Sunwook Kim came to international attention in 2008 when the 18-year-old pianist won first prize in the prestigious Leeds International Competition. His 2013 live Deutsche Grammophon recording of Beethoven’s “Emperor” concerto left an impression of tremendous personal force and stylish assurance, qualities that also informed his authoritative, impassioned performance of Unsuk Chin’s brilliant Piano Concerto, also released on DG. Sadly, Kim’s solo Beethoven is not on the same level.
In the “Waldstein” Sonata first movement, Kim’s fleet fingers tend to press forward in fast scale passages, and there’s little discernible difference between fortes and fortissimos: they’re uniformly loud. Balances within chords and swirling runs are uncommonly clear, yet fail to communicate the music’s inherent dramatic and harmonic tension. The Rondo gains noticeable color and shape, but little in dynamism or exultation. A few detuned F-naturals apparent in the first-movement recapitulation ought to have been addressed.
Although Kim takes Beethoven’s optimistic metronome indication in the “Hammerklavier” Allegro with a grain of salt, his direct, forward-moving playing sounds faster than it actually is. There are perceptive touches, such as the pianist’s ingenuous pulling the tempo back just before the rising fifths and sixths leading into the recapitulation; here Kim opts for the sensible A-natural à la Brendel and Kempff, rather than the “inspired misprint” A-sharp (my personal preference) we hear from Schnabel, Arrau, Solomon, and Rosen. Yet I miss the cross-handed voice leading that Alfred Brendel and Rudolf Serkin insightfully project in the second subject, or Peter Serkin’s combination of lightness and nervous energy.
The Scherzo’s wonderful quirks fall flat in Kim’s square, literal minded, and mechanical performance. While Kim’s Adagio sostenuto reveals more than a few hints of sensitivity and lyricism, the technically proficient yet machine-like, undifferentiated fugal Finale is about as soulless an interpretation as you can get. You hear notes rather than lines. The close, airless engineering and glassy piano sonority hardly help matters. Given the promise and undeniable talent that Kim displayed in the aforementioned DG releases, this disc disappoints.
