South Korean pianist and composer Yiruma is celebrating 20 years since his debut album with a new recording, The Rewritten Memories, out now via Universal Music Group Korea. It features brand-new orchestral arrangements of some of his best-loved works from the past two decades, including the globally popular ‘River Flows In You' – dubbed "the ‘Clair de lune' of the 21st century" (Classic FM) – and ‘Kiss The Rain'.
The Rewritten Memories is Yiruma's first orchestral studio album and features the composer himself on piano. "It was a challenging yet interesting experience," he says, describing the recording of the album with the Korean Symphony Orchestra during the Covid-19 pandemic. "The entire orchestra members couldn't gather simultaneously and had to record part by part." Yet the opportunity to collaborate with so many musicians was a refreshing change for Yiruma, who, like most composers, usually writes alone.
Reworking his collection meant Yiruma could finally realise many of the sounds he had imagined when he first composed the solo piano works. "I had often thought when playing ‘River Flows In You' that a flute melody would work well over the top – it was wonderful to explore this."
The Rewritten Memories spans music from Yiruma's 20-year career, from 2001's First Love to his recent composition Room With A View – a piece dedicated to the joy of staying indoors, which, despite being written before the pandemic, provided an evocative soundtrack to 2020.