Discover the Musical Legacy: Lee Young-hoon’s ‘A Short Piece’ LP Launching This September

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The late composer Lee Young-hoon’s collection ‘A Short Piece’ will be issued on LP this September. Originally released in 1993, the album is being pressed to vinyl for the first time in 33 years. Distributor KT Genie Music opened online preorders on April 22.

This year marks the 41st anniversary of Lee’s debut. Younghoon Music produced the LP as part of an effort to reexamine the work of a composer widely credited with shaping Korea’s pop-ballad tradition and penning numerous hits.

‘A Short Piece’ is an instrumental collection that showcases the musical sensibility behind his pop hits—songs such as ‘Red Sunset,’ ‘Old Love’ and ‘Gwanghwamun Yeonga’—that often overshadowed Lee’s more nuanced work. The LP features eight pieces, including ‘Conversation with You,’ which captures his pursuit of greater artistic depth.

The LP was remastered by two-time Grammy winner Hwang Byung-joon. It reproduces the resonance of the original 1992 recording—performed in Russia with Kim Myung-gon and the Bolshoi Orchestra—on analog vinyl.

Lee described the collection as \”a work like my soul.\” Singer Han Young-ae recalled that it was a project Lee had wanted to complete long before his pop-music debut.

Lee wrote numerous hits beginning with ‘You Don’t Know Yet,’ featured on Lee Moon-sae’s third album in 1985, and later ‘Whistle,’ ‘When Love Passes’ and ‘Gwanghwamun Yeonga.’ A self-taught musician with no formal training, he collaborated extensively with Lee Moon-sae and is widely credited with shaping Korean pop balladry.

His music, which calmly explores love, longing and loss, continues to be reinterpreted across generations. Younghoon Music plans to continue issuing Lee’s collections on LP, starting with the three volumes released during his lifetime.