I just want to draw attention to this EMI Classics 2002 release, which combines sonic and musical virtuosity. The performances were recorded in the Rolston Recital Hall of the Banff Centre for the Arts, Canada. They were mastered at Seoul Sound Mastering Studio by David Lee and first released in Korea in 2000, subsequently being published in this EMI Classics edition in 2002.

These two Korean musicians, whom I am unfamiliar with, concentrate on the lyricism of Kodaly's pieces and their remarkable technical skill is almost self-effacing. Sung-won Yang's performance of the half-hour Cello Sonata is breathtaking, tender and fiery, soaring and plunging. The cello is simply present along with the concert-hall space. The top notes sigh with rosin, the lower tones resound woodily. Ick-choo Moon is both remarkable accompanist and a wonderfully sensitive soloist in the beautiful, reflective Adagio for Cello and Piano. His performance is captured with tremendous drama, as it ranges from cavernous power chords to the limpid trills and precise, breathless silences of Kodaly's composition.

One of the great audio-musical treasures in my view.