18 years old wonderkid Yunchan Lim shunned Hong Kong audiences with perfect debut

The Hong Kong debut recital of the champion of the prestigious Van Cliburn International Piano Competition Yunchan Lim is surely one of the most anticipated concerts in 2022. The tickets were sold out soon after the announcement. Everyone, myself included, wants to know how can this youngest gold winner of 18 years old from Korea, moved the Jury Chair Marin Alsop to tears in their collaboration of Rachmaninov’s third piano concerto in the final round of the competition.

The night started with four Ballades, op. 10 by Brahms. He started the piece slowly with careful control of the pedal. He made a very legato phrase with adequate bass sound to support the lyricism. The music then slowly builds up and calls for a thick texture, Lim maintained high clarity throughout the passage and his body remained still even when it reached a climax.

Lim started no.2 slower than I expected which made me wonder if it’s his tendency. There are big contrasts in the piece and Lim managed to change the character smoothly. The different colours of the piano were splendidly showcased. He can give powerful explosions as well as lyrical lightness.

It was impressive how delicately he played the high notes in no. 3, where he even looked up as if transcending the ethereal melody to heaven. The last time I encountered a similar ritualistic feeling was the performance by the Ukraine-born Russian pianist Konstantin Lifschitz playing Bach in the same hall (Lifschitz will return to HKU next year). Lim had created a solemn ambient that the audience couldn’t help to hold their breath.

The last piece of the set simply carried the audience away with his meticulous playing. Lim has a deep understanding of the music, he gave meaning to the notes and revealed the hidden melody. I noticed how stable his hands were. This playing posture reminded me of the former International Chopin Piano Competition first prize winner Garrick Ohlsson.

The first half of the concert ended with the Fantasia in F-sharp minor, Op.28 by Mendelssohn. This piece features ample quick virtuosic passages and Lim tackled it with great clarity and dexterity. The energy of the music was flowing unceasingly. He maintained the momentum and the tension of the long phrases with great control. My only quibble is the sonority was too loud for a piece by Mendelssohn, especially in the light and lively second movement. He sounded like playing a concerto with a full orchestra. Style aside, he generates power effortlessly, just like a kung fu master who knocks a big strong guy with a little push.

The second half was an all-Liszt program. Lim seems to be particularly fond of this Hungarian composer he played his twelve Transcendental Etudes in the semifinal recital of the competition. The first piece was inspired by the story of St. Francis of Assisi featuring some birdsongs. A single long trill was played by alternated hands so seamlessly that it was impossible to notice the change of hands. After several minutes of high-pitched melody, there was a moment of silence which represented the attentiveness of the birds to Francis’s teaching and served as a breathing point in the music. That was the very moment I found the silence so “loud”, my senses had been heightened by Lim’s playing. This could be the meaning of the saying by Laozi “the greatest music has the faintest notes”.

The second piece is a contrasting music that features strong bass imitating the swelling of waves. The most mysterious moment happened at the end chord where Lim had already left up his hands, leaving the sound to resonate in the hall. The balance of the chord collapsed gradually and resulted in cluster-like dissonance. At one point I doubted if it was a mistake, but Lim didn’t move at all and let the sound went on. Then all of a sudden, the tonic note E came out from this muddy chaos. Never before had I heard musical effects like this. It was not just magical, but miraculous.

The last piece of the night was the Dante Sonata. Lim made full use of his natural gift in producing enormous sound, his body even bounced up to give a hard attack to the keyboard resulting in a gigantic wall of sound. Yet he handled the simple passages with poetical elegance.

Lim’s impeccable performance had brought the audience into rapture. They could not have enough that eventually Lim had to end the night by playing three encores.

I remembered Chen Sa, the renowned Chinese pianist who was one of the juries of the International Chopin Piano Competition last year, had expressed that one needs to show his/her character in order to win the competition. I think Lim has shown his fire as a young artist, but also the craftsmanship and insight of an old master. I had heard that he is a reticent person which I believe it’s an important character for him to focus on music-making. I have no doubt that he will reach the artistic excellency comparable to his compatriots like Seong-Jin Cho and Kun-Woo Paik.