HJ Lim is a rather extraordinary young pianist, and one who has chosen to buck most of the conventions that constrain up-and-coming classical musicians. She chose to leave her home in South Korea at age 12 and travel to Europe to make a musical career for herself there, and after posting some YouTube videos of her playing for her parents back home to watch, she received a flood of views and quickly came to the attention of the EMI Classics talent scouts.
After signing an exclusive recording contract with us, HJ decided she wanted her first album to be the Complete Beethoven Sonatas. This is a recording feat that most artists never manage to accomplish, or if they do then it comes late in their careers, but HJ feels she’s ready now. She’s lived and breathed the composer for many years, feeling his music as deeply as anything she’s encountered in her life, and wants to share the profundity of this music with her fans and classical music listeners around the world.
We’re also offering a free download of a complete three-track sonata – No.30 Op. 109, a beautiful and transcendent piece which Beethoven composed towards the end of his life, reflecting on what HJ believes to be his past love with Antonie Brentano, considered by many to be the ‘Immortal Beloved.’
We hope you enjoy the album, and are excited to present this exciting new artist to the classical music scene!
By now you may have heard about the new “Mastered for iTunes” format, something which we at EMI Classics believe is a very important step forward in terms of sound quality for digital formats.
Perhaps the clearest, most objective explanation comes from the tech gurus at Ars Technica, and can be read here: http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/04/does-mastered-for-itunes-matter-to-music-ars-puts-it-to-the-test/ Basically in a nutshell, mastering a release for iTunes involves starting with the highest quality source possible (24 bits and 96 kHz) and then processing it specifically with the iTunes AAC format in mind, so that the end product has a fuller, richer sound and a broader dynamic range.
Obviously this is particularly important for classical music, which often has a very nuanced sound palate and a much wider differences between the softest and loudest portions (compared to the average pop song or dance track). So we’ve had our experts at Abbey Road studios process more than 80 of our most important recent and historic releases in this new Mastered for iTunes format, and we think the results speak for themselves.
[video of the EMI Classics albums now Mastered for iTunes]
Enjoy! And please let us know what you think in the comments.
April 22nd marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of English contralto Kathleen Ferrier (22 April 1912 – 8 October 1953). Beloved for her rich voice and generosity of spirit, she rose from obscurity to to become one of the most sought-after contraltos of the 20th century.
This 3CD set celebrates some of the finest recordings she ever made, including long excerpts of her singing Orfeo from Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice (the operatic role she is most closely associated with), Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder with Bruno Walter (including two previously unissued alternative takes) and a wide variety of songs and arias recorded with pianist Gerald Moore – considered one of the greatest accompanists of all time.
Her death from cancer was one of the great shocks to the musical world (she had concealed her illness and continued performing and recording until eight months before she passed away), and her legacy remains one of the shining jewels of singing history.
The extraordinary and medically-proven new compilation from EMI Classics
If there’s one thing that we here at the EMI Classics US offices have struggled with over the last year, it’s been the wrenching tragedy of having our mice die after complicated heart transplant procedures. Fortunately, all that will change with the latest release from our beloved catalog reissue series ‘Music for Recently Operated-Upon Pets’ (with its best-selling flagship title Music to Soothe You Neutered Ferret). The stunning new 14-track compilation Music to Give Your Mouse a Heart Transplant To offers the perfect soundtrack for your rowdy rodent’s new ticker, and includes both Mozart and Verdi, which have been scientifically-proven in recent studies to dramatically improve the lifespan of newly re-organed mice. Rest easy, pet lovers – we’ll always take care of you…
HJ Lim is a rather extraordinary young pianist, and one who has chosen to buck most of the conventions that constrain up-and-coming classical musicians. She chose to leave her home in South Korea at age 12 and travel to Europe to make a musical career for herself there, and after posting some YouTube videos of her playing for her parents back home to watch, she received a flood of views and quickly came to the attention of the EMI Classics talent scouts.
