Remember what you were doing at the tender age of 18? Probably not taking home a gold medal from a major piano competition. Two years ago, when the South Korean pianist Yunchan Lim was only 18, he won the storied Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Ever since, we've been asking him to play at our Tiny Desk. Lim was the youngest ever to win the Cliburn, and one of his performances there has been viewed more than 16 million times on YouTube.
Simply put, Lim became an overnight sensation. And it's easy to see why in these deeply considered performances. Even though he was under the weather — explaining to our audience why his voice was weak — you could never tell by his powerful command of every note, making our trusty upright sound like a 9-foot grand piano.
Listen for the deliciously strummed chords in Liszt's Petrarca Sonetto, where, near the end, he rings a bell of two notes high on the keyboard and leaves them suspended in midair. Lim is celebrated for his finger twisting virtuosity, but it's this kind of poetic dynamic control that astonishes.
Tchaikovsky is a personal favorite. Lim summons thunder in a stormy passage of the snack-sized Moment lyrique, and follows with "October" (from the cycle The Seasons) where he conjures shades of lambent autumn light, taking great care to dab and mix colors like a painter.
It's easy to fall under the spell of Yunchan Lim's playing. And we're lucky, because at just age 20, Lim will be enchanting listeners for a long time.
SET LIST
- Franz Liszt: Sonetto del Petrarca No. 104
- Piotr Tchaikovsky: Moment lyrique
- Piotr Tchaikovsky: "October" (from The Seasons)
MUSICIANS
- Yunchan Lim: piano
TINY DESK TEAM
- Producer: Tom Huizenga
- Director/Editor: Kara Frame
- Audio Technical Director: Josh Newell
- Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter
- Videographers: Kara Frame, Maia Stern, Wendy Li
- Audio Engineer: Josephine Nyounai
- Production Assistant: Elle Mannion
- Photographer: Zayrha Rodriguez
- Tiny Desk Team: Joshua Bryant, Ashley Pointer, Hazel Cills
- Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
- Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
- VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins
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