By Xu Aiying and Yoon Hee Young
Photos = BOM Arts Project
Video = Deutsche Grammophon's official YouTube channel

"This album is a homage to K-pop and K-OST (original soundtracks) culture sent from European classical music to Korea.”

Swiss flutist Philipp Jundt is an enthusiast of Korean dramas, thus his participation in "Shades of Love," an album featuring music from popular K-dramas, came naturally to him. 

A collaboration with German composer Marco Hertenstein, the album will be released worldwide on July 9.

The album is no mere collection of K-drama soundtracks. First, the production company is Deutsche Grammophon, a globally renowned label of classical music. With the label's trademark yellow label printed on the corner, the album features 17 tracks including 15 arrangements of popular K-drama soundtracks like those of "Crash Landing on You," "Mr. Sunshine," "Guardian: The Lonely and Great God" and "Descendants of the Sun." 

The Hertenstein-produced songs "Shades of Love-Red” and "Shades of Love-Blue" were inspired by the two colors of the Taegeukgi, the Korean national flag.

The album also boasts an impressive lineup of participating musicians: James Galway, an Irish flutist also known as the "man with the golden flute"; Albrecht Mayer of Germany, principal oboist of the Berlin Philharmonic; and Richard Yongjae O'Neill, a Korean American violist and Grammy winner.

Korea.net interviewed the flutist, who is now an appointed professor at the Conservatory of Neuchatel in Switzerland. 

"Shades of Love," an album suggested by Swiss flutist Philipp Jundt and featuring classic musical reinterpretations of soundtracks from popular Korean dramas, on July 9 will be released through the leading classical music label Deutsche Grammophon.

His relationship with Korea dates back to 2008, when he was hired as a professor at Kangnam University in Yongin, Gyeonggi-do Province; the school is a sister university of Liszt School of Music Weimar in Germany, where he worked at the time. He lived in Korea for 12 years until last year, performing in Korea and Europe as the co-founder and artistic director of the Gonjiam Music Festival and president of the Swiss-Korean Cultural Association.

"The Korean food I had as an undergraduate at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich was the first thing that made me fall in love with Korea," he said. "Then I started watching Korean dramas to learn the language and culture for work."

"For many sleepless nights due to the time difference between Europe and Korea, I recall enjoying Korean movies and dramas and how they made me laugh out loud."

A few years later, he signed with the agency BOM Arts Project in Korea and eventually expressed his desire to work on something related to Korean culture. The agency suggested K-drama soundtracks because of his love for such programs.

Jundt started with arrangements of "Always" from "Descendants" and "B-Rosette" from the medical drama "Behind the White Tower." In 2018, his performance of "The Dramatic Classics" at LG Arts Center in Seoul's Gangnam-gu District led to this album project.

Top classical musicians from around the world took part in Philipp Jundt's album project.

"The charm of a Korean drama's soundtrack is the combination of the lyrical and melodious factors of Italian film music and the descriptive factor of American film music," he said. "Along with the harmony between the strengths of the two countries, storytelling through music is outstanding, which gave Korea its original style."

The album contains classical music reinterpretations of K-drama soundtracks complete with orchestras and soloists. "Stay With Me" from "Guardian: The Lonely and Great God" was far from classical flute music due to its rap part, so this section instead had six flute sounds recorded and a subcontrabass flute added.

Though the music is completely different from the works he usually performs like that by Bach, Telemann or Brahms, Jundt said, "This work really touched my heart and all previous works feel like a rehearsal for this one."

Now back in his native Switzerland, the flutist will perform in Korea next month music from this album.

To readers of Korea.net, he said, "Korea is one of the most progressive and dynamic nations for classical music," adding, "I hope the joy I felt while making this album can be conveyed to listeners."

"I also hope that listeners not only love Korean music through this album but also fall in love with this wonderful country's culture and people."

xuaiy@korea.kr