Yunchan Lim brings controversial concerto to life for JoongAng Ilbo’s anniversary

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Yunchan Lim brings controversial concerto to life for JoongAng Ilbo’s anniversary

Published: 11 Jun. 2025, 18:27 Updated: 11 Jun. 2025, 18:57

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Pianist Yunchan Lim holds a concert at the Seoul Arts Center alongside the Orchestre de Paris and conductor Klaus Makela on June 10 for the 60th anniversary of the JoongAng Ilbo. [JOONGANG ILBO]

When Sergei Rachmaninoff premiered his Fourth Concerto in 1927, critics pounced. One review dismissed it as lacking creativity, calling the slow movement “monotonous” and the finale “tedious.” Overshadowed by the Russian composer’s celebrated Second and Third concertos, the work faded into near obscurity — rarely performed, seldom recorded.

But on Tuesday night at the Seoul Arts Center in southern Seoul, 21-year-old Korean pianist Yunchan Lim turned that narrative on its head. Appearing with the Orchestre de Paris under its music director, conductor Klaus Makela, Lim delivered a performance that was unsentimental, fiercely intelligent and at times electrifying.

The concert, part of the JoongAng Ilbo’s 60th anniversary celebrations, showcased the potential of neglected repertoire to captivate modern audiences.

Lim — whose career catapulted after his win of the 2022 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition — opened the concerto not with sweeping romanticism, but with cool restraint — a touch that has become a signature of his artistry. Makela matched Lim’s clarity with brisk, attentive direction, sharpening the rhythm and accentuating the harmonic dissonance that once repelled early listeners.

The evening opened with Pierre Boulez’s “Initiale for seven brass instruments” — a centenary nod to the composer and a fitting prelude in its spiky modernism. But it was in Hector Berlioz’s “Symphonie Fantastique” that the orchestra truly came into full bloom.

Pianist Yunchan Lim holds a concert at the Seoul Arts Center alongside the Orchestre de Paris and conductor Klaus Makela on June 10 for the 60th anniversary of the JoongAng Ilbo. [JOONGANG ILBO]

Under Makela, this oft-performed warhorse felt newly dangerous. The first movement unfurled with tightly coiled anticipation. The second danced with wild elegance. In the fourth, the brass erupted with menace, depicting the protagonist’s execution with grotesque fanfare. And to express the Sabbath the fifth movement portrays, Makela unleashed sonic mayhem — warped textures, offstage church bells ringing with brutal force and a finale that overwhelmed with sheer visceral weight.

The chemistry between the two artists was evident throughout. Makela, only 29, has quickly become one of the most sought-after conductors in Europe, and here he showed why. His control of orchestral texture, his command of dynamic range and his ability to follow — and challenge — a soloist in real time were masterful.

The Orchestre de Paris, returning to Korea for the first time in nine years, sounded energized and sharply sculpted under Makela’s leadership. Since taking the helm in 2021, he has deepened the ensemble’s expressive palette while sharpening its focus.

Pianist Yunchan Lim holds a concert at the Seoul Arts Center alongside the Orchestre de Paris and conductor Klaus Makela on June 10 for the 60th anniversary of the JoongAng Ilbo. [JOONGANG ILBO]

Pianist Yunchan Lim [MOC PRODUCTION]

Lim and Makela’s creative alliance has quickly gained international momentum. The pair performed Rachmaninoff’s Second Concerto together last year and earlier this month gave two performances of his fourth in Paris. A return to Philharmonie de Paris is scheduled for March 2026 — already sold out — followed by a December collaboration with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto.

For Tuesday’s encore, Lim offered a moment of fragile grace with Leopold Godowsky’s arrangement of Camille Saint-Saëns’s “Le cygne” and the aria theme from Bach’s “Goldberg” Variations.

The tour of Lim, Makela and the Orchestre de Paris in Korea continues through Sunday. Lim is also scheduled to perform the Rachmaninoff concerto — which he has called his favorite of the composer’s works — four times in Japan with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra from June 28 to July 6.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY KIM HO-JUNG [[email protected]]