Пианистка Юнис Ким и скрипач Джинву Ли представили новый альбом с забытыми произведениями немецких композиторов XIX века

“We met at the Juilliard School where we both studied. It’s been 20 years.” Pianist Eunice Kim is referring to how long she and her husband, violinist Jinwoo Lee, have been duo partners. (Kim very kindly answered WPR Music’s questions via email; some responses have been edited for length.) Lee and Kim are based in Milwaukee, where Lee was named concertmaster of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in 2023, and where Kim is a popular collaborative pianist and chamber musician. Understanding Wisconsin, Together. WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” newsletter keeps you connected to the state you love without feeling overwhelmed. No paywall. No agenda. No corporate filter. Together, they make up the duo “Arco e Tasto,” or “Bow and Fingerboard” in Italian, and they’ve just released a new album appropriately titled “Once Heard, Long Forgotten.” The recording is out on the Navona label, and it features the music of two German composers born in the 19th century: Emilie Mayer (1812) and Luise Adolpha Le Beau (1850). They were trailblazers who defied societal norms: both came from non-musical families, began composing early, remained unmarried and were serious musical scholars. Emilie Mayer Mayer started out with piano lessons as a child but apparently took a lot of liberties with the music she was learning. Fortunately, her teacher recommended that she start composing. Mayer’s body of work is impressive for a time when women composed primarily solo piano pieces and art songs. Her legacy includes eight symphonies, several overtures, a piano concerto and quite a lot of chamber music. This recording includes two violin sonatas and a nocturne by Mayer. The Violin Sonata in E-flat major dates from the 1850s, and it was not published during Mayer’s lifetime. “Perhaps there was a reason why she was known in her day as the ‘female Beethoven,’” said Kim. “In my opinion, many elements in the first movement echo Beethoven’s Sonata for Piano and Violin in E-flat major, op.12, no.3, such as the triumphant and bold opening followed by the violin’s lyrical response, the expressive second theme with octave accompaniment, and the cadenza-like piano passages in the development,” she added. Mayer’s Violin Sonata in F major, op. 17, started out as a duet for cello and piano. According to Kim, Mayer revised and published it as a violin sonata in 1863, when her career as a composer was flourishing in Berlin. “She dedicated this piece to her nephew, an architect who occasionally performed his aunt’s works publicly as a violinist.” The third piece by Mayer on the album is her “Notturno in D minor,” op. 46. Composed in 1883, it’s her last known work. Kim’s description of the piece conjures up a powerful composer at the final stages of life: “Unlike the ‘typical’ nocturne, Mayer’s emotional range in this piece is more intense and turbulent … And when she arrives at the coda, she intimately bids farewell to the world,” writes Kim. Luise Adolpha Le Beau In spite of the French name, Le Beau was German, born in Baden-Baden in 1850; her composing career reached into the early 1920s. Like Mayer, Le Beau started writing music early on, at age eight, and was a gifted pianist. She also composed symphonic music, an opera, choral and vocal music, and lots of chamber pieces. While Mayer’s main influence may have been Beethoven, for Le Beau, it’s more likely to have been Brahms. “In Le Beau’s early compositions such as her cello sonata, first violin sonata and piano trio, one might see the influence of Brahms due to her rich harmonic language and heavy use of thematic materials,” according to Kim. Her music evolved: “She is perhaps more direct and emotionally open than Brahms. However, in her later years, there is more emotional depth in her compositions.” One of those later pieces is the Elegy, op. 44, composed in 1899 as Le Beau was mourning the death of her father. This recording also includes Le Beau’s Violin Sonata, op. 10, her first, and the Romance, op. 35. The album is beautifully recorded and performed by Arco e Tasto. Lee and Kim have powerful musical chemistry, and the works are full of exceptional playing and deep feeling. The album provides an important showcase for these two important composers of the Romantic era. No longer forgotten! Wisconsin Public Radio, © Copyright 2026, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.