Lim Ji-young to present Bach-Ysaye unaccompanied violin sonata

Lim Ji-young, who rose to global prominence by winning the 2015 Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels as the first South Korean violinist, will play unaccompanied violin sonatas by Bach and Ysaye at 7:30 p.m. on July 1 at the Seoul Cathedral and at 5 p.m. on July 11 at the Consolation Hall of the Seosomun Shrine History Museum in Seoul’s District of Jung.

Each concert hall is a place of history and spirituality, which adds excitement to the concerts. If sonatas and partitas for solo violin by Bach are “the Old Testament” of violin music, unaccompanied sonatas by Belgian violinist Eugene Ysaye (1858~1931) who was inspired by Bach’s works are considered “the New Testament.”

“They are like buildings with no structural defect,” Lim said Monday morning at a Seoul studio while describing their sonatas.

“Ysaye’s music has a virtuoso element of Romanticism to it, which makes it easy to focus only on the brilliant melodies,” she said. “The closer you listen to it, the more it unravels the secrets behind the melodies that you want to reflect in your performance. It is like finding gold everyday.”

She will play Sonata No. 1 and Partita No. 1 and 3 by Bach and Sonata No. 1, 4 and 6 by Ysay on July 1, and Sonata No. 2 and 3 and Partita No. 2 by Bach and Sonata No. 2, 3 and 5 by Ysaye on July 11. Lim said it would be interesting to play the set list as the structure of Bach’s and Ysaye’s is similar.

She will also play a violin concerto and the triple concerto by Beethoven in August at “Classic Revolution” organized by Lotte Concert Hall. She is also planning for a project that she would play “The Four Seasons” by Vivaldi with Piazzolla at the concert hall of Seoul Arts Center in November.

Amid the COVID-19 outbreak, 25 to 50 percent of seats will be made available in line with the social distancing rules.


gustav@donga.com