United Kingdom PROM 14 – Tüür, Beethoven, Bruckner: Yunchan Lim (piano), BBC Symphony Orchestra / Paavo Järvi (conductor). Royal Albert Corridor, London, 29.7.2024. (MBr)

Erkki-Sven Tüür – Aditus
Beethoven – Piano Concerto No.5 in E-flat main, ‘Emperor’
Bruckner – Symphony No.1 in C minor (1877 Linz model, ed. Nowak)

There was, in fact, a full home for this BBC Promenade – at the least for Beethoven’s ‘Emperor’; poor Bruckner, in his two hundredth anniversary 12 months, didn’t fairly handle to maintain the corridor packed to the rafters for the primary Promenade’s efficiency of the 1877 Linz model of his First Symphony, the only work within the second half.

Classical musicians have all the time endured some type of obsessive enchantment with audiences, going again to Paganini. This most likely sits rather less comfortably with somebody like Yunchan Lim (and is presumably extra intrusive in some international locations than others) but it surely appeared fairly restrained at this live performance. True, not your complete Korean group of New Malden had upped sticks from Zone 4 and travelled to the Royal Albert Corridor for Lim’s debut; however then, what we’d describe because the nuclear household, hardly makes for fandom both. How charming to see so many younger kids at this live performance – though this, too, is widespread for Yunchan Lim recitals and concert events.

If one appears to be like at among the pianists who’ve carried out the ‘Emperor’ on the Proms – Myra Hess (5 instances), Clifford Curzon (seven instances), Stephen Kovacevich (4 instances) and Alfred Brendel (3 times) and, most not too long ago, András Schiff – it’s a formidable record. Lim’s Beethoven is technically flawless, additionally it is Beethoven that’s exceptional for this pianist’s capability to regulate tone and distinction to fairly fantastic impact. What this isn’t is Beethoven that has a lot depth past the distinctive method the pianist phrases all the things on the floor.

The primary motion, the Allegro, was superlative. In Lim’s recording of this concerto (issued by DG in Korea) the very shut stability hints at a lot much less distinction than we acquired right here (and really proves how mercurial and clear the acoustic of the Albert Corridor can generally be). Some particulars such because the ascending trills, and among the miniature figurations that Beethoven writes – such because the bell-like tinkles – had been fabulous. Some notes had been embellished with such lightness, with such serenity, they barely registered in any respect so light was the contact towards the keys: if it wasn’t essentially pathos, it was virtually there. At his finest, the pianissimo enjoying shimmered and sparkled magically. One might need anticipated the F minor arpeggios (within the Improvement) to have been overwrought as a few of Lim’s unison enjoying can err in the direction of – however right here it had a context. There was no lack of virtuosity on this Allegro, though the convenience with which it was handed off solid some doubt in my thoughts as as to if among the pressure and energy was actually right here. In a motion with its militarist hints, rumbles of thunder and corrosive and biting touches Lim may generally appear curiously understated.

If I had discovered the Adagio on the DG recording one thing of a minor miracle then the one on this efficiency left me quite chilly. That is hardly Beethoven at his most profound – and but, what Lim appeared to be enjoying got here near didactic phrasing, with little sense of any arc to affix the music collectively. He actually did go away area between the notes within the opening of the Adagio – the issue was the arid air between them. The hymn-like theme was considerably higher accomplished, with quite extra remorse mirrored within the enjoying, however the silhouettes that form this motion had been largely absent. The Rondo was typically chic, nevertheless. There have been flashes of brilliance right here (cascades of damaged octaves that gushed by way of the floodgates), giddying chromatic scales, and a way that Lim was defining the size of this efficiency the place beforehand he won’t have been doing that. Lim’s capability to play with monumental aggression – after which sink into pianissimos of staggering finesse – labored properly right here; it additionally units him aside from many younger pianists with a a lot much less expressive contact. However irrespective of the brilliance, and there was a lot of it, this efficiency fell quick when it got here to digging deep.

The BBC Symphony Orchestra and Paavo Järvi didn’t all the time appear on the identical web page as Lim, not least as a result of this was hardly a Beethovenian sized orchestra. Woodwind solos had been generally just a little rampant; the timpani actually extra ‘martial’ than I can recall in some performances of this concerto. Lim’s one encore was Bach’s Siciliano BWV 1031 within the transcription by Wilhelm Kempff. It was dazzling, transcendent and had a core depth to it that appeared otherworldly. It quite oddly sounded as if he had been enjoying this for himself quite than the viewers. Undeniably magical.

The Linz model of Bruckner’s First Symphony is basically preferable to the later revision by the composer – though the work itself can appear barely recognisable to his center and later symphonies irrespective of which of these editions one hears. Paavo Järvi’s time in Japan has clearly been well-spent in terms of seating western orchestras because the readability of sound we acquired from this efficiency was typically unusually good – even when the enjoying of the BBC SO was not within the slightest corresponding to that of the NHK Symphony Orchestra, one of the crucial spectacular of Bruckner orchestras. Nevertheless, what we lacked in depth and weight of string tone, and a scarcity of refinement within the woodwind, we greater than made up for in some wonderful brass enjoying – and that’s successfully what the core and backbone of this symphony’s Finale is fully rooted in establishing.

One may hardly say this efficiency hung hearth, although. Järvi positively zipped by way of the work maybe making a few of this symphony sound just a little cruder than it wanted to. Did tuttis within the first motion sound only a contact too assertive? Trombones, for instance, are imagined to be majestic right here however maybe they had been simply much less imposing than might need been, extra obvious perhaps. Dynamic contrasts won’t have had fairly the proper candy zone, both; however the coda was thrilling. A little bit extra gloom and darkness in the beginning of the Adagio might need added some pressure, however the cantabile phrasing was fantastically accomplished – even when this wasn’t an Adagio which swung between inside tempi to the diploma it ought to have.

The place the First will get attention-grabbing as a symphony is within the two remaining actions. Right here, Järvi’s tempi did justice to the music – particularly in a Scherzo that may generally appear to be overly repetitious. Järvi made the arpeggios sound weighty, however not overly so; they had been emphatic, however not so blunt as to be quick on pressure. The Trio was a stunning second of distinction. The Finale (marked ‘feurig’ – fiery) was the efficiency’s highpoint. Bruckner’s brass writing actually grew to become extra highly effective and mountainous in his later symphonies (the Fifth, for instance) however with the First the seeds of it are all there (except you hear the 1890 revision). Järvi clearly knew the place to undertaking the size of this motion: the bloodthirsty opening, fortissimos and crescendos that had been by no means lower than their marking, tuttis that weren’t encrypted in distant sound. Timpani had been particularly thrilling, with little of the restraint one generally hears in Bruckner. The coda was very good, helped by the truth that Järvi didn’t actually put the brakes on.

The live performance had opened with Erkki-Sven Tüür’s Aditus. A type of overture (because the composer describes it) it’s an exhilarating work firmly planted in each an atonal and tonal world the place its centre of gravity lies in the usage of an intensive percussion part. The ebb and stream of timpani, tubular bells and different percussion towards a kaleidoscopic mantle of strings stretches tonality till the work melts into the fullest spectrum of orchestral sound. Paavo Järvi, who gave the primary efficiency of the work, and the BBC SO, performed the work beautifully, with a blistering conviction and certainty as to its drama and musical impulses.

One in every of two standout performances of the night – the opposite being a four-minute encore of Bach enjoying of beautiful magnificence and depth.

Marc Bridle