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Yunchan LIm

Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 - LIVE, Cliburn

Decca Classics
Release Date: May 9, 2025

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1 Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor, Op. 30 I. Allegro ma non tanto  
2 II. Intermezzo. Adagio  
3 III. Finale. Alla breve  
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Decca Classics now releases one of the most talked-about performances in recent classical music history: Lim’s electrifying interpretation of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3, recorded live at the 2022 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, when he was just 18 years old.

Dominic Fyfe, Label Director, Decca Classics, says: “The creation of a recorded legacy on Decca Classics was at the heart of our conversations with Yunchan from the very beginning. These two albums are already milestones in his career and each affords us the opportunity to own a piece of history. They document his artistry in both live and studio settings, capturing the hypnotic music-making which has become Yunchan's signature.”

Lim, now 21, first gained international recognition with this very performance, which conductor Marin Alsop described as showing “an old soul, rather than a young performer.” Since then, it has become the most-watched version of the concerto on YouTube, with over 17 million views.

The performance quickly went viral, trending worldwide and surpassing all other recordings of the piece online. It was broadcast on national television in South Korea and featured on global news outlets, making Lim a household name almost overnight. British pianist and jury member Sir Stephen Hough called him “a preposterously gifted pianist... he understood the rhetoric, the scope, the personality of Liszt. It isn’t speed but a kind of inner charisma.” Fellow juror Jean-Efflam Bavouzet said, “We didn’t talk, but our eyes said it all,” while Anne-Marie McDermott shared, “About halfway through the first movement… we just knew: we’re experiencing something magical here.”

  • Yunchan Lim brings controversial concerto to life for JoongAng Ilbo's anniversary / Korea JoongAng Daily
    Posted At: June 11, 2025
    Korea JoongAng Daily writes….When Sergei Rachmaninoff premiered his Fourth Concerto in 1927, critics pounced. One review dismissed it as lacking creativity, calling the slow movement “monotonous” and the finale “tedious.” Overshadowed by the Russian composer’s celebrated Second and Third concertos, the work faded into near obscurity — rarely performed, seldom recorded. But on Tuesday night at the Seoul...

  • Yunchan Lim's playing Is wondrous on Rachmaninoff No. 3, Live from Cliburn competition / ludwigvan Toronto
    Posted At: May 23, 2025
    Decca Classics now releases one of the most talked-about performances in recent classical music history: Yunchan Lim’s electrifying interpretation of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3, recorded live at the 2022 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, when he was just 18 years old.Dominic Fyfe, Label Director, Decca Classics, says: “The creation of a recorded legacy on Decca Classics was at the heart ...

  • Lim's Rachmaninoff at the Segerstrom Ctr. and Cho's Ravel at Disney Hall, gives us hope for classical music / The New Yorker
    Posted At: March 27, 2025
    From The New Yorker…..Lim is a volcanic talent who renders scores by Liszt and Rachmaninoff as if he’d composed them himself; Cho produces a preternaturally beautiful sound.Alex Ross writes…..When, last month, the preposterously gifted twenty-year-old pianist Yunchan Lim played Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts, in Costa Mesa, California, the crowd responded with one...

  • Yunchan Lim's modern vision of the Goldberg Variations / bachtrack
    Posted At: March 25, 2025
    From bachtrack…….Rescaling BachSangKwon Lee writes…..At Goyang Aramnuri, pianist Yunchan Lim offered a thought-provoking reinterpretation of Bach’s Goldberg Variations – one that seemed to ask, “What if Bach himself had access to a modern grand piano?” The programme opened with Hanurij Lee’s succinct contemporary piece Round and velvety-smooth blend... which, in about six minutes, set a crystalline stage fo...

  • Yunchan Lim goes bold with Bach in S.F. debut / SFCV
    Posted At: February 27, 2025
    SFCV - Simon Cohen writes….South Korean keyboard phenom Yunchan Lim clearly has the scintillating virtuosity of Franz Liszt and Frédéric Chopin at his fingertips. But Lim — after rocketing to worldwide stardom in 2022 at age 18 as the youngest-ever winner of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition — now seems to be looking beyond the 19th-century warhorses of the piano repertoire that fueled his ini...

  • Yunchan Lim's 'Chopin Etudes Op. 10 and Op. 25' is Apple Music most-played classical album of 2024 / ludwigvan.
    Posted At: December 9, 2024
    Yunchan Lim, one of the most talked-about classical artists on the planet released his debut studio album, Chopin Études via Decca Classics, on 19th April 2024. Hailed as a “One-in-a-million talent” (Dallas Morning News) and having “the potential to become a once-in-generation pianist, one who combines astounding virtuosity with interpretive depth.” (The New Yorker), Yunchan will be performing the Chopin Ét...

  • Yunchan Lim packs the Hollywood Bowl as Gustavo Dudamel revisits a Tchaikovsky favorite / SFCV
    Posted At: September 4, 2024
    SFCV - Richard S. Ginell writes…..Here’s a new semi-mathematical equation for the day: Beethoven + Tchaikovsky + Dudamel + Lim = Sold-out event at Hollywood Bowl.Well, not quite a sold-out crowd. A Los Angeles Philharmonic spokesperson said that the attendance count Thursday night (Aug. 29) was a little over 13,000 (out of 17,500 seats), although it looked like a lot more to this inveterate Bowl-goer. Never...

  • Yunchan Lim's 'Chopin Studies' are a triumph / GRAMOPHONE
    Posted At: May 23, 2024
    GRAMOPHONE writes….Ever since Yunchan Lim became the youngest-ever winner of the Van Cliburn Gold Medal in June 2022, the piano grapevine has been buzzing with news of his prowess. Audiences in Fort Worth were blown away by his Rachmaninov Third Concerto in the final round, as they had been by his complete Liszt Transcendental Studies in the semi-final, the latter now available as a live recording and revie...
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