The Goldberg Variations album review – Yunchan Lim untangles Bach’s complex web of threads

Yunchan Lim recorded the Goldberg Variations live at Carnegie Hall last year, riding the momentum of a run of performances, including two in London. Those who enjoyed his interpretation at Wigmore Hall will find plenty of the same rewarding elements here, not least the seeming ease with which the 21-year-old pianist untangles the music’s complex web of threads. Yet it’s good to find his interpretation wasn’t set in stone. Perhaps the New York performance had a more muscular bent, or perhaps the hints of romanticism in the later variations in London don’t register as strongly on a recording as in the hall.

The artwork for JS Bach: The Goldberg Variations performed by Yunchan Lim. Photograph: Decca

What is more striking on the recording is a strength in the faster variations that sometimes verges on the mechanical: impressive, and a little overdone. There are touches of playfulness too – when in a couple of the variations he switches to a higher octave, the music sounds like it’s on helium, lighter than air. The slow variation halfway through is deeply felt, the long 25^th variation touchingly done without quite staring into the abyss in the way that some performances do. It will be interesting to hear how Lim’s interpretation of the Goldbergs develops over the years, but this is a fine account to start with.

Stream it on Apple Music (above) or on Spotify