Yunchan Lim approaches The Seasons as if it was a Schubert song cycle without words. Instead of Tchaikovsky’s evocative portraits and vignettes of the months of the year, Lim re-casts the sequence as depicting “the final year in a man’s life”.
It’s an interesting conceit, albeit the immediate effect while listening is to jolt the ear. Lim’s not always persuasive booklet note packs in more narrative detail than individual pieces can often accommodate, never mind the profounder claims he makes for music ill-equipped to carry such weighty aspirations.
The 18-year-old victor (the youngest ever winner) of the 2022 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, Lim’s reading follows Bruce Liu’s Deutsche Grammophon take on The Seasons late last year, which was conspicuously free, as The Guardian’s Andrew Clements noted, of “faux seriousness”. It treads with a similar blend of delicacy and deliberation, Lim just as respectful towards and nuanced with the material as Liu. Recorded as live in the agreeable acoustic of the Yehudi Menuhin School, Lim’s expressive use of the impressive technique that made his debut album of Chopin Études so appealing, pays dividends throughout.
The scene is set with the cosy, fireside-set January, Lim revelling in warming reveries that give way to the animated, anticipatory February and ornamented gossamer of March. Bringing an impressionable precision to each note throughout, from there the musical calendar moves inexorably towards the leave-taking of December – arguably the least convincing scene, despite his faultless playing, in Lim’s imagined micro-drama.
That scenario is more convincingly realised elsewhere, the pivotal June poignantly caught between what was and what is to come. There’s a touch of Grand Guignol grandstanding about July, the excitements of the ensuing harvest and hunt followed by the plaintively subdued reflection of October’s ‘Autumn Song’ that heralds the encroaching end.
Set aside that it takes time to adjust to Lim’s novel, overlaid storyline. (One that begins to insinuate itself into his performance with repeated listening.) Treated as an exercise in creating atmosphere and mood, his Seasons are beautifully delineated and showcase his remarkable technique and eloquent beyond his years’ ability to conjure the most ineffable and exquisite of emotions.
Composer: Tchaikovsky
Work: The Seasons
Performer: Yunchan Lim p
Label: Decca 4871021
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