Classical review: Jung Soo Yun, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Glasgow

AS THE first half of last night’s solo recital drew to a close with Rodolfo’s Che Gelida Manila from La Bohème, South Korean tenor Jung Soo Yun opened the emotional floodgates.

Suddenly, in front of us, was a voice that utterly enthralled, topped by a personality that drew you in with disarming charm.

It was a moment destined to arrive. To that point this former Royal Conservatoire student – on the brink of stardom and winner of major international prizes – had proved, with support from accompanist Tim Dean, that he had a lyrical operatic tenor voice of silken quality and breathtaking power.

He tackled the complexity of emotions in Liszt’s Pace Non Trove with stoical courage; in Strauss’s Letze Blätter, Allerseelen was a sublime peroration; and in arias from Puccini’s Manon Lescaut and Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin his operatic charisma was aching to burst forth. When it did, he never looked back.

The second half went like a dream – the rapt tenderness and sizzling top note of Gounod’s Salut Demeure Chaste et Pure from Faust; the delicate simplicity of Reynaldo Hahn set in bold contrast to the ecstatic glow of Tosti’s L’Alba Sepàra dalla Luce l’Ombra; and a home straight that set two delicious Korean songs against the glorious resignation of Pourquoi Me Réveiller from Massenet’s Werther. Such openness of delivery revealed an artist with a bright future ahead of him.

Rating: ****