It was one of the first of this year’s BBC Proms to sell out, making him the season’s fastest-selling debut artist. There were screams as he came on (quickly, neatly) and an arena-full of phones held aloft as he bowed after playing. Two years after winning the Van Cliburn competition aged 18 with a performance that left the conductor brushing away tears and months after his first disc had critics dusting off their superlatives, South Korean pianist Yunchan Lim landed at the Royal Albert Hall.
His vehicle was Beethoven’s Fifth Piano Concerto – its unprecedented scale earning it the English nickname the “Emperor”. Lim’s first entry was gleamingly robust, his return after the orchestral exposition all sweetness and space. His right hand glittered atop the orchestra, his left dropping bass notes of astonishing heft from head-height. His launching into the finale was a brilliant explosion of Viennese oompah – an invitation to dance.
And therein lay the problem. This concerto is a dialogue and there were moments when the BBC Symphony Orchestra were at cross-purposes. Under the tight reins of conductor Paavo Järvi, the orchestra’s light, bright playing early on seemed to wilt in the late-July heat. The result was some unlovely wind tuning and little sense of overall musical direction – and neither the exuberance nor the subtlety to match Lim. They fared better in Aditus by Estonian composer Erkki-Sven Tüür – all colour and chromaticism, built in hefty sonic strata – and Bruckner’s Symphony No 1, performed to a somewhat smaller crowd after the interval. There Järvi’s intense focus inspired snarling brass, silken strings in a beautifully hushed slow movement and woodwind solos with personality in the scherzo. But it was only in the closing moments of the finale that Järvi seemed to find any real musical momentum.
By that time yet more audience members had slipped quietly away. Perhaps they wanted to savour the fleeting highlight of this Prom: Lim’s encore, a Bach transcription to still the most boisterous capacity audience. His touch was impossibly fine, transforming the keyboard into a gamut of exquisite tone colours. Each note was precious, each phrase crystalline.
• Available on BBC Sounds. The Proms continue until 14 September
