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Hee-Young Lim: An unexpected journey of a cellist
2019-01-17 
Hee-Young Lim. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Hee-Young Lim, a Korean cellist, launched her first CD French Cello Concertos last November. Now she is tapping into the classical music world in China.

"Playing the cello feels like meditation, it becomes sort of a mirror and helps you see within yourself. And since I have no siblings and used to spend a lot of time alone reading books, my parents felt this was all good because it was almost as though I had a constant companion in the cello!"

Hee-Young Lim recalled the beginning of her musical journey. The Seoul-born musician entered the Korean National University at age 15 – the youngest student ever to be accepted. Major competition wins followed and her career was set.

To date, she is the first female Asian cellist appointed as the Principal Solo Cellist of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, one of the major orchestras in Europe and the first cello professor at the Central Conservatory of Music based in Beijing.

She is proud of her achievements, but also notes, "My mum never knew about music so she let me find my own way, and I was self-motivated. That stood me in good stead as my career opened up, when I went to study in the US and in France and Germany. I had to be tough and self-aware and focused, and that all had to come from within me."

Hee-Young Lim. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Instead of performing the most famous concertos by big names like Dvorak, Elgar and Schumann, she decided to make her first recording personal and authentic. "I wanted the repertoire to be something I felt very close to and that meant a lot to me, and maybe also some things that hadn't been recorded as often," she said.

To achieve this, she turned to France. Or turned back, one should say, since she had lived in France for many years, studying there with the much-admired teacher Philippe Muller (whom she had met in Seoul, aged 12).

"I've always felt very close to French culture and French music, and even to the French language. And those things are all related. The Saint-Saëns was the first concerto I ever learnt, when I was 11! And as you grow up you look back at the first things you learn as 'easy' and move on to big pieces like the Shostakovich and Prokofiev concertos, but never Saint-Saëns or Lalo."

"It was only when I started practicing them again that I realized how much is in these great works - it's not about how difficult they are to play, it's about finding that sense of the French spirit, of French culture and history and language, in the notes."

Talking to Lim about the works themselves, it becomes eminently clear that she found the interpretive freedom to fuse her imagination with the composers'.

Hee-Young Lim. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Her CD opens with Cello Concerto No.1 by Saint-Saëns. "As a cellist it's a great piece because you have three movements without a break. It's like one, 17-minute breath. And there is also a lot that is technically virtuosic and splashy for the cellist, many things to convey in this short concerto, right from that explosive beginning."

She paints a picture of a work full of contrasts. "You have the wild, elemental first movement, and then in the second Saint-Saëns presents the minuet form, very classical and elegant. In the third movement the elements are back but there is such a melancholy here." Or is there? She considers. "That third movement doesn't need to be that emotional. So you have to hint at the chasms of emotion but you don't show it."

As if by way of compensation for such a subtle balancing act, Saint-Saëns does allow his cellist a rare joy. "This concerto takes the cello right across the range, from very low to very high," says Lim, "It's very satisfying and special to show the very lowest register of the cello, which I love and you don't get to do that often!"

While the second part Lalo's Cello Concerto (composed only four years after the Saint-Saëns) is teeming with flamenco rhythms, with a sense of Spanish drama.

"This is a personal view," she says, "but the cello line near the opening of the first movement is very strong and very masculine, and then the first theme feels like soldiers journeying to the mountains for the fight, and then the second theme comes and it has a very melodic, singing quality. Suddenly we could be telling the story of Carmen, where the soldiers are seduced by this lady, and then back we go with the trumpets to the sounds of war!"

[Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

"There's something Spanish about all of that for me, although filtered through a French composer." She laughs. "It's fine if other people have other images in their heads when they hear this work. The point is that it feels very pictorial, which as the soloist you feel keenly because of these dramatic contrasts."

The third major work of the CD, The Cello Concerto No.1 of Darius Milhaud, which was composed after the Great War, brings a shift in era. Modernism and jazz shoot through Milhaud's works, and this concerto at times seems to be a bridge between worlds old and new.

Lim was attracted to the concerto's "many layers - there is a sense of tension at the beginning and then suddenly the scene changes and you can imagine Paris in the 1920s and 30s, with jazz in the air, people strolling the streets, people relaxed. It's like a movie. Then the second movement goes dark and haunting, almost like the composer is trying to shake off the memories of WWI, and then the last movement is festive." Festive, yes, but with unexpected little dissonances that suggest the shadows of the war will not be so easily cast aside.

These three major works, together with two shorter pieces that make up the album, comprising a powerful survey of great French cello-and-orchestra repertoire. "I think these sorts of curated collections work well in the digital age," says Lim, "I know that streaming sometimes means people don't listen to an entire album, well, they will have enough choice to listen! Today they can listen to one of the concertos, another time one of the other. The main thing is that people hear this wonderful music."

Hee-Young Lim. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Now a professor of Central Conservatory of Music, Lim moved to Beijing last September. "New city, new language, new food, a lot of things to discover and learn so I've been enjoying very much and it has been such a great experience so far."

One of her recent performances in Beijing was the Bach Cello Suites Cycle at the La Plantation concert hall in Chaoyang district. "Bach has been my inspiration and it's my dream to perform all 6 Suites, record and publish a book. So I was so happy when I was asked to do this concert. In May I'm planning to play the other 3 suites to complete the cycle."

Lim puts a lot of heart into her teaching. "As a professor, I would like to contribute to the cello level in China. I'm working on my cello method every day, hoping to help students progress in the most effective way."

"My general wish is that they will be more independent as musicians when my time with them is over. I want the students to think in a creative way and craft their own musicianship, not just do what I tell them to do.

Lim's upcoming performances are in TongYeong International Music Festival, giving a solo recital and as soloist with the Zagreb Soloists, concerts in New York and Seoul. She is also an advocate and supporter for the handicapped children and autism.

Contact the writer at liwenrui@chinadaily.com.cn

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