Prom 14, July 29 2024
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Paavo Jarvi
Yunchan Lim
Those of us who were lucky enough to be present at Yunchan Lim’s Proms debut are going to remember it fondly when he’s being celebrated on world stages in a year or two’s time. His performance of Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto was breathtaking. Many a young pianist can produce the notes but few can bring this level of maturity, sensitivity and poise to it. Lim, who comes from South Korea, is just 20
Paavo Jarvi, who ensured the BBC Symphony Orchestra duetted with him with understated elegance, worked with his young soloist in palpable partnership, often turning to watch the keyboard closely. The dramatic soft passages in the first movement were exquisite and Lim’s Adagio was the slowest I’ve ever heard it with Jarvi, ever responsive to Lim’s rubato. Then came that transition into the finale, one of my favourite Beethoven moments. Lim did it with gentle tension until he made it dance off into happy sublimity of the final movement. No wonder there were so many whoops and cheers form his huge South Korean fan club in the audience. They are entitled to feel very proud of him. He responded to the rapturous applause by playing JS Bach’s Siciliano as his encore which felt gloriously intimate considering the size of the Royal Albert Hall.
The concert had opened with Aditus by Estonian composer Erkki-Sven Tuur. It dates from 2000-2 but this was its first performance at a Proms concert and new, I suspect, to most of the audience, including me. Jarvi allowed the arresting chromatic scales and glissandi ring out with tubular bells and bass drum to the fore. He also made the most of dramatic contrasts, tensions and general pauses. It’s an interesting piece.
And so to Bruckner’s weighty first symphony which formed the second half of the programme. Jarvi is good at detail and the punctuating trombone, solo cello and busy, but incisive, string underpinning were good moments in the first movement. I also liked the flute and bassoon work in the adagio and the neatly pointed contrast between the scherzo and the trio. Once we reached the finale, though, there were balance issues. If, as here, the brass players are seated several tiers up with their feet at a higher level than the heads of the string players, their sound will blast out, sometimes too prominently. In places the ensemble didn’t feel quite integrated although there were some pleasing lyrical moments.
