Pianist Lim Yun-chan receives the prestigious Gramophone Classical Music Award in the piano category during a ceremony in London on Oct. 2. Yonhap Korean Pianist Lim Yun-chan won the prestigious Gramophone Classical Music Award in the piano category, the annual British award's organizer said Wednesday, marking the first time that a Korean pianist has received the prize dubbed the Oscars for classical music.
During a ceremony in London, Lim, 20, received the coveted award for his album, "Chopin: Etudes." He also won the "Young Artist of the Year" award. Launched in 1977, the award is one of the most significant honors given to recordings in the classical record industry.
It is often seen as an event equivalent to America's Grammy Awards or called the Oscars for classical music. Gramophone's historical recordings expert Rob Cowan described Lim's account of Chopin's Etudes as being "among the finest available." "There's the superhuman control of dynamics that can swirl this way or that, with never a break in the line," he wrote on the magazine's website.
"In the short term, I doubt that any other recording of the Etudes will deliver more: a magnificent achievement." Lim became the first Korean to win the award in the piano category, but other Korean artists have won awards in other categories in the past. Violinist Chung Kyung-wha won the award twice — in 1990 and 1994 — and cellist Han-Na Chang in 2003.
Among three finalists in the piano category of this year's contest were.