Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Goldberg Variations BWV 988
Yunchan Lim (piano)
rec. live, 25 April 2025, Perelman Stage, Stern Auditorium, Carnegie Hall, New York City
Decca 4871517 [77]
Yunchan Lim has already garnered many plaudits from reviewers on this website and critics in general for his recordings of Beethoven, Chopin, Rachmaninov and Liszt; now he gives us that Everest of pianistic virtuosity, Bach’s Goldberg Variations, complete with repeats.
I am no pianist or piano maven, but have a great attachment to this work and have posted a survey of 33 recordings, so was keen to hear this young Korean’s account. He had just turned twenty-one when he performed this in Carnegie Hall, the same age as Glenn Gould when he made his legendary 1954 recording, and Konstantin Lifschitz was a mere seventeen in 1994 when he made his first recording of it; both remain among the most recommendable versions to this day, so youth is clearly no obstacle to excellence.
First, the sound: the recorded acoustic here is ideal, some air and space around the piano instead of the all-too-prevalent, “mike-under-the-hood” style some artists are insisting on of late. Of course, the performance being live – without any evidence of an audience I can hear apart from the merest rustle in between variations – militates against that fault; now we can hear Lim’s delicate, tintinnabular timbre, so tastefully ornamented without clangorousness. The recording captures a special atmosphere of concentration without it sounding too academic; there is joy, too, in Lim’s playing – even a sense of fun, as in No. VII, “al tempo di Giga”, his tone transformed into a toy piano, contrasting vividly with the sombre seriousness of the ensuing No. VIII – and I am sure that pervaded the hall.
His sound is somehow reminiscent of Glenn Gould but without his idiosyncrasies. For me, his choice of tempi is as flawless as his technique; listen to the runs in Variation V – stunning evenness and fluidity. The repeats are nuanced rather than over-laden with expressivity. Variation after variation comes across newly-minted, embracing a panoply of moods, styles and colours, sweeping the listener along the greatest emotional odyssey in Baroque solo instrumental music. There is weight, too, when it is needed as in the opening the No. X “Fughetta”. The speed and accuracy of articulation in No. XIV are superhuman. Lim’s affect is very adaptable; the “Ouverture”, Variation XVI, has a kind of stately, almost static, grandeur which transports the listener back to Rameau and the courts of Louis XIV and XV in an instant. By contrast, the headlong, pell-mell rush of the tiny No. XVII is almost impudent, especially played that fast and the sweet, tripping tinkle from Lim’s right hand in No. XIX is enchanting, then he daringly imparts what are almost jazz rhythms to the dotted notes in the crazy No. XX. Of course, no review can ignore the “Black Pearl”, Variation XXV, which is executed with mesmeric intensity. His dynamic variation is particularly successful; he generates great resonance for the closing bars. The scurrying variation which follows is like being doused with ice-water and is another instance of his mind-boggling prestidigitation. The evenness of the trills in No. XXVIII is sensational and the excitement of No. XXIX thrilling – but I am now running out of clichéd superlatives. The pause before the concluding “Aria da Capo” ideally timed and after the cunningly organised chaos of the “Quodlibet”, serenity is restored as we come full circle after a perfectly judged journey.
We are awash with great recordings of this work but this is as great as any.
The booklet consists of artsy photos of the soloist and a gushing note by the director of Carnegie Hall, translated into French, German and Korean but no information about the music. No matter; the performance speaks for itself. The recording is also available as a download, streamed and in LP format.
Ralph Moore
Other review: David Barker
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