Yunchan Lim - Chopin: Études, Opp. 10 & 25 (2024)

South Korean pianist Yunchan Lim caused a great sensation in 2022 when he performed Rachmaninoff's famously difficult Third Piano Concerto and Liszt's complete Transcendental Études to win gold at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition as an 18-year-old. On his first recording for Decca, Chopin: Études, Opp. 10 & 25, Lim's astounding piano mastery easily copes with the technical difficulties presented by the études, but less so in interpreting them. Most apparent is his overuse of the damper pedal: exacerbated by his consistently blazing tempos, it causes a lack of clarity in fast passages, concealing his effortless playing of them. There is much good to be heard in Lim's first recording, however. He artistically brings out the melody in those études requiring it—nearly a lost art in these times—recalling old masters of a century ago, like Wilhelm Bachaus and Moritz Rosenthal. In the slow compositions like the gorgeous Op. 10, No. 3, Lim plays with uncommon beauty, illustrating the folly of calling them the "easy" études, as many do. While this release doesn't replicate the virtuosity of Lim's victorious Van Cliburn performances, there's enough to suggest we have much to look forward to from the young pianist.

TRACKLIST

1. Yunchan Lim - No. 1 in C Major "Waterfall"
2. Yunchan Lim - No. 2 in A Minor "Chromatique"
3. Yunchan Lim - No. 3 in E Major "Tristesse"
4. Yunchan Lim - No. 4 in C-Sharp Minor "Torrent"
5. Yunchan Lim - No. 5 in G-Flat Major "Black Keys"
6. Yunchan Lim - No. 6 in E-Flat Minor "Lament"
7. Yunchan Lim - No. 7 in C Major "Toccata"
8. Yunchan Lim - No. 8 in F Major "Sunshine"
9. Yunchan Lim - No. 9 in F Minor
10. Yunchan Lim - No. 10 in A-Flat Major
11. Yunchan Lim - No. 11 in E-Flat Major "Arpeggio"
12. Yunchan Lim - No. 12 in C Minor "Revolutionary"
13. Yunchan Lim - No. 1 in A-Flat Major "Aeolian Harp"
14. Yunchan Lim - No. 2 in F Minor "The Bees"
15. Yunchan Lim - No. 3 in F Major "The Horseman"
16. Yunchan Lim - No. 4 in A Minor "Paganini"
17. Yunchan Lim - No. 5 in E Minor "Wrong Note"
18. Yunchan Lim - No. 6 in G-Sharp Minor "Thirds"
19. Yunchan Lim - No. 7 in C-Sharp Minor "Cello"
20. Yunchan Lim - No. 8 in D-Flat Major "Sixths"
21. Yunchan Lim - No. 9 in G-Flat Major "Butterfly Wings"
22. Yunchan Lim - No. 10 in B Minor "Octave"
23. Yunchan Lim - No. 11 in A Minor "Winter Wind"
24. Yunchan Lim - No. 12 in C Minor "Ocean"