The dazzling performance captivated the world… Lim Yun-chan’s Devil’s Concerto, Kim Soo-hyun’s THE Classic

“All the finalists showed outstanding musicality and artistry, but Yunchan Lim stood out among them. He showed outstanding depth and dazzling technique even at the age of 18 in his brilliant Rachmaninoff No. 3 performance.” -Marin Olsop, president of the jury at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition

“I was moved to tears when I saw the stage. It was a once in a lifetime performance, and it was an honor to be able to see such a performance in person. Realizing what the power of music is, I even think that competition is meaningless.” -Van Cliburn International Piano Competition’s broadcast commentator and pianist Elizabeth Law

A pianist who surprised the world once again was born in Korea. On the 19th of last month (Korean time), the Yunchan Lim, an 18-year-old Korean pianist, is the youngest winner of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.This is the main character. Yunchan Lim’s excellent interpretation and performance skills caused a ‘sensation’ throughout the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. On the semifinal stage, as a solo song, he perfectly digested Liszt’s transcendental technique practice song, which requires the highest level of skill, and in the final stage, he showed musicality and technique close to madness through Rachmaninoff’s Concerto No. 3 in the final stage. Immediately after the performance, there was a standing ovation from the audience as well as rave reviews saying “it’s a different dimension”.

Olsopp, who conducted the Fort Worth Symphony, was moved to tears by Lim Yun-chan’s piano performance. On that day, Lim Yun-chan won the Audience Award and the Beverly Taylor Smith Award, which is awarded to the contestant for the best performance of a contemporary song, taking three crowns. It’s hard to believe what an 18-year-old boy has accomplished, but she’s pretty daring. At a local press conference right after winning the championship, Lim Yun-chan said, “(My dream) is to throw everything away and go to the mountains and live only on the piano, but if that happens, I have no income, so I have no choice but to live like this.”No career ambitions are 0.1%. When it comes to music, everyone doesn’t think I’m in a position as a student.”

His mature acceptance speech feels like a fresh breeze in our society where fierce competition is rampant and we are all about climbing the ranks. Perhaps the reason Yunchan Lim’s performance came to the public as a huge emotion was her pure passion for the piano. This is why I would like to highlight the 3rd Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3, which is said to be the best stage of Yunchan Lim, who lives in a society that hangs for first place and championship trophies.

If you know the depth of the work, you will be able to get closer to Lim’s heart, who said, “I just played with the intention of passing on the great legacy that Rachmaninoff left to the audience.” With superhuman performance skills, explosive expressiveness, and magnificent composition, ‘Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3Let’s take a look at

Rachmaninoff unveils ‘large-scale masterpiece’ for US debut

First, let’s take a look at the composer Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943). Rachmaninov is a composer and pianist who represents Russian Romanticism, and is considered a great musician who can rival Tchaikovsky. Rachmaninoff, who has been learning the piano since childhood, began composing while attending the Moscow Conservatory and premiered ‘Piano Prelude in C# Minor’ in 1892, the year he graduated. With this work, Rachmaninoff gained fame both at home and abroad. It happened when he was only 19 years old.

But as if jealous of the successes of his youth, trials came. It was the opportunity that critics swarmed with bad reviews for ‘Piano Symphony No. 1’, which was premiered in 1897. It is said that Rachmaninoff, who was under extreme stress at the time, even suffered a nervous breakdown, but as time went on, his condition worsened to the point where he could not compose. Ironically, the darkest period that haunted Rachmaninoff’s life served as a force that drew him to his glory as a composer. After recovering his health through suggestive therapy, Rachmaninoff succeeded in reviving the world in 1901 when he presented the masterpiece ‘Piano Concerto No. 2’ to the world. Rachmaninoff even received the Glinka Prize for this work.

After that, the work that surprised the world once again was ‘Piano Concerto No. 3’. Written for his American debut, it is the largest of Rachmaninoff’s four piano concertos, and is acclaimed as a masterpiece that shows 100% of his unique personality. Rachmaninoff dedicated this piece to his contemporary pianist Joseph Hoffmann. However, his party, Hoffmann, says he never played the piece because his hands were too small to digest it. ‘Piano Concerto No. 3’, in which even Rachmaninoff himself joked that “I wrote it for an elephant” because it demanded extreme performance techniques and superhuman expressive power.

Let’s get into the music, remembering the winning stage of Lim Yun-chan, who is praised for perfectly realizing the music that Rachmaninoff wanted to express.

The pianist’s expressiveness and performance are at their peak… cause extreme tension

The work begins with a undulating melody of bassoon and clarinet. Soon, the piano appears, and in a very small sound, a theme melody with clear Russian folk colors appears. Afterwards, the atmosphere changes with the Più mosso (faster) presented in the score, followed by a piano solo that seems to run forward. When the piano plays the ascending arpeggio, the theme melody of the horn and viola is piled up on top. At this time, the harmony between the piano and the orchestra is realized with rich harmony and various rhythms, maximizing the splendid and beautiful expressive power.

The piano melody, which stirs up the high and low ranges and evokes confusion in the audience, gradually raises the sound and heightens the tension. Then, without a moment’s notice, the first piano cadenza appears. Cadenza is the part where all the accompaniment disappears and the soloist shows a splendid melody. It can be said that it is an area where the performer’s technique can be freely expressed.

While repeating the arpeggio sound pattern in a wide range, the piano melody rushes to the high notes and falls back to the low notes in an instant, creating a sudden change of atmosphere. Receiving this, the orchestra creates a new musical atmosphere with relatively simple melodies and light staccato performances, and the piano rises above it with an elegant yet powerful melody. Then the piano solo begins again. Under the monotonous melody, the complex harmonies unfold, creating an enchanting atmosphere as if the dazzling light of the water sparkles. At this time, the bassoon, horn, violin, oboe, and clarinet appear one after another to create a thick and deep tone.

Afterwards, in the section where the piano plays the main melody alone, it increases the speed of the melody toward fortissimo (ff) and instantly overwhelms the audience. After playing the staccato, the piano melody, which increased tension as it ascended toward the high register, and then reduced the speed to provide a comfortable atmosphere, also increases the sense of speed with an isomorphic progression in an instant, causing the audience to feel confused.

Then the first theme melody reappears in the orchestra. In this case, a slightly brighter atmosphere is created by crossing the boundary between major and minor through partial transitions. Then, when the tenuto and staccato in the orchestra and the accent technique in the piano appear, the two areas gradually merge to reach the fortissimo. The complex rhythm soon disappears, and the tension reaches its peak as the melody reaches the fortisissimo (fff), the most magnificent of the first movements. This point is the fastest section of the entire instrument playing together, providing a different and intense atmosphere than before. At this time, on the piano, the right and left hands alternately beat the chords of difficulty throughout the eight bars. As the sound of the piano diminishes, the second cadenza appears soon after changing the atmosphere once more with the pseudo-canon progression. The ‘original’ cadenza played by Yunchan Lim in this competition begins with a six-note melody with a dreamy atmosphere.

Soon, the harmony gradually widens and the distance between the left and right hands widened, causing the melodic progression to become more intense. When the tension builds up as the triplet on the left and the accent on the right overlap, a very fast-paced song follows. After that, the melody that seemed to relieve tension for a while with the advent of the staccato technique is transformed into harmonies and accents that cross the low and high notes in an instant, entering a section where the tension of the entire first movement reaches its peak. If you turn down the sound at a fast pace, as if it was a piano melody, the mood shifts to a monophonic arpeggio.

Next, a lyrical melody reminiscent of a peaceful lakeside appears, and after a while, the piano melody again ascends and descends in a fast rhythm and stops, making it uncomfortable for the audience to hear. Around this time, the first theme melody reappears with the horn melody as an opportunity. Then, as the 16th note, the piano melody that falls rapidly from a very high note slows down and gradually speeds up and increases the tension.

Rachmaninoff’s 3rd Piano Concerto No. 3 is a work of magic that makes the audience unable to take their eyes off of the large-scale composition progression throughout the work, the constant change of melody, and the superhuman performance technique. Yunchan Lim’s Rachmaninoff performance was praised as “strong as if possessed” would not be limited to superficial reasons such as the amazingly perfect craftsmanship and the expressiveness of even the most extreme emotions.

Perhaps his music, which focused on expressing the value of existence of music itself, away from a society preoccupied with infinite competition and ranking, has touched our hearts, who are tired of the fierce life. I hope that Yunchan Lim, who has no interest in career ambitions and wants to live in the mountains and play only the piano, will present only the most splendid and beautiful music with an unchanging image even after 10 or 20 years.

Reporter Kim Soo-hyun at Hankyung.com ksoohyun@hankyung.com