Upon leaving Walt Disney Concert Hall on Oct. 16 after hearing Yunchan Lim perform Bach’s Goldberg Variations, I thought that my review should just be one word: Wow!
Lim, the runaway winner of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2022 and, at 18, the youngest pianist to take the gold in that prestigious competition, has in the ensuing three years scaled the heights of the international classical music scene. Fresh off a piano recital with his teacher, Minsoo Sohn, at the prestigious Verbier Music Festival in Switzerland, Lim decided to take it easy (not!) and tour with the Goldberg Variations.
We reviewed the 40-year-old Vikingur Ólafsson performing Bach’s magnum opus for the keyboard last year (https://culturespotla.com/music-review-vikingur-olafsson-at-walt-disney-concert-hall/), and in 2013 we reviewed the great Andras Schiff perform the Variations (https://culturespotla.com/review-schiff-completes-the-bach-keyboard-cycle-at-disney-hall/). But a 21-year-old?
Lim’s interpretation of the Variations, already not for the faint of heart, occupied a different universe altogether. This was not your father’s Goldberg Variations, or Ólafsson’s or Schiff’s. Absent was Ólafsson’s laid-back, but still exquisite, approach and Schiff’s more traditional, but nevertheless outstanding interpretation.
Lim’s 75-minute performance was at points a rush of adrenaline and at other times a delicate leaf floating in a breeze. Lim took advantage of the piano’s full range of sounds and dynamics that were simply not available on the harpsichord for which the Variations were originally written. It was truly a Romantic version that I’m sure Bach himself would have applauded. Lim did not follow what is generally accepted in the Variations. In the faster variations, such as No. 14, Lim’s fingers flew over the keyboard with hands crossing over, and when that particular variation concluded, it brought a whoop from one audience member with scattered applause, which I’ve never heard in a performance of the Goldberg Variations.
Lim piloted the Variations on an arc from the quiet and simple (compared to most of the variations) opening aria and back again with a clear flight path, and it was an exhilarating ride, which brought the captivated audience to their feet with screams and cheers. Lim returned to the stage several times, seemingly uncomfortable with the adulation and quickly bowing with his head down.
Even though there should probably not be an encore after such a thrilling rendition of the Goldberg Variations, Lim obliged the adoring audience with the Arioso from Harpsichord Concerto No. 5 in F Minor, BWV 1056 by Bach (Arr. Cortot).
Lim is a generational talent on the piano, and it will be interesting to watch his continued meteoric ascent.
—Henry Schlinger, Culture Spot LA
For information about upcoming concerts, visit www.laphil.com.
Photo of Yunchan Lim courtesy of LA Phil