How Yunchan Lim modified my thoughts about Tchaikovsky’s ‘Seasons’ : NPR

Sometimes it takes a first-rate artist to breathe life right into a second-rate piece of music.

Let’s be trustworthy, the set of piano miniatures referred to as The Seasons will not be top-shelf Tchaikovsky. Especially if you happen to evaluate it to Swan Lake, the ballet he was ending in late 1875 when he was approached by the editor of a St. Petersburg music periodical. The composer was provided good-looking fee to write down a sequence of piano postcards depicting every month of the 12 months, in chronological order. The writer added his personal descriptive subtitles for each bit.

Only just a few pianists have recorded the whole cycle, providing competent performances of those serviceable little items. But one thing unequalled is going on in a brand new reside recording of The Seasons by the younger sensation Yunchan Lim. At age 18, the South Korean was the youngest ever to seize the gold medal on the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2022. It was one other Russian’s music — Rachmaninov’s thunderous Third Piano Concerto — that clinched Lim’s victory. Tchaikovsky’s salon-like, mid-tempo Seasons could not be extra completely different.

It all begins cozied as much as a crackling hearth within the month of January, the place Lim finds a lot tenderness in Tchaikovsky’s delicately rolled chords. But for Lim, that fireplace is not blazing, it is truly fizzling out. He has concocted a storyline for the cycle, detailed within the album’s liner notes, which renders the writer’s picturesque subtitles all however ineffective. Lim views The Seasons as the ultimate, somber, 12 months in an previous man’s life. And that units up a probably attention-grabbing paradox of the younger and sturdy envisioning the previous and feeble.

Whether you purchase Lim’s melodramatic narrative or not, the album is proof that his swelling romanticism is changing into his biggest power. “I have made up my mind I will live my life only for the sake of music, and I decided that I will give up everything for music,” Lim has mentioned. That appears like one thing the heart-on-sleeve Tchaikovsky would possibly say himself.

The month of February depicts an effervescent carnival, whereas March, titled “Song of the Lark” by Tchaikovsky’s writer, is lyrically wealthy. But in Lim’s eyes, it is fraught with tears, tragedy and the unexplained loss of a kid. No matter. Here we discover considered one of Lim’s most interesting performances, sounding ethereal, off-the-cuff, as if improvised, nearly like jazz.

Tchaikovsky’s Seasons comprises one thing of successful single. It’s the month of June (“Barcarolle”), one of many composer’s most wistful and delightful melodies, propelled by a gently swaying beat. And here’s a second to get molecular — to listen to the Yunchan Lim distinction — by evaluating the opening phrase of “June.” In his completely nice 2014 recording, pianist Pavel Kolesnikov appears to measure each note with a ruler to ensure they’re equidistant. But Lim opts for a nuanced rhythmic push and pull, and refined dynamic management which gives an additional emotional tug.

Lim is just 21 now, however he performs like an previous soul. In the month of October, one other spotlight of the album, his astounding, featherlight contact intertwines a pair of heartbreaking melodies, one seemingly calling out from a distance. It’s a probing, intense, introspective account, not not like the efficiency Lim gave final 12 months earlier than a surprised viewers at NPR’s Tiny Desk. The pianist compares the darkly lit music to J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variation No. 25, typically nicknamed the “Black Pearl” for its crepuscular vibe.

The Seasons concludes at Christmastime. Lim’s protagonist is, as standard, full of remorse, however you would not be capable to inform by Tchaikovsky’s jaunty waltz, which Lim dares to render simply barely off kilter at one level.

In the tip, Lim’s imposed storyline may not add up. But does it matter? The poetry of his performances has reworked these bizarre items into one thing extraordinary. The album proves that Lim’s delicate facet could be his most audacious — and has pressured me to vary my thoughts about Tchaikovsky’s Seasons.