Volume 8 / Chapter 259
TL: LightNovelCafe
Editor: Isleidir
Jun Hyuk and Amelia stayed in Switzerland until the end of summer. They started each day while listening to the CDs Tara sent over as they ate breakfast and talked about the music.
There were terrible songs and great songs. There were even songs that were so surprising they forgot that they were eating.
They enjoyed the Switzerland spring and summer at noon and when it got dark, Jun Hyuk drew notes on scores and Amelia played the piano accordingly.
When they arrived at the airport in New York, the first place they went was the studio.
The only moving elevator in a music hall under construction. That elevator only went to the basement.
Jun Hyuk entered the studio on the 3rd floor basement and burst out in admiration. The studio of his dreams was before his eyes.
The regular recording booth was good too, but the booth that could fit more than 200 performers was made as if a theater stage had been moved into a booth with a high ceiling and sturdy walls and floor so that not a single sound could escape.
There were 2 people waiting next to President Stern, who was making sure that Jun Hyuk was satisfied.
“Jun, say hi. This is the manager who will take over operations for the studio and the senior engineer. They’re the best in New York – no – America.”
The first thing that Jun Hyuk said after exchanging brief greetings showed the 2 people their rough future.
“Then shall we start this studio’s historical first recording?”
“Excuse me? Now?”
“Yes. I’m sure you’re keeping it in a state where we can record at any time?”
“Of course. It’s just that this is so sudden…..”
“You’ll have to become used to this kind of abruptness if you’re to work with me.”
The 2 men were flustered as they began to prepare for recording.
“But what will you be recording?”
“Amelia, are you tired?”
“Not at all. I’m always ready.”
Amelia shook her fingers and went into the recording booth.
“Okay. Then how about Piano Sonata D Minor?”
President Stern was also flustered.
“Jun, what piano sonata? What song is that?”
“Oh. It’s a series I made while in Switzerland with Amelia. 8 piano sonatas. They express Switzerland from January to August.”
“Didn’t you promise you would forget music and rest?”
He frowned because it is not even 1 song, but 8.
“Isaac. This is a gift I made for my girlfriend. I don’t think of such things as work.”
Jun Hyuk laughed and was looking delicately at Amelia in the recording booth.
“These 8 songs are subtitled Amelia in Switzerland. We’ll record first, so discuss matters over albums or shows with Amelia and her manager.”
When the engineer signalled okay, Amelia started playing the piano.
An expanded chord appearing at the start, arpeggio. The first theme showed a scattered chord, and flowed into a second theme that was more melodious.
It started with a slow and lyrical 1st act, with a continuing breath of pianissimo of cold Switzerland covered in snow. The frozen Alps spread out before them and the jazzy 3rd act ended the song.
When Jun Hyuk checked the recording with a satisfied expression, the engineers let out a sigh of relief.
“Amelia. The 2nd act was a little strong, right? Let’s try it again a bit more softly.”
He repeated doing it again five times before they finished recording.
“Let’s go with the 4th take of the Act 2.”
When a piano sonata was completed all of a sudden, the studio staff were able to witness Jun Hyuk’s abilities, which they had only heard rumors about. It is hard to believe that a new record might come out everyday, but it is something that they have to accept.
“It’ll get noisy if this comes out as a record. I think this will become part of the fixed repertoires of all pianists all over the world.”
President Stern showed no traces of getting mad that Jun Hyuk had worked instead of resting, and clapped for Amelia as she came out of the recording booth.
“No pianist is going to just listen to this kind of music. Their fingers will be tingling because they’ll want to play it too.”
“Isaac. I told you these songs are a gift I’m giving Amelia. Does it make sense to share a gift with the world?”
“What?”
“No one other than Amelia can perform these. Same for albums and shows.”
President Stern burst out in laughter.
“Damn. It would have been nice if I had a boyfriend like you too. I wonder what it feels like to receive a piano song that only I can play. I can’t imagine it.”
“Do you want to start learning the piano now? I’ll take care of lessons.”
Amelia smiled heartily and pat President Stern’s shoulder.
“Oh right! And I want to meet these people.”
He took 3 CDs out of his backpack.
“This is… The albums I sent you?”
When Tara saw the CDs, her eyes grew wide. They are singers who released albums with Jun Hyuk’s music. Looking at the CD labels, two are women and one is a band.
“They were great. I listened to them with Amelia over breakfast, and we focused until the end of the CD tracks. We even forgot we were eating breakfast.”
President Stern took the CDs and looked all over them.
“Honestly if they had met proper producers and a good session, they could have won the Grammy award for Best New Artist this year. They’re much better musicians than the winner in the pop section.”
“Are… Are you thinking of recording again?”
“No. How can we do it again when the albums are already out? I prepared some songs that are perfect for these people.”
President Stern frowned again. How many songs did he write while in Switzerland?
“Oh, relax. It wasn’t a big deal. I only worked on it for about 2 days. We really did get rest in Switzerland.”
“We need to delay working with these people we don’t even know. We need to go to Berlin.”
“Berlin?”
“You don’t remember your symphonies? The 5 pieces.”
“Aha. They got back about that?”
“Of course. Everyone was over the moon about them. I lied a little. That Jun created these symphonies especially for them. The 5 maestros were happy like children. He he.”
Jun Hyuk shook his head. How old will he get before he stops joking like that?
“But Berlin’s Serill Petrenko said that he would rather see you conducting. What do you think?”
“No. I want to work on these albums first. And I won’t be conducting orchestras for the time being.”
Jun Hyuk cautiously announced what he had decided while staying in Switzerland.
“Isaac. Once this music hall is complete, what do you think about making an orchestra that will represent it?”
Everyone in the studio, including President Stern, were shocked. They are smart enough to understand this as his saying that he wants to create an orchestra that he can call an instrument of his own.
“Orchestra? Are you serious?”
“Yes. We can’t let JS Center stay idle.”
Jun Hyuk was saying it in a roundabout way, but President Stern knows what he truly means.
“Then we’ll have to get a recruiting advertisement out first. We need to hurry up and hold auditions.”
“Oh, no. Didn’t you say that it would easily take 3 years for JS Center to be completed? I don’t think we need to recruit members yet.”
“There are 2 and a half years left now. And we need to hurry up and gather them. They’re people who will have to learn songs that they’ve never heard before, no?”
Jun Hyuk was unable to respond and his face flushed. He looked like his true thoughts had been completely found out.
“Why? Isn’t that the purpose? That you want to play your songs as much as you want? The desire to hear the melodies that are only in your mind?”
Jun Hyuk scratched his head in embarrassment.
“Is it that obvious?”
“Yeah. Anyone here could tell that much. Ha ha.”
President Stern laughed refreshingly and pat Jun Hyuk on the back.
“Fine. I’ll get started on it as soon as possible. But you need to know one thing. You’ll need to promise incredible conditions because they’ll need to be prepared to perform in front of empty seats.”
This time, everyone except Jun Hyuk blinked at President Stern, not understanding what he said. No audience at Maestro Jun’s show? Isn’t he the person who made top news every time he performed?
“Aren’t you thinking of giving the soft songs people tend to like, whether they’re songs you already made or ones that you will make in the future, to other philharmonics and putting out only the works that you want to perform? The complex, sophisticated, even violent ones?”
Jun Hyuk did not deny it when he had already been found out.
“We’ll need a lot of money.”
“Of course. If you can’t take care of bonuses for album sales and shows abroad, you need to offer that additional payment. On top of that, you’ll act like a dictator with your high standards until you get the results you want… Thinking of the complaints including all of that, don’t you think you’ll need to give twice as much?”
“Twice…..”
“Is there a need to worry? There are still 80 songs that you haven’t even released yet. If you release all of those, there will be enough money to pay all of the orchestras in the world.”
President Stern did not worry about money from the beginning. He just feels burden that it will be an orchestra of different character than the others existing all around the world. Will fitting people try out for it? Will people gather in out of curiosity and quit because it is too difficult?
President Stern tried to get rid of his complicated thoughts, and smiled
“Money won’t be a problem even if you say that you want to go out into space and perform on the moon. The only problem is that the science can’t keep up.”
Jun Hyuk’s face changed for a moment. He blinked with a new thought, and President Stern quickly yelled.
“Look here! Don’t look so serious. It’s a joke!”
“Oh, I know. What performance in space where there’s no oxygen… I know that much about the transmission of sound.”
President Stern pushed Jun Hyuk and Amelia.
“There there. That’s enough for today. Isn’t it too much to get to work as soon as you get back from Switzerland? Go home and relax. Amelia, you worked hard too.”
When they left the basement studio and came to the ground floor, a helicopter was waiting for them.
“Is there a helicopter landing pad on the apartment building’s roof?”
“No. Not the apartment, but our new house. There’s still some small construction to finish up, but it’s enough to live in.”
She must have had the construction of the new house in mind the entire time that they were in Switzerland from the way she appears to know everything going on. Jun Hyuk wrapped his arm around Amelia’s waist and they boarded the helicopter.