Rhetoric over romance in Nikolai Lugansky's Chopin in Seoul

Nikolai Lugansky and the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra

Ludovic Morlot and the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra

By SangKwon Lee, 14 February 2026

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“the counterpoint tipping its hat to Bach without announcing the debt”

Reviewed at Seoul Arts Center: Concert Hall, Seoul on 12 February 2026

Berlioz, Les Troyens: Chasse royale et orage

Chopin, Piano Concerto no. 1 in E minor, Op.11

Schumann, Symphony no. 2 in C major, Op.61

Nikolai Lugansky, Piano

Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra

Ludovic Morlot, Conductor

Jaap van Zweden and the Seoul Philharmonic’s measured Mahler 6

SangKwon Lee, 19th March

That last movement proves the evening’s true point of reckoning in the Seoul Philharmonic's performance of Mahler’s Sixth Symphony at Lotte Concert Hall.

****1

Jaap van Zweden tests Beethoven 9 in Seoul

SangKwon Lee, 18th December

At the Seoul Arts Center, Jaap van Zweden treats Beethoven’s disputed metronome marks less as provocation than instruction, trading bloom for voltage in a driven Beethoven Ninth Symphony.

**111

Jaap van Zweden and the Seoul Philharmonic impress on US tour

Susan Stempleski, 27th October

In their first visit to the US in over a decade, the Seoul Philharmonic display their abundant skills in a crowd-pleasing program pairing two concert staples with an impressive American premiere.

****1

Jaap van Zweden and the Seoul Philharmonic prepare for their US tour

SangKwon Lee, 1st October

The Seoul Philharmonic preview their forthcoming US-tour programme, featuring Bomsori Kim playing Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto.

****1

Line, rhythm and spectrum: Jaap van Zweden and the Seoul Philharmonic

SangKwon Lee, 26th September

As a pre‑tour snapshot, this concert proves was unambiguous: an orchestra intent on renewing the canon in the language of now rather than sealing it behind glass.

****1

Sculpted silences: Britten and Brahms under Jaap van Zweden in Seoul

SangKwon Lee, 20th June

From the very first bars of Britten’s Violin Concerto, Augustin Hadelich impresses in Britten's Violin Concerto, yet Jaap van Zweden's Brahms 4 appears misaligned.

***11

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SangKwon Lee

SangKwon Lee is a Seoul-based classical music critic whose writing focuses on concert performances and recordings. A contributor to Gramophone and a member of the Music Critics Association of North America, he covers the classical music scene in Korea and internationally.

Rhetoric over romance in Nikolai Lugansky's Chopin with the Seoul Philharmonic