Incredible recital by this young pianist much feted for his appearance at the Van Cliburn Competition where his performance of the Liszt Transcendental studies and Rachmaninov’s Third Concerto have gone down in history. But there is much much more to this young man as his programmes since have proven.
I must admit I did not bother to listen to yet another Korean phenomenon playing Liszt and Rachmaninov but I did stop and listen to him in the remarkable series of Piotr Paleczny that takes place every year in Duszniki and is streamed world wide.
It was here that I was at first surprised and then dumbfounded by this young ‘wizz kid’ who opened the recital with the Four Ballades by Brahms.
It was one of the finest most profound performances I have every heard and made me feel very ashamed for assuming it was yet another of the highly trained ‘wizz’ kids that run off with all the prizes at International Piano Competitions.
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2022/08/16/yunchan-lim-in-poland-the-refined-beauty-and-maturity-of-a-great-artist/
I was not able to find a seat for his London debut but luckily it was streamed live ,like today, and here again the programme was unexpectedly of Byrd,Bach and Beethoven – the three greatest B’s in the history of music.I was luckier in Rome and sat in the front row at the University La Sapienza for the same ‘Big B ‘ programme.
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/01/20/the-pianistic-perfection-of-yunchan-lim-at-the-wigmore-hall/
Today it is thanks to Sir Norman Rosenthal and Jessica Duchen that I was tempted to listen to a predominately Russian programme and I just thank God that I have lived long enough to hear such a revelatory performance of Mussorgsky.
A work I truly never wanted to hear again but that today was recreated before our incredulous eyes. Not quite the reworking and hysterisms of Horowitz but many subtle additions that just enhanced the vision of this Poet of the Keyboard. Not only a Poet but a great musical personality ready to stand by his convictions as the music making he offers really does prove that there still exists a phrase that was used to describe Shura Cherkassky in Le monde de la Musique – ‘Je sens,Je joue Je trasmets’ https://youtu.be/Mlzf9rqvQb8?feature=shared https://youtu.be/ZFumJqMprEA?feature=shared
Ravel the supreme colourist and Yunchan an extraordinarily intelligent musician combined to bring fresh life to this much maligned masterpiece. Adding multi coloured layers to a work that can seem very black and white and merely a vehicle for hard hitting virtuosi.Yunchan with poetic sensibility and mastery placed it where it truly belongs at the pinnacle of the piano repertoire .
There were changes of register in sound from the very first ‘Promenade’ with startling changes of colour.Strange tremolandi and added embellishments began to appear in ‘Gnomus’ and added bass notes gave depth to the sound .The tension that he created in the ‘poco a poco accelerando’ was quite overwhelming disappearing into a cloud of smoke with the treacherous final bars ‘velocissimo con tutto forza’ ( a red rag to the bull in too many cases ) just demonstrating the absolute technical perfection of this young master.The whispered ending of the second promenade was breathtakingly beautiful and opened the gate for the ‘Vecchio Castello’.Played with intelligence but with a freedom and remarkable contrasts – this was a great personality interpreting exactly what the composer had seen in Hartman’s painting. ‘Espressivo’ does not necessarily mean piano as Yunchan showed us with the chiselled beauty deep into the keys of the return of the theme .The whispered breathless ending was suddenly awakened by a scream every bit as frightening as Munch’s famous painting.The third promenade played ‘pesamente’ but not with hard sound but full glorious orchestral sounds with the impish final comment heralding the arrival of the quarrelling children in the ‘Tuileries’.The pointed rhythmic emphasis he gave to the opening phrases were played so deliberately imitating the childish moaning of children trying to out do each other .It was just part of the great character he gave to this piece with the sly songs commented on by skittish asides and then disappearing into the distance with the nonchalant ease of naughty children.What a lesson in balance Yunchan showed us with ‘Bydlo’ lumbering along quite quietly but the melodic line punched out fortissimo and pesante – not the accompaniment fortissimo that is too often the case in lesser hands.As ‘Bydlo’ progressed great bass notes were added with breathtaking effect and the gradual diminuendo ‘perdendosi’ was masterly .The two final notes just pointed at with aristocratic masterly ease .The fourth Promenade bathed in pedal and of featherlight beauty as the chicks were about to be hatched.The ‘chicks ballet ‘ was astonishing for the left hand counterpoints that rang out with such luminosity where the chicks were just clucking away with masterly ease.What a wonder to see this young pianist’s arch of the hand just moving the trills from one place to another like those slot machines that used to serve you automatically in the good old days! There was a great opening statement of operatic proportions to ‘Samuel Goldenberg’ but it was the beseeching appearance of ‘Schmuyle’ bathed in pedal that was so astonishing.The last four notes were of glorious timeless nobility. Eliminating the fifth promenade we were thrown into the chattering confusion of the ‘Market Place in Limoges’. Here there was no doubt that with Yunchan we were in the hands of a master with a transcendental control of sound and characterisation without any hardness or stiffness in what is really such an unpianistic piece.’Catacombae’ was terrifying with its long reverberations allowed to ring out with glowing fluidity and there was magic in the air as the tremolandi were mere vibrations of sound where under and between bewitchment could be enacted.A masterly control of sound and colour and a musicianship that made him realise that the piece must resolve on a single pointed F sharp and not just disappear into oblivion. The same F sharp that ‘Baba Jaga’ needs for his devilish work. It was here that the great virtuoso Yunchan could show his metal as his musicianship combined with technical mastery added glissandi and bass notes to augement the sounds without any ungrateful hardness .This was a young man with an orchestra in his fingers, and hand in hand with Ravel, a poetic fantasy in his heart and intelligent musicianship in his head.An amazing ‘tour de force’ as the ‘Great Gate ‘ was allowed to reverberate with astonishing nobility .On his knees too as the slow plainsong chant that interrupts the ever more insistent tolling bells was played with abrupt changes of register and it was this rather than the pealing of bells that took our breath away.
A masterpiece restored to greatness in this young man’s poetic hands !
It reminds me of Fou Ts’ong listening to Cherkassky and then a world famous Eastern European pianist a few days before his own concert in Rome. I warned Ts’ong impishly that you know neither of them really looks at the score and can be very free with the notes of others.
Ts’ong listened carefully to both and then rebuked me : ‘But Shura loves the piano this other man hates it!’
Christopher Axworthy Dip.RAM ,ARAM
ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary 
Una risposta a "Yunchan Lim in Verbier The supreme mastery of a poet of the piano."