Mikyung Sung - The Colburn Sessions (2023)

Mikyung Sung is hailed by her peers as "the future of the double bass", "the most expressive of all the bass soloists playing today", and "a musical genius"; they have said that she is "single handedly changing the face of bass playing around the world" and that "her virtuosic performances will take your breath away". Mikyung breathes life into music with phrasing that sings and dances through luminous tone colors, all played with fearless, audacious virtuosity. She styles herself, a bit humorously, as the Bass Queen, but that is perhaps more modest than it at first sounds; Bass Goddess might be closer to the truth, because her playing is divine.

The Colburn Sessions enchants with its beauty, mesmerizes with its tenderness, and excites with its intensity, presenting some of the most moving and musically-convincing double bass performances on record, accompanied by Jaemin Shin's sublimely matched collaborative piano, all in gorgeously blended sound. The album features two hours of music, some written for double bass but more than half originally for violin or cello. The recordings were captured in 2018, in single continuous takes, from recitals and video shoots (most never released before) at The Colburn School, where both Mikyung and Jaemin both received their Artist Diplomas. It was recorded by Francesco Perlangeli, Colburn's AV Manager and an experienced recording engineer in the movie industry, in Mayman Hall and Thayer Hall. Post-production and mastering were done by Matthew Vaughan of Modus Vivendi Media, a label founded to release this album.