Pianist Lim Yoon-chan made his successful debut on the New York stage. He performed Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 3 with the New York Philharmonic conducted by James Gaffigan in a three-day concert from the 10th to the 12th. It's the same song he played in the finals of the Van Cliburn Competition, where he shocked the world by becoming the youngest winner to win the competition.

Tickets for the 2,200 seats at Lincoln Center's David Geffen Hall ran out early, and the New York Philharmonic sold additional standing seats. Enthusiastic cheers and endless standing ovations made for a rock star's concert. Conductor James Gaffigan also tweeted that he was "a sweet man with ethereal technique and old-fashioned musicianship" and that it was an honour to be a part of such an important moment. Many of the audience members who were present are still pouring out testimonial reviews.


The New York Times published a review full of rave reviews after the first day's performance. In an article titled "Top 10 Piano Stars Arrive in New York," the phrase "playing like a dream" is usually used to mean playing well, but in the case of Lim Yoon-chan, it was really literally "He plays like a dream." A few days later, the Financial Times, a British newspaper, published a review article that drew attention, saying, "There are many young classical stars, but very few performers are as interesting as Lim Yoon-chan."

Lim Yoon-chan played the "Original Cadenza" during the finals of the competition, but this time he played the "O'Shea" version of the cadenza. In the concerto, the "cadenza" refers to the solo part in which the soloist shows off his or her skills to the fullest without the orchestra playing, and in the early days it was customary for the soloist to improvise to his heart's content, but gradually the composer composed the cadenza part and left it as a score. Today's performers often use cadenzas written by composers themselves or by famous performers of the past, but sometimes they perform their own cadenzas. (In fact, in the past, composers were often both performers, but nowadays composers and performers are usually separate.)


Rachmaninov, who was also a pianist, wrote two versions of the Piano Concerto No. 3 in the first movement, the cadenza, which is relatively transparent and light, while the Ossia cadenza has a thick, majestic chord. 'Ossia' is an Italian word meaning 'or rather'. In general, if there is more than one way to play in a piece of music, the other version (i.e., Ossia) is also written at the top or bottom of the section.

When playing Rachmaninov's Concerto No. 3, it is common for the cadenza to opt for the Ossia version, which is grander and more ornate than the original. Especially in the competition stage, where skills are contested, most of the contestants tend to choose Osia Cadenza. However, Lim Yoon-chan chose the original cadenza for the finals of the competition. And in this New York show, we presented Osia Cadenza.

Shortly after Lim Yoon-chan won the competition last year, his teacher, Professor Son Min-so, appeared at the curtain call of the newsroom to talk about cadenza, but let's move on for a moment.

Q. You mentioned that it was unique that you played the original cadenza in the competition, but you don't play the original cadenza very well?

A. Yes, but the next time I play it, I might do a version of "O'Shea." He can do both, but this time he wanted to follow the heart of the composer himself, who played Rachmaninov No. 3, which he really liked, and the musicians he really liked, like Horowitz and John Browning. Structurally, when viewed as a whole in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd movements, there is a view that the cadenza of the first movement is so heavy that if you play the Ossia version, you will feel that the back part is losing some energy.
In fact, the choice (which cadenza to hit) was left to Yoon-chan himself. Because I trust you. Because they have a sense of those things, they know what they want better than anyone else.


(*I think I'm referring to the pianists who played the original cadenza. Vladimir Horowitz (1903-1989) was a legendary pianist from Ukraine. There was also a Korean movie called "For Horowitz." Horowitz's Rachmaninov Concerto No. 3 YouTube video (see now) was the most viewed video of the piece, before Yoonchan Lim's Van Cliburn Competition final video ▶broke the record. John Browning (1933-2003) was one of America's leading pianists of the 20th century.)

▲ Curtain Call 139: Lim Yoon-chan is distraught after winning... What is the inner workings of the teacher? (Special feature by Lim Yoon-chan)Pianist Son Min-so / Listening Newsroom (Excerpt from the cadenza-related part of the video recorded on 2022/6/23)

Just ☞
as he chose the original cadenza for the
full curtain call here, Lim Yoon-chan chose Osia cadenza for his New York debut. He wasn't trying to show off anything in particular, but as Son Min-so said, that's what Yoon-chan Lim wanted this time. However, Lim Yun-chan's Osia Kadenza was not exactly the score written by Rachmaninov. When I checked, it says, "Lim Yoon-chan did a little 'Edit' to Rachmaninov's Osia Cadenza." So there's a little bit of Lim Yoon-chan's color added to the Osia cadenza. Lim Yoon-chan himself enjoys composing and variations.


Not only did the cadenza do a different version, but many people said that Lim Yoon-chan gave a performance that was more evolved than the Van Cliburn Competition finalist (which has 5.17 million views on YouTube as of May 1). Audiences who saw all three days of concerts with the New York Phil said that every three days were different. Even if you play the same song, you never repeat the same thing, and the encore song was not the same every day. Lim Yoon-chan will make his debut on the stage of Carnegie Hall in New York in February next year. It is an 'All Chopin' program in which the complete Chopin Etudes are played. I'm curious to see what new looks it will show.

Lim Yoon-chan is scheduled to perform with the Lucerne Symphony and the Munich Philharmonic in Korea this year. They will play Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 127 and Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 2, respectively. This fall, I plan to follow my teacher, Professor Son Min-so, to the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston to continue my studies. Recently, the Cliburn Foundation released a collection of backstage videos of Lim's competition on their YouTube channel, and while I had seen most of the other videos, I had never seen Bach's performance of the Goldberg Variations at the end. He studied Bach's Goldberg Variations and expressed a desire to perform them on stage. Maybe one day I'll do a recital with this piece. Now 20 years old, Lim Yoon-chan is evolving day by day, and I look forward to his musical world getting deeper and wider.

(Photo source: New York Philharmonic Orchestra)