SUN HEE YOU, piano
HYUNG-KI JOO (1973) – Childhood
An Album of 10 Piano Pieces (2021)
- The Little Prince
- Stardust
- Hiding the Tears
- Remy’s 1st Birthday
- Ancient Childhood
- Poème for a Snail
- Wondering While Wandering
- The Girl Who Never Knew
- Watching My Balloon Fly Away
- Childhood 1979
– Chandeliers (2001)
BILLY JOEL (1949) – Selections from Fantasies & Delusions / Arr. by HYUNG-KI JOO
Opus 8 – Suite for Piano (Star-Crossed) (2001)
- Innamorato
- Sorbetto
- Delusion
Opus 1 – Soliloquy (On a Separation) (1997)
NIKOLAI KAPUSTIN (1937–2020) – Variations Op. 41 (1984)
One of today’s greatest singer-songwriters, Billy Joel is renowned as a brilliant pianist and composer of pop music.
A passionate admirer of classical music, he composed Fantasies & Delusions, a collection of solo piano works, brought to life through arrangements by pianist Hyung-ki Joo, Joel’s favored genre-blending musical partner.
These pieces are filled with captivating melodies that travel between virtuosity and introspective calm. The “Piano Man” amazes with his ability to touch the heart through his creations.
British-Korean pianist Hyung-ki Joo arranged Joel’s music in 1997 (published in 2001), and over the years became part of the world-famous classical crossover duo “Igudesman & Joo.” He has also composed many remarkable pieces, particularly for solo piano.
In 2001, Joo composed Chandeliers shortly after 9/11, while living in New York. This emotionally charged piece struck me deeply, so much so that, when the COVID pandemic struck, I decided to release it as a single, filming the video in a village completely abandoned after the L’Aquila earthquake.
A triangle of tragedies that has left a deep emotional imprint on me. I feel a profound connection between Hyung-ki and myself, Hyung-ki and Billy Joel.
And so, I want to close this musical circle with their compositions: Childhood, written during the pandemic in 2021; Chandeliers, composed in the aftermath of 9/11; and the beginning of Hyung-ki’s career as a genre-defying artist, alongside Billy Joel’s musical legacy.
They may be distant points in time, but they are deeply connected.
They say about her…
BRAVA!
These pieces have been beautifully interpreted by Sun Hee You.
I’m very touched by the emotions invested in them.
The Star-Crossed Suite is better than I imagined it could be, and the Soliloquy is precisely as I conceived it.
Congratulations to this wonderful pianist.
Please accept my thanks for the effort that went into this recording.
— Billy Joel
“Listening to Sun Hee You playing my music reminds me once again that the composer is not always right!
Her insightful and imaginative interpretations made me change and rethink several things in the score.
For many years I was reluctant to write for solo piano, and now I’m so glad that I overcame my inhibitions.
Sun Hee has a truthful and earnest approach to all the music she touches, and I am confident that listeners will be captivated by the poetry and emotion that she brings to every not”e.
— Hyung-ki Joo