative quality achieved in the Oboe Quartet involves note

values of long duration, a quieting of rhythmic energy, and dynamic markings of mp to pppp

(Figure 4.16). The elongated meter of 6/4 demands even sharper mental focus from the

performers, which transforms the music quite literally into a meditation. Various genres of

Korean court music frequently use 6/4 and 5/4 meters within slow tempos, such as Chong-Ak

Changdon (Yoo 32). Slow movements modeled on this aesthetic are plentiful in Yun's late

works, including the Blaserquintett (1991; see Chapter 5), String Quartet No. 6 (1992), and the

Quintet for Clarinet and Strings No. 2 (1994).

Within the stillness apparent on the surface of the music is always the activity of the

sound itself, the living quality of the tones' innate vibration. Performers must realize that the

dynamics of this music are never static; in fact, the musical lines move through a constant ebb

and flow. This is another musical manifestation of Taoist philosophy in Yun's music: musical

84
Figure 4.16. Oboe Quartet. "Movement within stillness," mm. 98-103.

-*KRP
PSPP ^=~pm?vp p=~m>

JPPP

QUARTETT FOR OBOE, VIOLIN, VIOLIN AND CELLO© Copyright 1994 by Bote & Bock Musik - Und Buhnenverlag GMBH &
Co.Reprinted by permission of Boosey & Hawkes, Inc.

tones are indeed living, existing without beginning or end, and simultaneously imbued with both

yin and yang aspects. Like Yun's shadings of dynamics, pitch, and vibrato, the cosmos is in

constant flux because of the Tao's ever-changing creative principle. Hwang, who has written

extensively on Korean musical aesthetics, describes how "stillness within movement" and the

opposite formulation, "movement within stillness," permeate not only music, but other art forms

as well:

The former may by found in a skillful performance of dance in which a fundamental

quiescence can pervade the dancer's movement. The latter may be found within a brush
painting where a feeling of force and movement may be created within a fundamentally
static medium. In this way [...] each contains an element of the other, and their world is
in constant fluctuation. (1978, 31)

85
 There are still more ways in which Yun's music plays with the ideas of motion and

stasis. Extremely active music made up of a repeated motive can, ironically, suggest a lack of

movement. This element of Yun's music has its root in traditional Korean sources, since it is "a

conspicuous characteristic common to most of the vocal and instrumental genres in Korean

traditional music" (Feliciano 55). In Yun's 1966 piano piece Shao Yang Yin, the interdependent

presence of yin and yang is acutely perceived as "a fusion of quiescence and movement."

Feliciano writes:

Yun explained that the elements of the forces yin and yang are clearly manifested in his
music. In his idea of the central tone the element of quiescence is ever-present in the long
sustained tone but at the same time the elements of yang interact heard in the almost
uninterrupted fluctuations in dynamics, the microtonal modifications of the central tone
and the melismas that weave around it. The expanded sound complexes with the long
sustained chords he considered as representing the universe and the articulations,
modifications, embellishments, etc. as representing man and the diverse elements found
in nature - microcosm in macrocosm. (58)

Another example of "stillness within motion" is found in the rapid 16th-note and 32nd-note triplet

passages in the Bldserquintett (Movement I, mm. 49-63). Here, a feeling of stasis is created by

the repetition of a moving figure. Conversely, just as in Movement II of the Oboe Quartet, the

slow and haunting second movement of Bldserquintett achieves an atmosphere of "motion within

stillness" through sustained tones, pitch bends, dynamic inflections and vibrato. This piece will

be discussed in the next chapter.

86
 CHAPTER 5. THE WIND QUINTETS

/. Festlicher Tanz (1988)

Yun wrote two pieces for woodwind quintet. The first, a one-movement work entitled

Festlicher Tanz ("Festive Dance"), was premiered by the Aulos Quintet on April 22, 1989,

during the Tage fur neue Kammermusik in Witten. The work is dedicated to Wilfried Brennecke,

the German musicologist who served as director of that festival until 1989. The oboe is featured

as the prominent melodic instrument throughout the piece. Sparrer notes, "The oboe, flanked by

the clarinet and flute, is the protagonist of the 'dance'" (1993, 10).

Formal Structure

Festlicher Tanz can be understood within a clear two-part framework, although these

divisions are not indicated in the score in any way (Figure 5.1). Part I follows a typical formal

outline: it begins with an introductory passage, builds to a climax, and then relaxes. Part II

commences with a "Tranquillo" section that stands in stark contrast to what came before, builds

momentum again and climbs to a second high point, then concludes with a second Repose which

closes the piece. It is important to note that although phrase lengths within these two large

sections do not conform to any pattern or symmetry, Parts I and II each consist of exactly 36

measures, thereby establishing a satisfying balance within the composition.

Tonal Organization

The ascending melodic lines in Festlicher Tanz outline tonal goals that are achieved

when the line reaches its highest point. Tonal goals are indicated by arrows (->) in Figure 5.1.

These features can appear on a very small scale, such as the three-measure compound melody in

the flute and clarinet which arrives at A flat in m. 3. Tonal goals can also manifest over a longer

timeframe, as in the Second Climax where the oboe line creates one long progression from

middle C sharp to high E flat over ten measures (mm. 61-70). These progressions occur

87
Figure 5.1. Festlicher Tanz. Formal Structure.

description mm. comments

Beginning 1-3 F # - A - C - E b -> Ab
4-7 oboe solo B -> Eb -> F
8-10 E - A b - C -> Eb
First Climax 11-18 flute Bb -» F
Parti oboeB -> Bb
19-23 oboeF -> A
24-30 flute -* F#
oboeBb -> D
Repose 31-36 F# - A - C - Eb
Tranquillo 37-39 clarinet solo
40-43 flute and oboe figuration
44-46 transition
Building 47-50 flute G -» B
51-55 flute -> D#
Part II
oboe B -> A
Second Climax 56-60 horn solo
61-66 oboe C# -> C
67-70 flute and oboe -> C - Eb
Final Repose 71-72 Ab - Eb - Bb - F

throughout the piece, investing the music with that element of "reaching" so prevalent in Yun's

writing. The melodic lines, whether three bars or ten bars in length, are characterized by upward

glissandi, trills, upward-leaping grace notes, and figurations containing wide intervals. After

reaching an intermediate high note, the melody will often momentarily drop in range, or re-start,

only to be succeeded by a successively higher note in the next gesture. The technique is

especially effective in the Second Climax, where the tonal goal in the oboe melody is paired with

a similar reaching progression in the flute. The two instruments trade off between the two

principal tones of the piece's final measures, high C and E flat. The oboe melody makes the most

direct progressions toward tonal goals, while the flute and clarinet lines serve a somewhat

auxiliary role, displaying much more flexibility and melodic variety.

Yun creates round and expansive sonorities through his fondness for consonant intervals.

Measures 11-18 exhibit the redundancy of tones which makes Yun's music often sound

pleasantly consonant, even though it is not ordered by traditional tonal language (Figure 5.2).

Note that in this passage, the harmonic progress of the horn and bassoon is precisely matched

with the ascent of the oboe.

88
Figure 5.2. Festlicher Tanz, mm. 11-18.

FESTLICHTER TANZ© Copyright 1988 by Bote & Bock M u s i k - Und Biihnenverlag GMBH & Co.Reprinted by permission of Boosey &
Hawkes, Inc.

89
 The final two measures of the piece, here named the Final Repose, contain a purposeful

arrangement of perfect fifths stacked through four voices (A flat - E flat - B flat - F), with the

flute sounding an E flat two octaves higher than the bassoon (Figure 5.3). Achieving this

remarkable moment in the ensemble requires a bit of choreography, as fermati are traded between

the players. The trills should be seamlessly transferred from voice to voice, each shift creating a

subtle change in the color of the chord. The oboist should observe the forte dynamic with a full

tone, even though the other instruments are marked to play softer. The complete effect results in

a dark, astonishing sonority not often coaxed from the modern woodwind quintet.

Figure 5.3. Festlicher Tanz, mm. 71-72.

Fl.

Ob.

Klar.

Fag.

Hrn.

FESTLICHTER TANZ© Copyright 1988 by Bote & Bock Musik - Und Btihnenverlag GMBH & Co.Reprinted by permission of Boosey &
Hawkes, Inc.

Textural Variation

From the very beginning of the piece, the bassoon and horn are joined in rhythmic unison

as they provide an accompaniment to punctuate the rhapsodic lines of the three treble

instruments. These instrumental roles remain remarkably static throughout the piece: oboe as

melodic core, flute and clarinet as auxiliary melody, horn and bassoon as rhythmic and tonal

90
foundation. Occasionally, textural roles are reversed so that the bassoon and horn play sustained

notes while the treble instruments play rhythmic interjections (e.g. mm. 34-37). The horn plays

an extended solo at mm. 56-60.

The clarinet plays the most mutable role, at times aligned with the flute and/or oboe,

perhaps adding virtuosic flourishes; alternatively, it joins the foundational sonic complex of the

bassoon and horn. The clarinet is also the first voice to introduce the "dance rhythm" in m. 55, an

irregular pulsation of accents that is immediately picked up by the horn solo and

accompanimental figures in the other instruments (Figure 5.4).

Figure 5.4. Festlicher Tanz. Dance rhythms, mm. 55-57.

*—i

Fl.

Ob,

Klar.

Fag.

Hm.
nrf^-p-sCutf *lf>P

FESTUCHTER TANZ© Copyright 1988 by Bote & Bock Musik - Und Biihnenverlag GMBH & Co.Reprinted by permission of Boosey &
Hawkes, Inc.

//. Blaserquintett (1991)

Yun composed his Blaserquintett ("Wind Quintet") for the Albert Schweitzer Quintett,

which premiered the piece in Altenhof on August 6, 1991, at the Schleswig-Holstein Musik

Festival. The work was commissioned by the Festival, which is held annually during the summer

months throughout several cities and towns of northern Germany. Scored for the traditional

91
woodwind quintet instrumentation, the piece is comprised of two movements and lasts

approximately 16 minutes.

Formal Structure

Although Yun has suggested that his compositional technique was somewhat stream-of-

consciousness (see Chapter 1), his Blaserquintett reveals a surprisingly structured formal plan. In

fact, Movement I can be understood as a series of seven sections which are each sixteen bars in

length. Figure 5.5 proposes one formal analysis, with divisions being made according to textural

and harmonic changes in the music. Each new section of music is marked by the introduction of a

new motive or musical device. At the end of most sections there is a feeling of repose, facilitated

by sustained tones or a moment of tutti silence. Furthermore, each sixteen-bar passage takes on a

unique character or reveals a defining motive. These motives and styles will be discussed in more

detail in the next section.

Figure 5.5. Blaserquintett, Movement I. Formal Structure.

Section mm. Length Phrase divisions Comments Tone Sequence

1 1-16 16 10 + 6 Declamatory Horn (mm. 1-10)
2 17-32 16 4+5 +7 Sustained and reaching
3 33-48 16 9+7 Building intensity
4 49-64 16 8+8 Triplets with counterpoint
5 65-80 16 10 + 6 Expressivo pitch bends Oboe (mm. 65-78)
6 81-96 16 5+6+5 Prickly and pointed
7 97-112 16 6 + 10 Finale Flute (mm. 97-106)

Within the sixteen-measure sections, smaller phrase divisions can be found, although these do not

conform to a rigid pattern. Partitioning the music into these shorter phrases is a more subjective

activity, but Figure 5.6 suggests one possibility. It is interesting to note the quasi-palindromic

effect created by this arrangement of phrases.

Figure 5.6. Blaserquintett, Movement I. Quasi-palindromic phrases.

10+6 4+5+7 9+7 8+8 10+6 5+6+5 6+10

92
 Section 1 of the first movement is declamatory in character, beginning with the horn's

first calling gesture. (The horn melody introduces a sequence of tones that later comes back at

various points in the movement; see below, Tonal Organization.) In this first section, nearly

every entrance contains pungent accents, deliberate marcato notes, or severe trills. In Section 2

the music softens a bit as notes begin to spill out in ambitious arcs. Yun builds the intensity

through Section 3 with his use of tutti interjections and interlocking trills, but abruptly begins an

entirely new texture with Section 4. Here, an ever-modulating refrain of rapid triplets (grouped as

nines or sixes) serves as a backdrop to explorations of previously-introduced motivic ideas. The

tension is suddenly broken in Section 5 by an expressive oboe solo punctuated by pitch bends.

With Section 6 the music becomes prickly and pointed, as nearly every measure is filled with

urgent staccato gestures. Section 7 features a blazing duet between the flute and clarinet, both

screaming at the upper limits of their ranges.

Like the first movement, Movement II exhibits great uniformity in its formal structure

(Figure 5.7). In fact, its phrase organization is far more explicit, since each section is marked

with a new tempo. The movement begins with four sections of sixteen bars each, followed by

two sections of twelve bars each. The final section of Movement II is a coda of sorts. It is

certainly the most intense in character, utilizing simultaneous pitch bending from all five

instruments. The movement ends with a 4-bar reprise of material from Movement I.

Figure 5.7. Blaserquintett, Movement II. Formal Structure.

section mm. lengh phmsedhisim tenpomaridr^

1 1-16 16 11 +5 quarter = 60
2 17-32 16 9+7 quarter = 72
3 33-48 16 6+10 quarter = 60
4 49-64 16 8+8 quarter = 72
5 65-76 12 8+4 quarter = 60
6 77-88 12 8+4 quarter = 60

After the tumultuous ending of Movement I, the beginning of Movement II brings a

starkly contrasting moment of stasis and reflection. It begins with delicate, sustained tones played

93
by pairs of instruments: first, a perfect fourth in the bassoon and horn, then a minor sixth played

by clarinet and oboe. While the clarinet makes a diminuendo, the oboe grows to meet the flute

entrance in the next bar. This sustained, dovetailing quality is common in Yun's slow

movements. Generally in this first section, the horn and bassoon join together to form a low duet

which contrasts with the higher pairing of oboe and flute; the clarinet acts as a bridge between the

two pairings. While there is a certain static quality here, there is a subtle sense of movement as

well. The continuously changing dynamics create a musical ebb and flow. During the initial

eleven measures, there are no rhythmic values shorter than a quarter-note, and tones are sounded

only directly on the quarter-note pulses. The introduction of a syncopated rhythm in m. 12 brings

more motion to the lines, although note lengths remain the same. Now pressing forward are the

rising tenuto lines of the flute, oboe, and clarinet, which seem to be nudging each other along.

Section 2 is immediately faster, as the first forte dynamic of the movement is announced

with accents. Even in this more forceful character, however, an abundance of consonant intervals

and unisons gives the music a round, resonant quality that is quite unique to Yun's style of atonal

composition. In this section, the clarinet belongs more firmly to the upper woodwinds, forming a

trio that plays counterpoint to the two lower instruments.

Section 3 returns to the slower tempo and piano dynamic, as wandering 16th-note and

32nd-note figures enter the texture like bubbling water. In Section 4, some declamatory gestures

from Movement I are reprised, again beginning with the horn voice. The music becomes more

pointed and insistent with trills, accents, and angular rhythms. Section 5, however, is more

expansive as the melodic gestures (led by a flute solo) open delicately across wider intervals.

Section 6, marked intensiv halten, is a coda. The pitch bends introduced here have

tremendous force, since they are performed simultaneously by all five quintet members (Figure

5.8). The instruments play in parallel motion according to familiar alignments: the flute, oboe,

and clarinet form one group while and horn and bassoon play together. In this passage, however,

all instruments play in the same register, creating a wonderfully homogenous sound. As one

94
grouping bends their pitches up, the other tends to bend down, producing interesting vertical

sonorities. These microtonal glissandi do not appear in any other part of Movement II, so their

novelty makes a remarkable impact on the coda.

Figure 5.8 Blaserquintett, Movement II. Simultaneous pitch bends, mm. 77-80.

BLASERQUINTETT© Copyright 1991 by Bote & Bock Musik - Und Buhnenverlag GMBH & Co.Reprinted by permission of Boosey &
Hawkes, Inc.

The roundness of the symmetrical phrase structures in Movement I balances the stream-

of-consciousness style of composition, much as the 4/4 meter tempers the rhythmic flamboyance

found within those steady quarter-note beats. There is an accessibility and ease in this music,

while in Yun's earlier works the mode of expression can be more opaque. As two of his most

important late works, the Blaserquintett and Oboe Quartet share many common characteristics,

including formal elegance and a directness of musical language (see Chapter 4). An appreciation

of these conservative elements of the formal, melodic, and rhythmic structure is crucial to

understanding Yun's late style.

Motivic Gestures

Formal structure is just one organizing principal of the Blaserquintett. Another way Yun

generates meaning in this work is his use of various motivic gestures to create unity and contrast

throughout the piece. Three motives in Movement I prove to be particularly salient: the horn call

motive, the reaching motive, and the accented pair motive. These three elements are found

95
frequently throughout the composition in various textural guises. Tutti statements of these

motivic gestures are prevalent, accentuating their importance in the quintet.

The dramatic "horn call" in the first measure sets the declamatory tone for the entire

duration of Section 1 (Figure 5.9). These two 16th notes, the very first sounds of the piece, form a

falling major sixth. This two-note unit is the seed from which so much other material germinates.

Perhaps most important is the rhythmic element, which is echoed countless times throughout the

work. Sometimes the horn call rhythm takes the form of a sixteenth plus dotted eighth, with the

latter often tied to a longer value. In m. 17, the flute plays a variation of the horn call. The

original horn pitches are preserved (with trills added) but the rhythm is inverted and condensed.

In Movement II, the rhythm is augmented to quarter-notes and dotted half-notes in m. 17. The

original sixteenth/dotted-eighth rhythm remains important throughout the movement (e.g. mm.

57-8). The horn call also finds lyrical expression in the oboe part at mm. 75-6.

Another ubiquitous motivic idea is the ascending shape of 16th-notes and 32nd-notes, or

"reaching motive." The origins of the reaching motive can be traced to the flute gesture in the

third measure of the piece, and the idea continues to resurface throughout (Figure 5.10). These

melodic fragments are infused with a lyrical quality that suggests a yearning for something

beyond. The principle of ascent, in this piece put into counterpoint with the descending horn call

motive, is an important theme in Yun's music. He described the ascending figure as "a feature of

the liberation of breathing, of music feeling and thinking, as the gaining of space-grasping

liberation." Sparrer writes, "Yun always linked symbolic notions of'above' and 'below' or of

heaven and earth with the high and low registers of musical space" {Chamber Works 1997, 11).

The reaching motive appears in a very different form at mm. 12-16 in Movement II, where

plodding ascending quarter-notes are played by the upper woodwinds.

96
Figure 5.9. Blaserquintett. Examples of the "horn call" motive.

a) Movement I, m. 1 c) Movement II, m. 17

hn.

ob
m * h^
fHffl-
b) Movement I, m. 17
^^p 3p

hn. »* r pi \m
bsn.
dipm
/-=#: * /-
d) Movement I, m. 62-63

cl.

hn

bsn.

e) Movement II, m. 57-58

P^ i rI f». rj r i --4 jM • _ f > - Pi H,—Jr" "a p i -FaK^

bsn.
r wvp .

BLASERQUINTETT© Copyright 1991 by Bote & Bock M u s i k - Und Btihnenverlag GMBH & Co.Reprinted by permission of Boosey &
Hawkes, Inc.

97
 Figure 5.10. Blaserquintett. Examples of the "reaching" motive.

a) Movement I, m. 3 b) Movement I, m. 22
4t

fl- IsS 1 /' \m I

ff-

c) Movement I, m. 55-56

^dffi'Ajfff &
w P^=f=-P

d) Movement II, m. 55

ob.

e) Movement II, m. 12-16

f) Movement I, m. 23-24

cl.

BLASERQUINTETT© Copyright 1991 by Bote & Bock Musik - Und Buhnenverlag GMBH & Co.Reprinted by permission of Boosey &
Hawkes, Inc.

98
Figure 5.11. Blaserquintett. Examples of the "accented pairs" motive.

a) Movement I, m. 4

ob.

b) Movement I, mm. 29-30

ob.

cl.

hn.

bsn.
f == L
ffi—=ff ~ = JOT7:
c) Movement I, m. 57 d) Movement II, m. 30

c) Movement I, m. 57

jff-^£fff==~mP

BLASERQUINTETT© Copyright 1991 by Bote & Bock Musik - Und Biihnenverlag GMBH & Co.Reprinted by permission of Boosey &
Hawkes, Inc.

99
 The third overarching motivic idea found in this work, the "accented pair," is first

introduced by the oboe in m. 4 of Movement I (Figure 5.11). The motive most often recurs as two

accented pairs of sixteenth notes. Sometimes the rhythm of the first pair is augmented, such as at

mm. 25-26 and mm. 29-30 in Movement I, where the upper woodwinds play a climactic tutti

statement employing this motive. At other points (e.g. Movement I, m. 54 and mm. 110-111), the

duplets are metrically displaced to create a slightly different effect. Sometimes the "accented

pair" motive is softened to achieve a more lyrical quality (e.g. Movement II, mm. 72-75);

elsewhere it becomes a sextuplet figure (e.g. Movement II, mm. 30-31).

Tonal Organization

In analyzing the tonal organization of Bldserquintett, the words of Yun scholar Harold

Kunz resonate deeply:

As in the expressive art of mime, in Isang Yun's highly expressive music gesture
succeeds gesture, and one principal sound succeeds another. One mood arises
spontaneously out of others. No logical relationship between the principal sounds can be
recognized. It appears as though the order in which the tonal gestures follow each other
is governed solely by the whims of the composer's imagination, free from compulsion,
and subject only to the laws of good taste and a sense of proportion—hallmarks of a
capacity for self-criticism which Isang Yun has developed to an uncommonly high
degree. (Feliciano 54-55)

For the most part, pitches in Bldserquintett cannot be classified according to a rigorous tonal

scheme or compositional technique. However, Yun does subject some portions of his music to

the "compulsions" of certain compositional procedures. The best example of this is Yun's

treatment of the horn melody from mm. 1-10 (Figure 5.12). The pitches of this fourteen-note

melody are taken as the basis for the oboe solo at m. 65 and the flute melody at m. 97 of

Movement I. These are not literal repetitions, however, since the tone sequence is restated with

different decorations, variations, and melodic contours in each instrumental solo. Even though

Yun's liberal retelling of the horn melody is not a strict repetition of the original fourteen tones,

the kinship between these three passages in unmistakable.

100
Figure 5.12. Bldserquintett, Movement I. Tone sequence in horn, oboe, and flute.

a) Horn melody, mm. 1-10

b) Oboe melody, mm. 65-79

65 Sola ^.

JJ-^Jff=~f

tf-*&r fffn=m f>->. frff\

jr=~»p-

101
Figure 5.12, continued.

c) Flute melody, mm. 97-108

-j0'-~=j@r="-/-=j9y w

•ff = = > — / = = jT—=^JXr : - /:

BLASERQUINTETT© Copyright 1991 by Bote & Bock Musik - Und Biihnenverlag GMBH & Co.Reprinted by permission of Boosey &
Hawkes, Inc.

In each incarnation of the melody, the instrument performing the tone sequence - horn,

oboe, or flute - takes on a different structural role. At m. 1-10, the horn melody interweaves with

the other four instruments to create a seamless texture of five equally important voices. At m. 65,

the oboe clearly dominates the texture, while the clarinet creates a haunting echo and the

remaining trio provides punctuation and background accompaniment. When the flute takes up the

melody at m. 97, it takes on a sort of descant character. It is barely discernible amidst the

cacophony of strident clarinet figurations and sustained fortissimo tones in the double reeds.

As a general rule, Yun felt that a piece's opening measures held critical importance. He

said, "In these first measures are contained all the structure-elements of the whole piece. If the

beginning works, then the piece will come by itself (Byeon 303). Following this statement, it is

crucial to note that all pitches within the first three measures of Blaserquintett can be

diagrammed into an intriguing pattern: a circle of thirds which creates seven different triads

(Figure 5.13). All species of triad (major, minor, diminished, and augmented) are represented,

102
although they are not heard as vertical entities. Rather, they function as melodic thirds which are

stacked upon one another with each successive entrance. Repeated pitches and inverted intervals

(e.g. thirds become sixths) camouflage the pattern, but the structural importance of this circle of

thirds is unquestionable. Throughout the work, the relationship of the third is an important

organizing principle and much of the pitch content is generated from this circle. Writing about

another late work, Yun's Quintet for Clarinet and String Quartet No. 1, Sparrer states: "The high

degree of consonance results from the systematic elaboration of a limited amount of material"

{Chamber Works 1997, 11). This same principle is also at work in the Bliiserquintett.

Figure 5.13. Bldserquintett, Movement I. Circle of thirds, mm. 1-5.

Compared to Yun's other compositions, the melodic lines in this quintet are generally

less subject to microtonal shading and other ornamentation. However, there are significant

examples in which the concepts of Hauptton and Hauptklang come into play. The first of these is

the oboe solo in Movement I (mm. 65-80), discussed above. Another example is the clarinet

melody a few bars later (mm. 97-102), which is focused around the tones G sharp, C, and E flat.

There are many instances in the piece where duo or trio instrumentations interact to form

intriguing composite textures. This kind of Hauptklang, or "sound complex," is heard at mm. 40-

46 (Movement I) when the upper woodwinds join in a vigorous series of interlocking trills. The

best example of Hauptklang is the passage of pitch bends at the end of Movement II (mm. 77-

84).

103
Performance Issues

When preparing Blaserquintett for performance, players may encounter a few minor

challenges, but none that cannot be surmounted with careful study and rehearsal. All five

members of the ensemble must share the responsibility of maintaining a steady sense of pulse

throughout both movements, since it is rare for any single instruments to play directly on the beat

for more than one measure at a time. Most often, the quarter note pulse is distributed throughout

the quintet even within the space of one measure. Thorough knowledge of the score and attentive

practice help to solidify the group's sense of pulse.

The slow 6/4 meter at the beginning of Movement II presents its own challenges.

Maximum concentration is required to count through notes and rests of such long duration

(writing in cues, of course, can be very helpful here). In this movement, the meditative quality of

the music becomes very real for the performers. Six slow counts to a measure demand a pointed

mental concentration, while the quality of articulation, tone, and blend requires a physical state

that is soft and relaxed. The challenge of performing this passage lies in achieving balance

between voices, perfect intonation, and seamless exchange between one block of sound and the

next. Dovetailing entrances in this section can also be difficult, especially at such soft dynamic

levels.

In terms of rehearsal and performance, an awareness of the work's formal structure can

prove beneficial to the performers as well. Obviously, an examination of phrase divisions and

larger structures in the music can facilitate meaningful decision-making about line, direction, and

inflection; it can also help with the practical concerns of achieving tight ensemble playing. And

although Yun's instructions for dynamics are usually meticulous (in this work, ppp toffff), an

understanding of the piece's structure can also guide decisions about what musical ideas should

be brought to the fore and which serve more subsidiary roles. It is important for the players to

trust Yun's meticulously notated dynamics throughout the piece, while still maintaining

sensitivity to balance issues if problems arise.

104
 CHAPTER 6. MISCELLANEOUS WORKS

The first section of this chapter, Chamber Works for Small Ensembles, will briefly

summarize the remaining duos and trios Isang Yun composed for oboe. In the second section,

Chamber Works for Large Ensembles, his oboe pieces for seven to nine players will be

discussed.

/. Chamber Works for Small Ensembles

Inventionen (1983)

In 1981, Ingo Goritzki4 commissioned Isang Yun to compose a piece for oboe, bassoon,

and harpsichord. However, when he finally got around to writing the piece, the chamber group it

had been intended for no longer existed. Therefore, the concept was modified for oboe duo, and

the work became Inventionen fur Zwei Oboen, dedicated to Burkhard Glaetzner5 and Ingo

Goritzki. It was written quickly in three to four weeks, and premiered at the Wittener Tage fur

neue Kammermusik on April 29, 1984. Shortly before the performance, the movements were

given the following names: I. Triller, II. Glissandi, III. Vorschlage, IV. Harmonie (Goritzki and

Wetzel 2003, 2). Each movement focuses on a different device or musical aspect. This movement

scheme resembles that of the Cello Etudes (1993), named according to specific musical

attributes: Legato, Leggiero, Dolce, Triller, Doppelgriffe. A version of Inventionen for two flutes,

published in 1984, is featured on two commercial recordings, but the original version for two

oboes has not been released. However, a recording by a flute and oboe duo is available.

4
German oboist Ingo Goritzki (b. 1939) played principal oboe with the Sinfonieorchester Basel and the
Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra. He was appointed professor at the Staatliche Hochschule fur Musik
und Theater of Hannover and the Staatliche Hochschule fur Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Stuttgart.
5
Burkard Glaetzner (b. 1943) played principal oboe in the Leipzig Rundfunkorchester, founded several
chamber ensembles dedicated to baroque and contemporary music, and led the Neue Bachische Collegium
Musicum from 1988 to 2003. Glaetzner now teaches at the Berlin Hochschule der Kunste.

105
Figure 6.1. First page of the manuscript for Inventionen. Source: Ingo Goritzki and Christian
Wetzel, "Vier Inventionen fur zwei Oboen - Ornamentierung wird zur Hauptausdrucksform " Rohrblatt
18.1 (2003), p. 3.

/—=<f

106
 In the first movement, Triller, the texture is kept constantly busy with trills, double-trills,

and rapid triplet or quintuplet figurations. Glissandi begins in a more pacified mood, exploring

the sonorities of microtonal pitch bends as tension builds throughout the movement. In

Vorschldge ("Grace notes"), nearly every note is prefaced with grace note gestures. Harmonie is

the true anomaly of the collection. Devoid of all embellishments and focused mainly on major

and minor thirds, the bareness and consonance of this movement sets it apart from all of Yun's

other works for oboe. It unexpectedly dies into nothingness with the faint whispering of

multiphonic tremolos.

Pezzo fantosioso (1988)

Pezzo fantosioso ("Fantasy Piece") was commissioned by the city of Chiusi, Italy, for the

sixth International Roberto Fabbriciani Flute Masterclass. The piece was premiered in Chiusi on

July 10, 1988, by Italian flutist Elisa Cozzini and violinist Li-Na Chen, Yun's granddaughter.

After this performance, an optional bass part was added to the score. Yun stated that the work can

be played by two flutes, oboes, clarinets, violins, or any desired combination of these

instruments. The bass part {ad libitum) can be played by any bass instrument.

The treble parts both ascend to high A, but at one point the second part is marked with an

alternative for the oboe to play high F instead (m. 70). However, in the oboe/clarinet recording by

members of the Albert Schweizter Quintett, the oboe actually plays the first part. Sparrer's notes

for that recording lend insight into the compositional design of the piece: "The spiral dramaturgy

of Pezzo fantosioso aims at successive gains in tone altitude and manifests itself in the repeated

tracing of a domed semicircle, the archetypal musical symbol for heaven" (1993, 11). The piece

reaches its greatest height at mm. 68-71.

Because of the work's indefinite instrumentation, it is devoid of extended instrumental

techniques. This makes the score accessible to wind and string players alike. Although all the

instruments Yun mentioned are capable of pitch bending and glissandi, even these effects are

107
absent from the piece. This shifts the focus away from texture to the harmonic interplay between

voices. There is a tendency, especially in the dolce passages, toward consonant intervals and

hints of tonality. Sparrer comments:

Harmonically, it is a meditation on the changing color values of the third. Although the
music lends itself to decipherment in full tonal detail, tonality itself never manifests: Yun
has organized the permanent ambiguity of a tonality in suspension and conveys it
through the semitone, the smallest possible form of transition. (1993, 11)

There are never long-range tonal movements that could be understood as functional harmony.

Instead, Yun sets up tonal moments, or fleeting sonorities which allude to major and minor

harmonies (Figure 6.2). In addition, the two treble voices frequently move in parallel thirds. This

consonance is intermittently disturbed by more active passages which relish trills and dissonance.

Figure 6.2. Tonal moments in Pezzofantasioso.

a) mm. 15-18

b)m. 45-47

P=~VP P—=zmp^=~p mp-^mf OT/—=======/-=====:ff

PEZZO FANTASIOSO© Copyright 1988 by Bote & Bock Musik - Und Biihnenverlag GMBH & Co.Reprinted by permission of Boosey &
Hawkes, Inc.

108
Rufe for Oboe and Harp (1989)

Rufe ("Calls") was dedicated with the inscription "Fur Heinz und Ursula Holliger in

Freudschaft." It was one of several Yun compositions inspired by the musical partnership of this

husband and wife duo. Other important pieces for oboe and harp include Heinz Holliger's own

Mobiles (1962), Sonatina Op.65/2 (1948) by Raphael, Three Nocturnes by Boscha, Spiele (1965)

by Hans-Ulrich Lehmann, Alain Weber's Sonata (1968), Jolivet's Contraversia (1968), and

Trilogy (1993) by Elliott Carter.

True to its title, Rufe begins in the form of a call-and-response between the oboe and

harp. The declamatory style of the oboe is answered by arpeggio flourishes and chords in the

harp. From the oboist Yun demands the following techniques: fluttertonguing, microtonal bends,

double trills, glissandos, harmonics, and extreme facility in the high range (to high G#). Burgess

points out that the pairing of oboe and harp recalls an ancient archetype of converse personalities

(297). The aulos (reed pipe) and the kithara or lyre of ancient Greece, for instance, were

associated with the opposite characters of Dionysus (representing intoxication, madness, ecstasy)

and Apollo (representing refinery, order, perfection).

Espace II for Cello, Harp, and Oboe ad lib. (1993)

In Espace I (1992) for cello and piano, Yun uses contrasts of rhythm and dynamics to

delineate different types of musical space (Ko 43). Beaujean described the piece as

a moving meditation on the main tone of C sharp. [...] It is as if Yun, in the story of a
single pitch, were once again recounting the forces of yin and yang, the primordial
principles of Tao, and speaking to us about the order of the universe - limitless, infinite,
ever caught in a process of change while remaining, as a whole, fixed and immutable. (4-
5)

The following year, Yun composed Espace II for cello, harp and oboe. The dedicatees were

Ursula Holliger, Andreas Schmid, and Heinz Holliger, who premiered the piece on September

17, 1993, in St. Blasien, Germany. It is a one-movement work approximately 13 minutes in

length.

109
 The oboe part of Espace II is marked ad libitum and usually plays a descant-like role by

sustaining high pitches, sometimes with glissando or microtonal effects. There are also two

passages in which the oboe becomes more animated with trills and other rapid figurations (mm.

37-43 and mm. 67-82). The cello and harp, however, are featured more prominently in this work.

OstWest Miniaturen for Oboe and Cello (1994)

The two short movements which make up OstWest Miniaturen ("East-West Miniatures")

were premiered on two separate occasions. Miniatur II was dedicated to Ulrich Eckhardt, artistic

director of the Berliner Festwochen. It was premiered on May 28, 1994, in Berlin by Albrecht

Mayer (principal oboist of the Berlin Philharmonic) and cellist Gotz Teutsch. Miniatur I was

premiered later that year during the same Vienna concert which featured the premiere of the

Oboe Quartet. It was played by Heinz Holliger and Patrick Demenga on November 7, 1994, four

days after Yun's death.

//. Chamber Works for Large Ensembles

Musik fur sieben Instrumente (1959)

Musikfur sieben Instrumente was one of Yun's first works to be publicly presented in

Europe. It was premiered at the Darmstadt Internationale Ferienkurse fur Neue Musik on

September 4, 1959, by the Hamburger Kammersolisten and conductor Francis Travis. The piece

is written for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, violin, and cello; the score indicates that the

strings parts can be covered by up to three players each. The 12-minute work is composed of

three movements: Andantino delicato, Adagio, and Allegro vivace.

The septet is a twelve-tone composition.6 The first movement is based on the series

[0,3,4,10,11,8,9,1,5,6,2,7], though it is often treated in a fragmentary way. A different tone row

[11,10,4,5,2,9,8,0,1,6,7,3] begins the Adagio, but it is not used in its entirety for the rest of the

6
For a detailed analysis of Musikfur sieben Instrumente, see Choi 1992, 229-282.

110
movement. The third movement uses the row [6,7,11,10,4,2,1,8,0,9,3,4]. Yun uses these twelve-

tone rows in a way that does not resist their tonal implications.

The piece is written in a completely European style without the embellishments or

Hauptton process that defined Yun's mature style. However, one score instruction may have

signaled the direction Yun was to explore in the future. At the beginning of Movement II, Yun

instructs players with sustained tones to play non vibrato for the first half of the note, then to let

the vibrato increase naturally after that. Thus, the style "that emerges is a very personal approach

to serialism, filled with lyrical passages, implied triads, rhythmic variety, careful and detailed

dynamics, sensitive and expressive articulations, and implied harmonic relationships" (Choi

1992,238).

Loyang (1962)

Loyang is another twelve-tone composition in three movements. It is approximately 15

minutes long and is scored for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, harp, percussion, violin, and cello

(the strings may be augmented). It was premiered on January 23, 1964, in Hannover at the Tage

der Neuen Musik. Klaus Bernbacher conducted the World Orchestra of Jeunesses Musicales (an

international youth orchestra) in that performance. Yun edited the work afterwards and published

a shortened version in 1964. The piece operates with a twelve-tone row, but here Yun does not

adhere to a strict technique. Rather, the tones [6,4,7,10,8,9,3,5,0,11,2,1] are more often reshuffled

by tetrachords and then subject to free variation.

Loyang, especially the third movement, was intended to pay homage to the ancient court

music of China and Korea. In that final movement, the beginnings of Hauptton technique are

apparent in the sustained melodic tones. Yun also features pitch bending, glissandi, tremolos, and

fluttertonguing - techniques which hint at the Asian-influenced sonorities that would soon

saturate his compositions. In addition, "Loyang carefully evokes the Korean changgo drum,

splitting the strokes on its two heads between bass drum and snare drum" (Howard 2006, 147).

Ill
 Scholars have a difficult time deciphering Yun's "slightly curious take on Korean

history" (Howard 2006, 130). The title Loyang actually refers to Lolang (Nagyang, in Korean),

an ancient Chinese city located in the region of modern Pyongyang. It was an important center

for court music, and Yun writes in his score that one surviving piece from this place is called

Spring in Loyang. In fact, it has been demonstrated that this "is a Chinese piece found in old

sources for Korean music but no longer in China. It is one of only two court pieces still played in

Korea categorized as Chinese and was probably imported from Sung China (916-1279)." From

subsequent discussion, it has been gathered that Yun modeled his piece Loyang after a different

Korean court piece, Sujech 'on, derived from a much later Korean folk song (Howard 2006, 130).

Distanzen (1988)

Yun composed Distanzen ("Distances") for a portrait concert given during the Berliner

Festwochen on October 9, 1988. It was premiered by the Scharoun Ensemble, a chamber group

of musicians from the Berlin Philharmonic. The piece is scored for wind quintet and string

quintet: flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, two violins, viola, cello, and bass. Yun dedicated the

work to writer and long-time friend Luise Rinser.

Figure 6.3. Two possible stage arrangements for Distanzen, as indicated in the score.

Aufstellung der Musiker:

A: Raum-Akustlk B: Normaies Podium

Podium
Hn
Kb
Fl Ob
Va Vc Kl Fg
VI VII
Kb
Publlkum
Va Vc
(Bang)
Kl Fg
Fl Ob
Hn

DISTANZEN© Copyright 1988 by Bote & Bock Musik - Und Buhnenverlag GMBH & Co.Reprinted by permission of Boosey & Hawkes,
Inc.

112
 The score offers two stage arrangements for the ten players (Figure 6.3). In the first

option, the musicians surround the audience, while the second option is more conventional. Yun

conceived the piece as an exploration of distance and dimension, represented spatially in live

performance. Both performance configurations establish the trio of viola, cello, and bass as a

self-contained unit. Throughout the piece, this trio plays as a cohesive and independent subset of

the larger ensemble.

Blaseroktett (1993)

The Blaseroktett is scored for pairs of oboes, clarinets, bassoons, and horns. The

instrumentation follows in a great tradition of wind octets reaching back to Mozart (Serenade

No. 11 in E-flat Major, K. 375; Serenade No. 12 in C minor, K. 388) and Beethoven {Octet,

Op. 103). This arrangement of eight players was solidified by the growth of Harmonie-Musik, a

musical movement in aristocratic Vienna which grew out of the extensive musical activities of

wind bands and other chamber ensembles in that region (Burgess 91-92). Other significant works

in this repertoire include the Divertimento in E-flat (1968) and Serenade (1950) by Gordon

Jacob, Octanphonie (1972) by Eugene Bozza, and Contrafacta Hungaria (1976) by Ferenc

Farkas.

Blaseroktett was commissioned by the German state of Baden-Wurttemberg. It is

dedicated to oboist Ingo Goritzki, clarinetist Ulf Rodenhauser, and the Stuttgarter

Blaserakademie, who premiered the piece on February 19, 1995. The bass part is marked ad

libitum. Yun did not utilize extended instrumental techniques, with the exception of microtonal

bends. This 18-minute work is made up of three main sections: mm. 1-108, mm. 109-153, and

mm. 154-205. The middle section is typical of Yun's slow movements, written in slow 6/4 time

(quarter-note ca. 52) and dynamics which range mostly from pppp to mp. The octet shows "an

appreciation expressive instrumental lyricism" which reflected the "greater warmth, euphony,

and lyricism" that emerged in Yun's late works (McCredie 592).

113
 ///. The Concertos

Double Concerto for Oboe and Harp (1977)

Yun dedicated his Double Concerto to Heinz Holliger and his wife, harpist Ursula

Holliger. They premiered the piece with the Berlin Philharmonic on September 26, 1977. Yun

was one of several composers to write double concertos for Heinz and Ursula Holliger. Other

collaborations produced double concertos by Hans Werner Henze (1966), Alfred Schnittke

(1971), and Witold Lutoslawski (1979-80). Additional orchestral pieces featuring solo oboe and

harp include Trois Danses (1970) by Frank Martin and Heinz Holliger's Siebengesang (1966-67).

Yun's Double Concerto is scored for a small orchestra of two flutes (both doubling on piccolo),

one oboe, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, one trumpet, one trombone, strings, and a large

assortment of percussion (two players needed). Performance time is approximately 34 minutes.

The Double Concerto is based on a Korean folktale, the love story of a cowherd and a

weaver. This legend, known in China as early as the 6th century BCE, has been recorded by many

authors and has evolved numerous variations. The most famous Chinese iteration of the tale was

recorded in a verse by Qin Guan, an 1 lth-century poet:

Among the beautiful clouds,

Over the heavenly river,
Crosses the weaving maiden.
A night of rendezvous,
Across the autumn sky,
Surpasses joy on earth.
Moments of tender love and dream,
So sad to leave the magpie bridge.
Eternal love between us two,
Shall withstand the time apart.

The weaver princess Jiknyeo, daughter of a heavenly king, falls in love with a cowherd named

Gyeonwu. After getting married, the couple neglects their work. The angry king banishes the

princess to the east of the Milky Way, where she becomes the star Vega; the cowherd is banished

to the west, where he becomes the star Altair. The story lies at the heart of the Korean festival

Chilseok (Chinese QiXi, Japanese Tanabata), the equivalent of Valentine's Day in the West,

114
which is celebrated on July 7. (In the Chinese version, the goddess mother of the weaver girl uses

her hairpin to make a wide river in the sky separating the two lovers. This river is the Milky

Way.) On the seventh day of the seventh lunar month (approximated by July 7), when the Milky

Way appears dimmer in the night sky, a flock of magpies are said to form a bridge between the

two lovers so that they can meet (Heckert 2007). It is true that during this period, magpies

disappear to molt. They reappear without feathers on their heads, since the lovers stepped on their

heads to reunite on the magpie bridge. For Yun, the fairytale of two star-crossed lovers had a

more personal and contemporary meaning as well. He wanted the story to also symbolize the

separation of North and South Korea. Sparrer wrote in his note for the piece, "The sky grants the

favour of reunification at least once a year, whereas the negotiations in Korea have remained

without success until now" (2003, 2).

Grasping the formal structure of this one-movement concerto is quite difficult. It is

essentially a series of narrative episodes strung together to give an impression of the Korean

fairytale. Any resemblance to a standard concerto form is thin. The piece has been described

using a ternary movement structure of fast-slow-fast, but even that is a loose description at best.

Figure 6.4 proposes a four-section scheme, which more aptly might be termed yang-yin-yang-

yin.

Figure 6.4. Double Concerto for Oboe and Harp, Formal structure.

mm. Episode
1-50 Introduction; Oboe approaches
Section I 51-91 Wooing
92-135 Wooing and Embrace

136-168 Soli with Phoenix

Section II
169-184 Soli with Percussion

185-200 Flight of the magpies

Section III 201-254 Frenzy and Cadenza
255-278 Orchestra

279-347 Duo
Section IV 348-367 Distress
368-390 Farewell

115
 Section 1 begins with a severe brass chord that recurs at several points later in the piece

(e.g. m. 200, m. 255, m. 368). According to Sparrer, these chords represent "the inhumane

severity of the Royal court or society" and remind us of the lovers' ultimate fate (Sparrer 2003).

The harp, symbolizing the princess, plays a brief introduction with the orchestra. Then the oboe,

symbolizing the cowherd, plays from far away (von fern). Next the oboe comes near (nah), and

begins to woo the princess. This scene builds until the two unite in an embrace (mm. 114-135),

heard as encircling arpeggios in the harp and a sustained microtonal melody in the oboe (Figure

6.5).

Figure 6.5. Double Concerto. "Embrace" episode, mm. 117-119.

J co.66

DOUBLE CONCERTO FOR OBOE AND HARP© Copyright 1977 by Bote & Bock Musik - Und Buhnenverlag GMBH & Co.Reprinted by
permission of Boosey & Hawkes, Inc.

Sparrer describes the scene at the beginning of Section 2 as "the joyous encounter of the

lovers." Yun describes the other players in this section as "sympathizers of the court." The

orchestral oboe, in particular, embodies the phoenix (Sparrer 2003). It is interesting that Yun

used a second oboe to represent the mythical bird, an ancient symbol of virtue, grace, and the

116
harmonic union ofyin and yang. He treats the orchestral oboe mostly as a delicate foil to the

harsh multiphonic sonorities of the solo oboe (Figure 6.6).

Figure 6.6. Double Concerto. "Phoenix" episode, mm. 155-157.

DOUBLE CONCERTO FOR OBOE AND HARP© Copyright 1977 by Bote & Bock Musik - Und Biihnenverlag GMBH & Co.Reprinted by
permission of Boosey & Hawkes, Inc.

The "Flight of the magpies" (mm. 182-200) serves as a transition to Section 3, in which

great conflict arises. Large orchestration gives way to a frenzied soloistic episode (mm. 233-252),

and eventually a short cadenza played mostly by solo harp. Following this is the most intense

orchestral passage of the piece (mm. 255-278), preparing for the "Duo" episode which functions

as the true cadenza of the concerto. Completing Section 4 is a tutti episode which conveys great

distress, and finally a farewell scene of reluctant acceptance.

Though scored for full orchestra, the Double Concerto is a surprisingly intimate piece.

This is fitting, considering the program for the concerto is a romantic fairytale. In addition to the

lengthy cadenza, there are many passages which the oboe and harp soli have little or no

accompaniment. In the "Embrace" episode (mm. 114-135), for instance, only flutes, clarinets,

and violins accompany the soloists. The first half of Section 2 is scored for only three players,

while the second half utilizes the barest of orchestral textures. The "Frenzy" episode (mm. 201-

252) is also sparingly scored. The unaccompanied "Duo" between the harp and oboe is nearly

seven minutes long.

117
 For this work, the performance demands on the oboe soloist are quite similar to those for

the Sonata for Oboe, Harp, and Viola (1979). (That piece grew out of the successful

collaboration between Yun and the Holligers during the creation of the Double Concerto; see

Chapter 3). Multiphonics, microtonality, fluttertonguing, rhythmic coordination during the soli

passages, and endurance are among the greatest challenges this work presents.

Duetto concertante for Oboe/English Horn, Cello, and Strings (1987)

The Duetto concertante was composed for German oboist Ingo Goritzki and his brother

Johannes Goritzki, a prominent cellist. The duo premiered the work on November 8, 1987, in

Rottweil, Germany, with the Deutsche Kammerakademi Neuss, a German chamber orchestra

specializing in obscure repertoire and newly commissioned works.

The Duetto concertante has a clear three-part structure: Part 1 (mm. 1-52), Part 2 (mm.

53-76), and Part 3 (mm. 77-201). The soloists play constantly through Part 1, with the exception

of two four-bar orchestral interludes. Tempos throughout the piece range from "quarter ca. 52" to

"quarter ca. 78," but generally Parts 1 and 3 are more active in character. All instruments

(including the oboe) are muted for Part 2, which is quiet and subdued. The cadenza in Part 3

(mm. 125-141) begins with sustained notes in the cello, with the oboe joining in several measures

later. Virtuosic figurations in both voices build to an accelerando passage of trills,

fluttertonguing, and ffff dynamics. The oboist changes to English horn immediately after the

cadenza and plays this instrument through the end of the piece.

Of all Yun's works for oboe, the Duetto concertante surely represents his closest

approach to tonality. The entire work revolves around the tone of A. The oboe melody at the start

of each major section focuses on A; the work also ends with A in the oboe, cellos, and basses.

The most overt use of tonal harmonies comes in the string passage at mm. 31 -34, which touches

upon a V-I progression in A major (Figure 6.7). Yun alludes to another diatonic relationship (I-

118
Figure 6.7. Duetto concertante, Quasi-tonal string passage, mm. 31-34.

DUETTO CONCERTANTE FOR OBOE, CELLO AND STRINGS© Copyright 1987 by Bote & Bock M u s i k - Und Biihnenverlag GMBH &
Co.Reprinted by permission of Boosey & Hawkes, Inc.

vi) when he closes Part 1 in quasi-F# minor. The melodic relationship between A and E flat,

carefully established as the first two notes of the oboe solo, remains prominent throughout the

work. Regarding the genesis of the Duetto concertante, Ingo Goritzki has said:

Once, Isang Yun, the Korean composer, wanted to compose a work for me, and he asked
me, "What would you like? How do you want it?" And I said, "Please, Isang, I wait to
see what you will do. I have no advice for that." However, I made some suggestions for
the cadenza and he made the cadenza with those ideas. But I had no influence on the rest
of the piece. (Duffie 1997)

In the resulting cadenza, the oboe and cello serve as great counterpoint to each other, as Yun

strikes a pleasing balance between activity and stasis (Figure 6.8). One instrument generates

motion while the other provides stability, although these roles are continuously exchanged by the

soloists. Notice also that the cadenza begins on a sustained low E in the cello, an ephemeral yet

significant allusion to the dominant of A major.

119
Figure 6.8. Duetto concertante, Cadenza, mm. 125-141.

g(Kadcnz)
w*Jca.5a ^

DUETTO CONCERTANTE FOR OBOE, CELLO AND STRINGS© Copyright 1987 by Bote & Bock Musik - Und Buhnenverlag GMBH &
Co.Reprinted by permission of Boosey & Hawkes, Inc.

120
Concerto for Oboe/Oboe d'amore (1990)

Yun composed his Oboe Concerto for the Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation in the

Library of Congress and dedicated it to the memory of Serge and Natalie Koussevitzky. Heinz

Holliger, along with the Orchester der Beethovenhalle Bonn and conductor Dennis Russell

Davies, gave the first performance during the Berlin Festwochen on September 16, 1991. The

concerto follows a conventional three-movement structure, though these movements are not

marked as such in the score. The second movement, more docile in character, calls for oboe

d'amore. Yun utilizes the low range of the instrument to great effect. In general, the solo lines

demand more lyricism and control than flashy technique. The work's most challenging aspect is

the third movement cadenza, which lasts nearly four minutes (Figure 6.9). It calls for

fluttertonguing, some fast technique, pitch bending on harmonics, and delicate dynamic control

in the low register.

Figure 6.9. Oboe Concerto, Movement III cadenza.

, Kleine Kadenz

CONCERTO FOR OBOE© Copyright 1990 by Bote & Bock Musik - Und Buhnenverlag GMBH & Co.Reprinted by permission of Boosey
& Hawkes, Inc.

121
 Phrase structures in the Oboe Concerto are remarkably uniform (Figure 6.10), beginning

with Movement I. After two ten-bar phrases of a solo introduction, the remaining sections of

orchestra, oboe solo, and tutti passages produce a pattern of alternating four-bar and eight-bar

phrases. The design of Movement II is more varied, but still consists only of four-bar and eight-

bar units. An oboe d'amore cadenza invites a brief dialogue with the cellos (mm. 102-105),

followed by a transitional passage into the spirited third movement. For the most part, Movement

III engages the familiar pattern of alternating four-bar and eight-bar phrases.

Figure 6.10. Oboe Concerto. Formal structure.

mm. Texture # bars

1-10 Solo 10
Part 1
11-20 Solo w/ solo violin & cello 10
6/4 ca. 60
21-24 orchestra 4
25-32 Solo 8
Mvt. I Part 2 33-36 orchestra 4
6/4 ca. 60 37-44 Solo + orchestra 8
45-48 orchestra 4
Part 3 49-56 Solo + orchestra 8
5/4 ca. 66 57-60 orchestra 4

61-64 orchestra 4
65-76 Solo + orchestra 4/4/4
77-92 orchestra 4/4
Mvt. II 6/4 ca. 52 93-100 Solo + orchestra 8
(oboe d'amore) 101 CADENZA
102-105 Solo w/ cellos 4
106-113 Solo + orchestra 4/4

114-117 orchestra 4
118-125 Solo + orchestra 8
5/4 ca. 68 126-129 orchestra 4
130-137 Solo + orchestra 8
Mvt. Ill 138-149 Solo + orchestra 2/10
5/4 ca. 52 150-153 Solo + orchestra 4
5/4 ca. 68 154-161 orchestra 8
~ 162 CADENZA
5/4 ca. 60 163-166 Solo / orchestra 4

122
 The works discussed in this chapter merit more attention and analysis than could be

given here. The concertos especially represent an important dimension of Yun's writing for the

oboe, though opportunity for performance of these orchestral works is more limited. Duetto

concertante, in fact, has not been released on a commercial recording. Several of the smaller

chamber pieces have also not been recorded, including: Inventionen (not available in two oboes

version), Rufe, Bldseroktett, Espace II, and OstWest Miniaturen. There is a clear opportunity here

for oboists seeking to record unreleased material, and enthusiasts of Yun's music would benefit

greatly from any additions to the library of available works.

123
 CONCLUSION

Isang Yun's oboe music is a significant body of repertoire which challenges, enchants,

and ultimately rewards those who are willing to learn the subtleties of Yun's musical language.

There are few contemporary composers who have composed so prolifically for the oboe, and a

greater awareness of Yun's music will certainly benefit oboists who seek to expand their

knowledge of 20th-century music. Many of the pieces for small chamber ensembles are highly

programmable, given their moderate performance times and unique textures. In particular, the

two wind quintets, scored for a standard ensemble and only modestly difficult, should become

part of the oboist's core repertoire. Some works require a minimum of extended techniques,

while others demand an extreme level of technical facility. In this sense, Yun's oboe works have

something to offer everyone.

Albera wrote that Yun's works "possess that rare quality of containing a secret center

which [...] gives a feeling of complete coherence" (36). In this project I set out to investigate the

salient elements which give this music an unmistakable unity and remarkable vitality. Through

research, listening, and analysis, I am perhaps a few steps closer to understanding where the

"secret center" lies, and I hope to translate this sensibility into more rich and insightful

performances. Knowledge of the Hauptton technique, as well as an appreciation for the Taoist

principles Yun so highly valued, is essential to absorbing the full content of Yun's melodic

lyricism. The complete integration of ornamental tones into the fabric of expression, as well as

the development of rhythmic motifs, is crucial to the coherence of Yun's musical language.

Twelve-tone techniques penetrate Yun's compositions to a surprising degree; however, in the

absence of tone rows, the music can be highly organized according to pitch centers, repetitions of

interval relationships, and even allusions to tonality. Moreover, the unexpected regularity of

Yun's phrase structures shows us that this music is not chaotic, but rather quite ordered in its

formal conception.

124
 However, many questions remain to be unraveled by each individual performer. On an

instrument traditionally built to maximize pitch stability and evenness of tone, how are Yun's

unconventional demands of the oboist, such as extreme pitch flexibility and nuanced

multiphonics, best achieved? What alchemy of embouchure contortions, air speed, finger slides,

and reed adjustments will produce the sonorities Yun imagined?

Spanning the length of his distinguished career, Yun's works for oboe have great artistic

significance. From a political perspective also, Yun's music continues to be extremely relevant,

especially in light of the evolving relationships between South Korea, North Korea, the United

States, and Europe. Dramatic events such as Seoul's Isang Yun Festival and the New York

Philharmonic's 2008 performance in Pyongyang demonstrate the tremendous importance of

artistic exchange and cultural diplomacy. Yun believed deeply in the power of music to promote

peace and nurture humanity. This is perhaps his greatest legacy.

125
 APPENDIX - ISANG YUN'S MUSIC FOR OBOE: LIST OF WORKS & DISCOGRAPHY

Musik fur sieben Instrumenten (1959)

flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, violin, cello
4 September 1959; Darmstadt, Germany
Hamburger Kammersolisten (Francis Travis, cond.)
12 minutes

Hamburger Kammersolisten (Bernhard Hamann, violin; Siegfried Palm, cello; Gerhard Otto,
flute; Heinz Nordbruch, oboe; Rudolf Irmisch, clarinet; Alfred Franke, bassoon; Rolf Lind,
horn; Francis Travis, cond.). Time LP 58006 (1961), Mainstream LP MS 5006 (1970).
Ensemble 2e2m, Paul Mefano (cond.). 2e2m 1010 (1997).

Loyang (1962, rev. 1964)

flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, percussion, harp, violin, cello
23 January 1964; Hannover, Germany
Tage der Neuen Musik
World Orchestra of Jeunesses Mulicales (Klaus Bernbacher, cond.)
15 minutes

Soloists of the Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra (WDR Sinfonieorchester Koln) (Hans
Zender, cond.). Wergo LP 60034 (1968), Heliodor LP 2549010 (1970); Trio LP PA-1043
(1970), Wergo WER 6620-2 (1998).
State Symphony Orchestra of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (Francis Travis, cond.).
Camerata Tokyo 32CM-26. Compositions of Isang Yun, disc 4,25CM-231-240 (1987).

Images (1968)
flute, oboe, violin , cello
24 March 1969; Oakland, CA
Mills College New Music Ensemble
20 minutes

Aurele Nicolet, flute; Heinz Holliger, oboe; Hansheinz Schneeberger, violin; Thomas Demenga,
cello. Camerata Tokyo LP CMT-1084 (1986). Compositions of Isang Yun, disc 4, Camerata
Tokyo CMT-4024 (1992). Thomas Demenga: Toshio Osokawa, J.S. Bach, Isang Yun. ECM
New Series 1782/83. 461862-2 (2002), Camerata Tokyo CM-108 (2003).
Roswitha Staege, flute; Burkhard Glaetzner, oboe; Kolja Lessing, violin; Walter Grimmer (cello).
Internationale Isang Yun Gesellschaft IYG 001 (1999).
Roswitha Staege, flute; Ingo Goritzki, oboe; Aitzol Iturriagagoitia, violin; Anna Carewe, cello.
Isang Yun Ensemble Berlin, Tongyeong International Music Festival (2002).

Piri (1971)
oboe solo
25 October 1971; Bamberg, Germany
Georg Meerwein, oboe
11 minutes

Heinz Holliger, oboe. Denon LP OX 7031 (1975).

Heinz Holliger, oboe . Arbeitskreis Ostasien in Berliner Missionswerk LP A-4079 (1979).
Burkhard Glaetzner, oboe. Neue Musik fur Oboe. Eterna LP 827906 (1986), Berlin Classics 11722
(1996).
Eduard Brunner, clarinet. Compositions of Isang Yun, disc 1, Camerata Tokyo LP CMT-1084
(1983). Harmonia Mundi DMR 1022-1024 (1983), 32CM-46 (1988), CMT 4024.

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 Aufnahmen mit Klarinette. Isang Yun: Selected Works for Clarinet. ECM 1599 43 257-2
(1997).
Eduard Brunner, clarinet. Col legno LP BM 30SL 6.5515 (1987), Col legno 429354-2, Aurophon
AU 31808 (1991).
Omar Zoboli, oboe. Jecklin Edition JD 718-2 (1997).
Heinz Holliger, oboe. Lauds and Lamentations: Music of Elliott Carter and Isang Yun. ECM New
Series 1848/49 (2003). Denon COCO-70863 (2006).
Heinz Holliger, oboe. Internationale Isang Yun Gesellschaft IYG 004 (2004).

Trio for Flute, Oboe, and Violin (1973)

18 October 1973; Mannheim, Germany
Hermann Pfister, flute; Georg Meerwein, oboe; Walter Forchert, violin
12 minutes

Verena Bosshart, flute; Omar Zoboli, oboe; Saskia Filippini, violin. Jecklin Edition JD 718-2
(1997).
Roswitha Staege, flute; Burkhard Glaetzner, oboe; Uwe-Martin Haiberg, violin. International Yun
Gesellschaft IYG 001 (1999).
Roswitha Staege, flute; Ingo Goritzki, oboe; Aitzol Iturriagagoitia, violin. Tongyeong
International Music Festival (2002).

Rondell (1975)
oboe, clarinet, bassoon
30 September 1975; Bayreuth, Germany
Berliner Blasertrio (Giinther Passin, oboe; Hans Hartmann, clarinet; Hans Lemke, bassoon)
12 minutes

Trio Divertimento (Nicolai Borggrefe, oboe; Bernhard Kosling, clarinet; Albert Kegel, bassoon).
Audite 20.011 (1993).
Members of the Albert Schweitzer Quintett (Christiane Dimigen, oboe; Diemut Schneider,
clarinet; Eckart Hubner, bassoon). Music for Wind. Classic Produktion Osnabriick CPO
999184-2(1993).

Double Concerto for Oboe and Harp (1977)

26 September 1977; Berlin, Germany
Heinz Holliger, oboe; Ursula Holliger, harp; Berlin Philharmonic (Francis Travis, cond.)
34 minutes

Heinz Holliger, oboe; Ursula Holliger, harp; Saarbriicken Radio Symphony Orchestra (Dennis
Russel Davies, cond.). Compositions of Isang Yun, disc 4, Camerata Tokyo CMT-4024
(1986), 25CM-231-240 (1992), CM-108 (2003).

Sonata for Oboe (+d'amore), Harp, and Viola (1979)

6 July 1979; Saarbriicken, Germany
Heinz Holliger, oboe; Ursula Holliger, harp; Hirofumi Fukai, viola
29 minutes

Heinz Holliger, oboe; Ursula Holliger, harp; Hirofumi Fukai, viola . Compositions of Isang Yun,
disc 5, Camerata Tokyo CMT-4024 (1987), 25CM-231-240 (1992), CM-22 (2002).
Burkhard Glaetzer, oboe; Gerhard Erber, piano; Wolfgang Weber, cello. Eterna LP 7 29 277
(1988), Berlin Classics 0011422 (1995).

127
Inventionen for Two Oboes (1983)
29 April 1984; Witten, Germany
Wittener Tage fur neue Kammermusik
Burkhard Glaetzner and Ingo Goritzki, oboes
15 minutes

Rien de Reede and Thies Roorda, flutes. Attacca Babel 9056DDD (1989), 9056-3 (1990).
Omar Zoboli, oboe; Verena Bosshart, flute. Jecklin Edition JD 718-2 (1997).
Elisabeth Weinzierl and Edman Wachter, flutes. Melisma 7163-2 (1998).

Duetto Concertante for Oboe/English Horn, Cello and Strings (1987)

8 November 1987; Rottweil, Germany
Ingo Goritzki, oboe; Johannes Goritzki, cello; Deutsche Kammerakademie Neuss
18 minutes

Festlicher Tanz for Woodwind Quintet (1988)

flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon
22 April 1989; Witten, Germany
Wittener Tage fur neue Kammermusik
Aulos Quintett
8 minutes

Albert Schweitzer Quintett (Angela Tetzlaff, flute; Christiane Dimigen, oboe; Diemut Schneider,
clarinet; Silke Schurack, horn; Eckart Hubner, bassoon). Music for Wind. Classic Produktion
Osnabruck CPO 999184-2 (1993).
Ma'a lot Quintet (Kornelia Brandkamp, flute; Christian Wetzel, oboe; Ulf-Guido Schafer,
clarinet; Volker Grewel, horn; Sergio Azzolini, bassoon). Berlin Classics 0011292 (1995).

Distanzen (1988)
flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon, 2 violins, viola, cello
9 October 1988; Berlin
Berliner Festwochen, KMS der Philharmonie
Scharoun Ensemble (Heinz Holliger, cond.)
16 minutes

Scharoun Ensemble (Heinz Holliger, cond.). Arcadia ARC 1997-2 (1992)

Ensemble 2e2m (Paul Mefano, cond.). 2e2m 1010 (1997)
Ensemble fiir Neue Musik (Dieter Cichewiecz, cond.). Art Voice 4923 (2003).
Schonberg Ensemble (Reinbert de Leeuw, cond.). Etcetera KTC 9000 (2006)

Pezzo fantasioso (1988)

Two instruments with basso ad lib.: For 2 flutes, oboes, clarinets, or violins in any combination; with bass
instrument (bass flute, bassoon, contrabass etc.)
10 July 1988; Chiusi, Italy
Teatro comunale
Elisa Cozzini, flute; Li-Na Chen, violin
12 minutes

Rien de Reede and Thies Roorda, flutes; D. Esser, cello. Attacca Babel 9056DDD (1989), 9056-3
(1990).
Members of the Albert-Schweitzer Quintet (Christiane Dimigen, oboe; Diemut Schneider,
clarinet, Eckart Hubner, bassoon). Music for Wind. Classic Produktion Osnabruck CPO
999184-2(1993).
Isang Yun Ensemble Pyongyang (flute, violin, and cello). Wergo WER 66392 (1999).
Ensemble TIMF (flute, violin, and cello). Tongyeong International Music Festival (2007).

128
 Angela Chun and Jennifer Chun, violins. Samsung Classics SCC-030AJC (1998), Harmonia
Mundi USA HMU 907444 (2008).

Rufe for Oboe and Harp (1989)

10 November 1989; Ravensburg, Germany
Heinz Holliger, oboe; Ursula Holliger, harp
13 minutes

Concerto for Oboe and Oboe d'amore (1990)

19 September 1991; Berlin
Berliner Festwochen, KMS der Philharmonie
Heinz Holliger, oboe; Orchester der Beethovenhalle Bonn (Dennis Russell Davies, cond.)
23 minutes

Ensemble Modern, Heinz Holliger (oboe and cond.). Teongyeong International Music Festival
(2004).

Blaserquintett (1991)
flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon
6 August 1991; Altenhof, Germany
Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival
Albert Schweitzer Quintett (Angela Tetzlaff, flute; Christiane Dimigen, oboe; Diemut Schneider, clarinet;
Silke Schurack, horn; Eckart Hiibner, bassoon)
16 minutes

Albert Schweitzer Quintett (Angela Tetzlaff, flute; Christiane Dimigen, oboe; Diemut Schneider,
clarinet; Silke Schurack, horn; Eckart Hiibner, bassoon). Music for Wind. Classic Produktion
Osnabriick CPO 999184-2 (1993).
Ma'alot Quintet (Kornelia Brandkamp, flute; Christian Wetzel, oboe; Ulf-Guido Schafer, clarinet;
Volker Grewel, french horn; Sergio Azzolini, bassoon). - Berlin Classics 0011292BC (1995).
Miro Ensemble. [Movement I only] Internationaler Musikwettbewerb der ARD Munchen
unnumbered CD (2001).

Espace II for Oboe, Cello and Harp (1993)

17 September 1993; St. Blasien, Germany
Heinz Holliger, oboe; Andreas Schmid, cello; Ursula Holliger, harp
13 minutes

Blaseroktett (1993)
2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, with bass ad lib.
19 February 1995; Stuttgart, Germany
Stuttgarter Blaserakademi (Ingo Goritzki and Gisela Faerber, oboes; Ulf Rodenhauser and Kerstin Grotsch,
clarinets; Wolfgang Gaag and Dariusz Mikulski, horns; Marc Engelhard and Jong Sun Kwak, bassoons;
Wolfgang Guttler, bass)
18 minutes

OstWest Miniaturen for Oboe and Cello (1994)

Miniatur 1:7 November 1995; Vienna
Musikverein
Heinz Holliger, oboe; Patrick Demenga, cello
6 minutes
Miniatur 11: 28 May 1994; Berlin
Siemens Villa
Albrecht Mayer, oboe; Gotz Teutsch, cello
5 minutes

129
 Ingo Goritzki, oboe and Anna Carewe, cello. CD of the Tongyeong International Music Festival
(2002).

Quartett for Oboe, Violin, Viola, and Cello (1994)

7 November 1995, Vienna
Musikverein, Wien Modern
Heinz Holliger, oboe; Christian Altenburger, violin; Kim Kashkashian, viola; Patrick Demenga, cello
16 minutes

Sawa Quartet (Hiroshi Shibayama, oboe; Kazuki Sawa, violin; Toshihiko Ichitsubo, viola;
Toshiaki Hayashi, cello). Last Works of Isang Yun. Camerata Tokyo 30CM-363 (1997).
Heinz Holliger, oboe; Thomas Zehetmair, violin; Ruth Kilius, viola; Thomas Demenga, cello.
Lauds and Lamentations. ECM New Series 1848/49 (2003).
Heinz Holliger, oboe; Aitzol Iturriagagoitia, violin; Katia Sotdtmeier, viola; Rebekka Riedel,
cello. Tongyeong International Music Festival (2004).

130
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 AUTHOR'S BIOGRAPHY

Raised in New Haven, Connecticut, Sara Fraker is a graduate of Swarthmore College

(B.A.) and New England Conservatory (M.M.). As a doctoral student at the University of Illinois,

she was a recipient of the Kate Neal Kinley Fellowship. Sara joined the Tucson Symphony

Orchestra in 2005. She has performed in music festivals at Tanglewood, Chautauqua, Aspen,

Spoleto Festival USA, and Schleswig-Holstein in Germany. Sara also works as a Teaching Artist

in the Opening Minds through the Arts (OMA) Project, an acclaimed arts integration program in

the Tucson public schools.

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