Myung-Whun Chung / Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra BEETHOVEN - SAINT-SAËNS - CHOI SUNGHWAN

The Lotte Concert Hall releases a live recording album Friday from its opening concert held Aug. 19, 2016. 

 

This is a first for a local concert hall to release a live album from an opening concert held in its halls. The release of the album signifies the concert hall's confidence in its carefully designed acoustics.

The album includes Beethoven's Leonore Overture No. 3, Op. 72a, Saint-Saens' Symphony No. 3 in c minor, Op. 78 "Organ" and Choi Sung-hwan's Arirang Fantasias performed by Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of maestro Chung Myung-whun.

"Many performers and conductors who have participated or listened to performances at the hall lauded the concert hall’s acoustics. It is extremely meaningful that we are releasing our second album even before our one year anniversary of opening. We hope to establish our hall as the optimum recording venue for classical music,” said Han Kwang-gyu, president of Lotte Concert Hall.

Sound engineer Choi Jin, who directed the opening concert recording of Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 with Gyeonggi Philharmonic Orchestra released last December said, “Lotte Concert Hall's opening concert recording has a unique silky sound. The recording for this particular album used state of the art technology which produces a lively sound.”

Music critics commented, “Saint-Saens’ Symphony No.3 in c minor, Op. 78 ‘Organ’ is a piece that is particularly difficult to perform let alone produce great sound. The highlight of this album is the mystic ambience created by the organ's low tunes harmonizing with the string instruments." (Yun Suh-young)