Prom 14, July 2024 will be recorded in the annals as the Yunchan Lim Prom. With the Royal Albert Hall packed to the acoustic mushroom rafters, the noise welcoming the South Korean pianist sensation was nothing short of tumultuous. In this venue only rock stars are celebrated in a similar fashion.
He’s been called ¨the classical answer to K-Pop¨, which doesn’t say much about his piano prowess, but all the more about his boyish good looks, which normally isn’t a much discussed attribute in classical music circles.
Since Yunchan Lim two years ago became the youngest-ever winner of the reputable Van Cliburn piano competition, the 20-year old has given recitals at some of the world’s most prestigious concert venues. Every major orchestra now wants a piece of him. He has been so much in demand that he earlier this year had to cancel some performances because of a hand strain.
Beethoven started composing his Fifth Piano Concerto around the time he was working on his Fifth Symphony. So it’s not surprising that there are similarities. The Fifth Symphony’s very powerful opening ‘effect’, the famous ¨fate knocking at the door¨(according to the composer) chords, appears to be repeated in the piano concerto. But the pianist is having none of it and responds immediately to the first fortissimo orchestral chord with a rapid cadenza-like burst. The orchestra once more makes a thunderous entrance, this time in A-flat, but the pianist remains assertive and immediately fires back trills and arpeggios. Only after the third massive orchestral volley and the consequent much longer piano cadenza, can the traditional orchestral introduction start without interference from the soloist.
Beethoven has straight from the off set up a pattern: orchestra and soloist will be engaged in a dialogue. Yunchan makes it clear with his light touch and rapid retort that he’s up for this conversation without necessary wanting to dominate it. That’s the spirit, because Beethoven didn’t encourage any unwanted pianistic acrobatics either and therefore he wrote out the cadenzas and added a warning towards the end of the first movement: ¨N.B. Do not make a cadenza but play immediately the following.¨
This is a truly symphonic concerto in which the orchestra (almost) is treated as equal to the soloist. The BBC Symphony Orchestra, led by Paavo Järvi, and Yunchan Lim are so attuned to each other that I suspect that they must have had more than the customary two rehearsals. Paavo Järvi often doesn’t even have to look at Yunchan, so naturally do they play off each other.
The concert probably received its nickname ¨Emperor¨ because of the majestic character of the first movement, but I’m glad to say that Järvi and Yunchan don’t try to make it sound imperial and staid. Yunchan’s style is at times charmingly old-fashioned and he has been accused of playing one hand after the other to create a delay between melody and accompaniment (so called hand dislocation), but it doesn’t disturb me one bit. The second movement with the piano playing descending triplets and soft choral in the accompanying strings became ethereal, dreamy and simply perfect under Järvi’s baton. The BBC Symphony Orchestra is such an all-round band and they never try to take the limelight way from the soloist. The almost timid transition to the Rondo (there is no pause between the second and third movement) was also beautifully judged. The real joy came in the Finale, and Järvi’s face was by now beaming. This is where Yunchan’s joyful exuberance came to the fore and I know no other way to put it than that Yunchan Lim really ‘smashed it’. Repetitive passages can get up my nose but Beethoven somehow knows exactly where to inject those tiny repeats and even after hearing the sixteenth-note triplet motif over a hundred times (which is the case in the this piano concerto) you start to eagerly anticipate the next one. I’m overjoyed to have had the chance to hear and see this super talented pianist in action early in his career at the BBC Proms, one of my favourite yearly events.
And there was more. Prommers seldom let soloists off without playing an encore. The applause after the Beethoven concerto was deafening and Yunchan offered a very sweet rendition of Wilhelm Kempff’s transcription of J.S.Bach’s Sicilienne from the second flute sonata.
The South Korean community was out in force to see their latest musical ambassador. Unfortunately quite a few didn’t return after the interval for the Bruckner Symphony no.1
If you live in the UK you can listen to every Prom on repeat here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/17SZhnLQpMbhcmbfjvh3bYj/proms-on-the-radio
