On a star‑studded night in 2025, South Korean pianist Yunchan Lim stepped onto the world‑famous stage of Carnegie Hall in New York and took the audience on a journey through Johann Sebastian Bach’s 30‑variation masterwork. The live recording, released this week to Apple Music Classical, captures Lim’s nuanced approach to the Goldberg Variations in a way that feels both fresh and timeless.
“It’s an astonishingly fine Goldberg Variations, perhaps the finest piano interpretation to have emerged in recent years, studio recording or live performance,” writes reviewer Matthew G. McDonald of The Classical Review. With a record of Bach recordings that includes The Art of Bach(2023) and Bach for the Contemporary World (2024), Lim has already cemented himself as a pianist who can make the old new again.
About the Performer
Yunchan Lim first made his mark with a breakout recording of The Well‑Tempered Clavier at the age of 22. Since then he has toured Europe, Asia, and North America, and has earned the support of some of the most revered piano teachers in the world. “Bach dedicated his life to God, but to me this piece is very human,” Lim told Apple Music Classical before the Carnegie Hall concert. “The Goldberg Variations encompass everything about human life.”
Lim’s playing is a blend of rigorous discipline and emotive freedom. He cites fellow pianists Konstantin Lifschitz and Peter Serkin as major influences, and he attributes the clarity of his ornamentation to the lessons he honed with his mentor, Minsoo Sohn. “I presented all the ideas I could possibly come up with to my teacher, Minsoo Sohn, during lessons,” Lim explains. “From there, we kept refining them, constantly removing what felt unnecessary, while preserving the ideas that I felt I could genuinely execute at this stage of my life.”
Carnegie Hall: A Live Recording of a Lifetime
Carnegie Hall has a storied relationship with Bach, many great pianists have made recordings here, from Glenn Oates in 1981 to Daniel Barenboim in 2010. Lim, however, felt that the hall’s acoustics and the weight of its history demanded a different approach. “I play best at home, and I found the hall very overwhelming,” he confesses. “However, it was very important to me to record this piece at Carnegie Hall. Ever since I heard Konstantin Lifschitz’s live album from the Moscow Conservatory, I dreamt of doing the same.”
The recording is not merely a capture of a concert; it is a carefully engineered document of the pianist’s artistic vision. All 30 variations are presented with the full set of repeats, giving listeners a complete sense of the structure and the subtle transformations Lim employs in each cycle. The repeats are where “the magic happens” according to Lim “those fleeting ornaments providing an insight into my clear delight in Bach’s music.”
A Spiritual, Human Interpretation
Lim’s approach to the Goldberg Variations is less about technical virtuosity and more about revealing the piece’s spiritual core. “The quiet spirituality to them, too, that seems to make them especially relevant today,” notes McDonald. The piano’s resonance at Carnegie Hall becomes a canvas for Lim’s exploration of the variations as a map of human experience, from the “black pearl” of Variation 25 to the carefree elegance of Variation 26, and finally the rustic Quodlibet of Variation 30.
The performance is structured to lead the listener through a progressive emotional landscape. Variation 1 feels like the opening of a newly‑printed edition, “clear and immediate.” Variation 18, a complex imitative canon, takes the breath away with its crystalline clarity, while Variation 25’s “Black Pearl” shines with a depth of colour and tone that feels almost Shakespearean. The transition to Variation 26 is “Mozartian in its carefree elegance,” and the final Quodlibet, a light-hearted, folk‑inspired “what‑you‑got” variation, brings the aria to a gentle, reflective close.
Final Thoughts
Bach’s Goldberg Variations have long been a benchmark for any pianist who wishes to prove their mastery of the classical repertoire. In an era where many Bach recordings are rushed or derivative, Lim’s meticulous, spiritually‑infused performance stands out as a landmark achievement. “Bach’s Goldbergs are timeless and universal,” Lim reminds us, “and its technical complexities are tempered by the perfection and beauty of its form.” As the classical world looks toward new interpretations, Lim’s Carnegie Hall recording offers a reminder that music, when approached with honesty and reverence, remains as essential as ever.
Listen now on Apple Music Classical or any major streaming platform, and let Yunchan Lim guide you through Bach’s enduring masterpiece.
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