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From: PPeso <paoloapesenti@gmail.com>
Newsgroups: rec.music.classical.recordings
Subject: Listening to Yunchan Lim
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 2024 20:36:20 -0400
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Undoubtedly the most hyped new kid on the pianistic bloc, on balance 
quite deservedly so. There are several videos on YouTube including the 
hugely popular Rach PC3 at the 2022 Cliburn. A few comments on his cd 
discography:

2020 rel November Seoul (KBS Studio 16) [Young Musicians of Korea Vol.3] 
BEETHOVEN --- Sonata No.14 in c sharp, Op.27 No.1 "Mondschein" [KBS AMC 
2-194 tracks 1-3] / LISZT --- Anneés de Pèlerinage: II Année (Italie), 
S161 [KBS AMC 2-194 tracks 4-10]

Not shy about exploring innovative ways to use the sustain pedal way 
more extensively than most of his peers, something that makes perfect 
sense in the Mondschein. The whole Italie witnesses a strong affinity 
with mid-century Liszt, as will be apparent at the Cliburn.

2022 June 10 Forth Worth, Texas (Bass Performance Hall) [Semifinal Round 
of the XVI Van Cliburn International Piano Competition] LISZT --- Études 
d'Exécution Transcendante, S139 [Stainway & Sons STNS 30217]

And here it is. Probably his strongest performance at the Cliburn, and 
one of the best complete Trascendental Etudes this side of Lazar Berman. 
Incidentally there are tons of good stuff at the Cliburn rounds, not 
issued officially: worth listening to are the Scriabin PS2 Op.19, the 
Bach Recercare a 3, the Beethoven Eroica Variations. A good Mozart PC22 
K482, less convincing a rather mannered PS9 K311.


2022 Oct 7-11 Tongyeong (Concert Hall) BEETHOVEN --- Piano Concerto No.5 
in E flat, Op.73 "Emperor" (Gwangju Symphony Orchestra, Hong) [DG 40297 
tracks 1-3] / SCRIABIN --- 3 Morceaux, Op.45: No.1 `Feuillet d'Album' 
[DG 40297 track 8] / 2 Poèmes, Op.69: No.1 `Allegretto' [DG 40297 track 
7] / MOMPOU --- Scènes d'Enfants: No.5 `Jeunes Filles au Jardin' [DG 
40297 track 6]

A rather cautious reading of the first two movements of the Emperor, 
gets somewhat more energetic only in the III mvt but still no surprises 
and limited sparkle. The accompaniment does not help, with the Gwangju 
Symphony Orchestra led by Seokwon Hong nothing more than functional. The 
encores are more promising: atmospheric Mompou, and once again 
interesting use of the pedal with impressionistic resonances and timbral 
nuances in Scriabin.


2023 Dec 17-20 London (Henry Wood Hall) CHOPIN --- 12 Études, Op.10 
[Decca 487 0122 tracks 1-12] / 12 Études, Op.25 [Decca 487 0122 tracks 
13-24]

The big-label official debut. As witnessed by the above-mentioned Liszt 
recitals, collections of relatively short pieces work quite well with 
Lim at this stage of his career, probably better than sonata-form 
structures. About Chopin, his admitted "chief influences" are Friedman, 
Cortot, Egorov and Horowitz for the Op.25 No.7. Quite revealing: no 
particular interest in the milestone readings by Ashkenazy (1959-60), 
Cziffra, Pollini, Sokolov 1985 (Op.25), Richter (bits here and there). 
Thanks goodness, no interest in Perahia 2001. Instead, Cortot as a 
benchmark makes perfect interpretive sense, as Lim seems to be 
approaching the Etudes as a story-teller discovering the One Thousand 
and One Nights. In his view, the Op.10 "starts with the Big Bang and 
returns to nothingness", and each etude is less concerned with displays 
of pianistic technique than with explorations of inward feelings and 
emotions, including an Op.10 No.6 that "conveys the sentiment of someone 
drinking alcohol and singing to forget the pain of reality". Oh well. 
Consistently, the Op.25 No.7 - the least athletic one - is in Lim's 
words "the heart of all Etudes", and the special reference to Horowitz's 
interpretation says it all. Not everyone will be fully sold to his 
approach, but Lim's reading of the Etudes is a strong recommendation, 
worth coming back to.