Superb Yunchan Lim

My first Prom of the season last night. The start was not auspicious when the Royal Albert Hall refused me entry because I had a glass or so of white wine in a flask in my bag left over from a picnic dinner on the Albert Memorial steps. And I was more than a little miffed later to have to pay £4 for a small bottle of water during the interval, which had been the intended occasion for finishing the wine. However the evidence was quickly disposed of in a not unpleasant way and I was admitted.
 
The programme was first class. It started with the usual ‘difficult’ contemporary piece at the Proms which turned out to be not difficult at all. The unlikely named Erkki-Sven Tüür’s Aditus, which means entrance or approach in Estonian, was noisy, raucous, and very entertaining.
 
Next was a real treat. After the Prommer’s traditional “Heave!” from the auditorium, to be answered by “Ho!” from the gallery as the piano lid was raised, and applause as the leader played the ‘A’ to allow the orchestra to tune, we heard Beethoven’s fifth piano concerto. The last time I heard the Emperor at the Proms, many moons ago, the playing was so strident that I wondered that the Chinese pianist didn’t damage the Steinway during the performance. This time a young Korean, Yunchan Lim, absolutely wowed the audience—and me—with his sensitivity. I have never heard this Beethoven piece played with such love and tenderness. He rightly received enormous applause. 
 
The Bruckner, his first symphony, I was not familiar with although the style was unmistakably his. I’ll admit to some trepidation, and I noticed a few seats had emptied at the interval—two girls clutching their iPhones even left after the first movement... But it was good. Plenty of repetitive crescendos, what the Prommers love, and it felt comfortable; traditional Proms fare. 
 
All in all a very enjoyable evening notwithstanding the faltering start. Furthermore I found myself sitting next to a well-known—to the Albert Hall—Italian gentleman who has attended around 1,800 Proms. My extremely rusty and halting Italian got a real workout.