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

Generally 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 isn’t top-shelf Tchaikovsky. Particularly should you 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 cost to put in writing a sequence of piano postcards depicting every month of the yr, in chronological order. The writer added his personal descriptive subtitles for each bit.

Only some pianists have recorded the entire cycle, providing competent performances of those serviceable little items. However one thing unequalled is occurring 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 Worldwide Piano Competitors 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 totally different.

All of it begins cozied as much as a crackling fireplace within the month of January, the place Lim finds a lot tenderness in Tchaikovsky’s delicately rolled chords. However for Lim, that fireplace is not blazing, it is really 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, yr in an previous man’s life. And that units up a doubtlessly fascinating paradox of the younger and strong envisioning the previous and feeble.

Whether or not you purchase Lim’s melodramatic narrative or not, the album is proof that his swelling romanticism is turning into his best power. “I’ve made up my thoughts I’ll reside my life just for the sake of music, and I made a decision that I’ll quit all the things for music,” Lim has mentioned. That seems like one thing the heart-on-sleeve Tchaikovsky may say himself.

The month of February depicts an effervescent carnival, whereas March, titled “Track of the Lark” by Tchaikovsky’s writer, is lyrically wealthy. However in Lim’s eyes, it is fraught with tears, tragedy and the unexplained loss of a kid. Irrespective of. Right here we discover one in every of Lim’s most interesting performances, sounding ethereal, off-the-cuff, as if improvised, virtually like jazz.

Tchaikovsky’s Seasons incorporates one thing of a success single. It is the month of June (“Barcarolle”), one of many composer’s most wistful and exquisite 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 advantageous 2014 recording, pianist Pavel Kolesnikov appears to measure every word with a ruler to verify they’re equidistant. However Lim opts for a nuanced rhythmic push and pull, and delicate dynamic management which affords an additional emotional tug.

Lim is just 21 now, however he performs like an previous soul. Within 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 is a probing, intense, introspective account, not in contrast to the efficiency Lim gave final yr 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 regular, crammed with remorse, however you would not be capable of inform by Tchaikovsky’s jaunty waltz, which Lim dares to render simply barely off kilter at one level.

In the long run, Lim’s imposed storyline may not add up. However does it matter? The poetry of his performances has reworked these peculiar 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.