For his highly anticipated Carnegie Hall debut, the 19-year-old Yunchan Lim, who in June 2022 became the youngest ever winner of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, delivered a dazzling recital of all 27 of Chopin’s ferociously difficult études. In the early 19th century, it was not unusual for composer-pianists to write études, exercise-type works to introduce students to various aspects of keyboard technique. Many of Chopin’s predecessors had done the same. The first of Bach’s Clavier-Übung (Keyboard Practice) appeared in 1726, and Daniel Gottlob Türk’s 1789 Klavierschule (Keyboard School) was familiar to performers. But with the rise of piano virtuosos in the early 1800s, the line between didactic instrumental studies and spectacular showpieces blurred, giving birth to a new genre, the “concert étude”, best exemplified by Liszt’s formidable Transcendental Études. While Chopin may have written his études as mere piano exercises, this remarkable recital showed them to be among the most poetic and virtuosic pieces he ever produced.
The evening began warmly, with an amiable account of the three Nouvelles études, Op. posth. The sparkling triplet chords and changing harmonies of the D flat served as a fitting prologue to the twelve études of Op.10. In the first, Lim’s thoughtful phrasing of the Bachian bass-lines nearly eclipsed the majestic arpeggiated chords, and the nocturne-like third, rendered with seamless legato and uncommonly delicate touch, was exceptionally serene, giving way to a blurrily fast and fiery fourth. The pianist breezed through the whirling passagework and right-hand runs of no. 8 in F major, sometimes known as the “Sunshine” étude, but the most impressively executed piece in the set was the last, the appropriately nicknamed “Revolutionary”, where his thrillingly powerful playing, combined with extraordinary depth of expression, brought the first half of the recital to an invigorating end.
Turning to the dozen études of Op.25 after intermission, Lim started off – somewhat leisurely – with the justly famous “Aeolian Harp” étude, its persistent arpeggios effortlessly executed, and followed up with a matchless performance of the remaining eleven, all performed with prodigious technique, intense musicality and a marvelous sense of freedom and joy. The third scampered by, as did the quirky fifth, with its devilishly dissonant broken chords. But the most dazzling playing of the evening came in the final two études: the 11th, popularly referred to as “Winter Wind”, where the Lim demonstrated astonishing accuracy and agility in handling its resplendent runs, huge leaps and tricky articulations, and his forceful rendition of the 12th (“Ocean”), where a mostly stormy passage on the high seas came to a majestically calm end.
There were four encores, each expressively rendered and all by Chopin: the Nocturne oubliée, the transcription of “Casta Diva” from Bellini’s Norma, the Nocturne in E flat major (Op.9, no.2) and finally – a rare occurrence at Carnegie Hall – a verbatim encore, a reprise of the “Aeolian Harp” that Lim had played 45 minutes earlier, this time sounding even more glorious.
