Review | Wunderkind Korean pianist Yunchan Lim dazzles on Hong Kong debut, matching power and pyrotechnics with poise
- Lim, still only 18, shows why he won the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition with a breathtaking performance that matched force with finesse
- He used too much power in a Mendelssohn Fantasia, but found hidden depths in a Brahms ballade and used all of his slight frame in Liszt’s Dante Sonata
The anticipation was palpable as Yunchan Lim, fresh from winning the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, stepped onto the stage at the University of Hong Kong’s Grand Hall on November 11.
The question on everyone’s mind: just what does this 18-year-old wunderkind possess that moved jury chair Marin Alsop to tears when she conducted Lim and the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Rachmaninov’s third piano concerto in the final round of the prestigious contest?
The recital in Hong Kong was the latest stop in a whirlwind post-competition world tour by the second year student at the Korea National University of Arts. Lim began with Brahms’s four Ballades, written when the German composer was still in his twenties.
The South Korean started slowly, with judicious use of the pedal, his legato phrasing supported with adequate bass to produce a rich texture. As the music built to a climax, his body remained perfectly still as his fingers pounded the keys.
The second Ballade began even more slowly than one would expect, suggesting a tendency to reinforce and dramatise contrasts. Lim managed the transitions smoothly, showing the different colours of the piano splendidly and leaping from powerful explosions back to lyrical lightness.
