BEETHOVEN Complete Piano Sonatas Vol. 1 Heroic Ideals & The Eternal Feminine Youth

 

Disc I - Heroic Ideals

Sonata No.26 in E-Flat Op 81a “Les Adieux”

Sonata No.11 in B-Flat Op 22

Sonata No.29 in B-Flat Op 106 “Hammerklavier”

 

Disc II - The Eternal Feminine – Youth

Sonata No.4 in E-Flat Op 7

Sonata No.9 in E Op 14 No.1

Sonata No.10 in G Op 14 No.2

Sonata No.13 in E-Flat Op 27 No.1

Sonata No.14 in C-Sharp minor Op 27 No.2 “Moonlight”

 

HJ Lim

 

The brilliant 24-year-old Korean pianist HJ Lim, who signed an exclusive contract with EMI Classics in September 2011, has recorded her first project for the label, an ambitious traversal of the Complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas. Lim, a Yamaha exclusive artist, recorded the sonatas on a Yamaha CFX concert grand piano in July and August 2011, grouping them into eight themes. The recordings will be released as four 2-CD sets over the course of 2012 with a complete deluxe box set to be available at the conclusion of the project.

 

Pianists who record the Beethoven sonatas cycle usually do so at the peak of long and storied careers. With this bold and controversial recording project, HJ Lim aims to prove that at the age of 24 she is ready to record the Beethoven sonatas now. She has the intelligence and artistic vision and her powerful performances have been captivating both traditional and new audiences. She has already performed complete Beethoven sonatas cycles over eight days each in France, Germany and J apan.

 

Hyun Jung Lim was born in South Korea and emigrated on her own at the age of 12 to France to study. Three years later, she became the youngest person to earn a Diplôme d’Études Musicales Complètes (Normandy). She subsequently graduated with a First Prize and Highest Distinction from the Conservatoire National de Rouen and the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris. In 2007, she was awarded First Prize by unanimous decision at the FLAME Competition in Paris. HJ currently lives in Switzerland.

 

When HJ wanted to share her progress with her Korean-based family by uploading some of her recital videos to YouTube, she inadvertently also captured the imagination of nearly half a million music lovers worldwide, who became a devoted fan base. A recital at the Stadt-Casino Basel in November 2009 in which she performed Rachmaninov’s complete Études-tableaux and Chopin’s complete Études was also uploaded to YouTube, attracting phenomenal online traffic.

 

EMI 2cds 7300092