Nui

Description

This album – the third to be released by Alpha Classics – is titled Nui (a Korean word meaning "sister"). The Esmé Quartet pays tribute to Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn, featuring Fanny's String Quartet in E-flat major, written in the last year of her life, which resonates poignantly with Felix's String Quartet No. 6 in F minor, composed shortly after the sudden death of his sister: The Esmé Quartet perceives in Fanny's Quartet an "intimate and penetrating voice, urgently reaching outward with tenderness and vulnerability." Also on the program is a new piece commissioned from American-Korean composer Juri Seo, inspired by the traditional Korean song Eommaya nunaya ("Mom, big sister"). "This melody evokes a peaceful and distant place where loved ones gather and the heart finds rest, offering a serene sense of comfort that naturally resonates with the emotional landscape of the Mendelssohns," concludes the Esmé Quartet, which celebrates its tenth anniversary with this new recording.