Re: Listening to Yunchan Lim

On Sun, 21 Jul 2024 2:34:12 +0000, PPeso wrote:

On 7/18/2024 8:36 PM, PPeso wrote:

Undoubtedly the most hyped new kid on the pianistic bloc, on balance
quite deservedly so.

>
A little lagniappe to my own post. I just watched the recent Verbier
recital on Medici.tv. Talking about Eusebius and Florestan... After a
couple of Mendelssohn's songs without words the first part is an
introspective, intimate, inward-looking, nuanced reading of
Tchaikovsky's Seasons. Beautifully done, without the footprint of salon
music unfortunately associated with this piece the few times it is
actually performed (Pletnev is the exception and by far my top
recommendation). Boy, that did not prepare me for the second part of the
concert, Mussorgsky's Pictures At An Exhibition. There are two basic
approaches to this piece: one can go with Richter and follow the
original quite closely, without messing around too much with its
black-and-white idiosyncrasies; or one can go with Horowitz and
transcribe it as a virtuoso showcase in technicolor. Now, Lim goes
Horowitz on steroids and transcribes the transcription adding tons of
CGI special effects and sweating profusely in the process. This may be
one of the most narcissistically extroverted readings of the Kartinki,
as if Pogorelich and Lang Lang had met by night on the Bald Mountain and
decided to go wild with Mussorgsky. As a pianistic feat this is
mesmerizing and outstanding. As an interpretation I hated it thoroughly.
The encore is Chopin's nocturne Op.9 No.2, which returns to the dimmed
atmosphere of the two Mendelssohn's lieder that open the recital.

Can he do this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WN0qBfSD6l8
It should be required in all piano competitions! ;-)
Cheers!