Van Cliburn winner will ‘go to the mountains and play piano all day long’
NewsThe astonishing Yunchan Lim, 18, has given his first press conference back home in South Korea.
He said very little: ‘I just want to say that there’s nothing different with me and my piano skills before and after the win.’
Adding that all he wants right now is to ‘go into the mountains and play the piano all day long.’
Refreshing. Unfortunately, with the avalanche of appearances the Cliburn will demand of him, those mountains may have to wait. He’s a giant. I hope HE will call his shots, not parasitic managers.
I hear you. I want him to call all the shots, not taken advantage of managers, etc. He needs to be protected as he’s still young and can be vulnerable. What he meant by going into the mtns is that he only wants to focus on his music, nothing else, but that’s quite impossible when he needs to make a living now. So, he has to live like that as a pianist by going on tours. In the end, I only want him to be happy.
Great news!
Yunchan Lim will open the El Paso Symphony Orchestra’s 2022-2023 season.
https://www.elpasoinc.com/lifestyle/yunchan-lim-2022-cliburn-gold-medalist-opens-el-paso-symphony-s-2022-2023-season/article_bc81b042-fe41-11ec-9176-43aee83f7c1e.html
Wait he’s in south Korea now? I thought he was doing a 100 concert tour starting in the US?
The concerts that are part of the Award always take place months if not a year or two later. It’s impossible to think the winner would be guaranteed a tour to take place just weeks afterwards. Concerts take a great deal of time to set up and publicise. Besides, the main concert season is already over.
The winner of the Chopin Competition, Bruce Liu, is doing about 10 concerts a month in important concert halls around the World.
IMO, Lim is even more talented than he. But as of yet, there’s been no recitals or concerts being announced.
I don’t even know if there’s a contract yet.
You would think there must be, because many Koreans are saying he has surpassed Cho!
I know this has been discussed here before. It’s hard to get excited over war horses but I’ve now had his Rach 3 sink in a bit deeper into my soul. It’s as exciting and passionate as I have ever heard, as good as the Argerich/Chailly. This kind of energy and organic creation is hard to achieve in the studio. I really look forward to what he has to offer to the music world. Pianist’s personality is irrelevant. He needs to let his music making do all of the talking.
I shall reserve judgment until I hear his 3 B’s and Mozart. I hate warhorses they’re for circus monkeys.
Wow. Generalize much?
Although I adore these concertos. Every conservatory pianist and his dog can play the Mozart and the Beethoven Concertos.
Those who can play a Rach 3 to make me almost forget Horowitz only comes once in several decades.
Btw, Yunchan’s Mozart and Beethoven concerti were beautiful. Give it a listen.
Yunchan played a great Beethoven’s 3rd.
But here is Liszt’s Transcendental Etude “Mazeppa” played by Yunchan. It is far superior to the Mazeppa recorded by Trifonov or Earl Wild. And wild did not played all 12 of Liszt’s transcendental études in one sitting.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bW0y-rg37wA
Completely astonishing performance of the Rach 3rd…legendary to pull that off at the Van Cliburn under all of that pressure. …and at 18 no less. It’s like Tiger when he was winning majors way ahead of the pack. It wasn’t even close competitively but more importantly to re-dedicate himself with humility is wonderful. It has been a long since a fellow pianist has inspired me this much.
Here is Yunchan’s historic performance of all 12 of Liszt’s transcendental études. A juror said it was among the best he has ever heard.
I think it’s better than Trifonov’s.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KsGLmrR0BVs
I am absolutely enchanted by this young genius. His interpretation of Liszt’s transcendental étude is the best I’ve ever heard.
I was also mesmerized by his Rach 3.