Violinist Lim Ji-young "I Want to Widely Share Bach and Ysaye's Music"

Challenge to Perform Complete Violin Sonatas by Bach and Ysaye Over Two Days on July 1 and 11

[Photo by Music & Art Company, (c) Keunho Jung]

[Asia Economy Reporter Byunghee Park] "While studying Bach's music anew for this performance, I felt a catharsis. It made me want to widely share Bach's music."

Violinist Lim Ji-young (25, photo), the winner of the 2015 Queen Elizabeth Competition, is taking on the challenge of performing the complete unaccompanied violin sonatas by Johann Sebastian Bach and Eug?ne Ysa?e. Over two days, she plans to perform all 12 pieces: Bach's three unaccompanied violin sonatas and three partitas, and Ysa?e's six violin sonatas. The performances will be held on July 1 at the Cathedral Church of the Anglican Communion in Seoul and on July 11 at the Seosomun Shrine History Museum.

Bach's three unaccompanied violin sonatas and three partitas are called the "Old Testament of the Violin." They are considered the essence of Bach's music and are famous as some of the most challenging pieces that endlessly test the limits of performers. Lim Ji-young explained, "Usually, these pieces are performed by masters who are concluding their performing careers or who believe they are more confident in these works than anyone else."

Since these pieces are generally avoided by performers, Lim Ji-young said this performance started from a sense of recklessness. She herself previously thought Bach's music was difficult to perform solo. However, her persistent attitude as a performer became the driving force behind this bold challenge. "I thought that if I ever had to perform Bach and Ysa?e's pieces, I wanted to challenge myself at a young age and perform them multiple times."

Ysa?e was an outstanding violinist, comparable to Niccol? Paganini, who was called the "Devil's Violinist." The Queen Elizabeth Competition, which Lim Ji-young won, originated in 1937 as the Ysa?e Violin Competition in memory of Ysa?e. Accordingly, his pieces are also difficult to perform.

"Ysa?e was greatly inspired by Bach's unaccompanied violin sonatas and partitas and composed six sonatas. While studying them again this time, I felt that Ysa?e was heavily influenced by Bach in terms of structural elements and harmonic rules. I want to convey those impressions in this performance."

[Photo by Music & Art Company, (c) Kyouwon Lee]

Lim Ji-young returned to Korea at the end of February. After completing her schedule, she was supposed to return to Germany immediately, but was stranded due to the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). "With no external activities and planned performances halted, I thought this could be a good time to take on another challenge. So I started this project earlier than expected. Since I started young, performing these pieces again later will be an interesting task where I can add more depth."

She said, "Music changes in your 20s and 30s. If I perform again, I think I will feel something new that I can't feel now, so it feels like I've struck gold." Lim Ji-young is the first Korean to win the instrumental category of the world's three major competitions (Queen Elizabeth, Chopin, Tchaikovsky). She was only twenty years old at the time.

Lim Ji-young is focusing solely on practice amid the difficulty of external activities. She is practicing ten hours a day, enjoying the process of discovering new aspects of Bach and Ysa?e's music that she had not noticed before. She said, "Because of the quantity and depth of Bach and Ysa?e's music, an absolutely large amount of time is required."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.