Recorded in 1978 and remastered in 2001, Chimhyang-moo is a classic of Korean traditional music, pioneered new techniques such as tuning and conveyed the atmosphere of a lost ancient Korean music. Born in Seoul in 1936, Byungki Hwang began studying the kayagum, a 12 stringed zither, in 1952 during the Korean war. He composed his first piece Forest, the first track on this album, in 1962, and thereby spawned a new genre of music, ch'angjak kukak- newly composed Korean traditional music. The idea of composing at the time did not exist, as music was handed down from teacher to student without a score. Hwang has gone on to perform around the world, playing traditional and avant-garde pieces, and releasing an acclaimed series of four albums, of which this is Volume One. Listen to the beginning of each of the six pieces by clicking on the Listen button. Beautifully packaged comes with hard cover book size liner notes in English, French, Japanese and Korean.
1-4. Forest 5-7. Spring 8-10. Pomegranate House 11-13. Fall 14-15. Kara Town 16-18. Chimhyang-moo
