RECENT PRESS HIGHLIGHTS:

While most Chopin interpreters focus on only one or two aspects of the composer's artistic personality (and even exaggerate them only too often), Jennifer Lim's playing encompasses simply everything required for Chopin : the charms and elegance of the worldly-wise salon lion, the dazzling, virtuosity of his music, sweetness and tenderness (which must never be allowed to grow syrupy, however), the melancholy, the inward revolt apprehended as loud and raging, the somber desolation - in brief, the Slavic-Romantic element that was Chopin's manner of living. At every point, Jennifer Lim's playing is so sovereign in its handling of technical problems, is so clear and transparent, that one could almost believe technique alone to be the criterion of statement. But here we have in addition a spontaneity, a living quality that lends the music an almost improvisatory character and raises it above the mere congruence of the intellectual and the technical.

If you venture on this expedition into Chopin, you risk coming back changed!"

"As a Bach pianist Jennifer Lim seems to be able to bend, clarify, and control polyphony to her will at any given tempo, and for the most part her Goldberg Variations tempos are breathlessly fast. Indeed, the whirlwind pace she sets for the difficult cross-handed variations leaves Glenn Gould's rapid-transit 1955 debut recording at the starting gate. She even gives speed demons like Alexis Weissenberg and Andrei Gavrilov a run for their money, investing the music's most virtuosic challenges with awesome lightness and specificity."

"Jennifer Lim's entrance alone was cause for pause, as she wore a beautiful, red, floor-length sequined gown. The long orchestral introduction to the Chopin concerto allowed the audience to watch her prepare herself for the starburst of energy demanded in the piano part, delicately stretching her back and long fingers. The most remarkable quality of her playing, for me, was the absolute clarity of her soft notes. She appeared to accent some notes in an unusual interpretation in the jolly "krakowiak" dance of the finale, as the concerto moves out of the minor key into E major. However, the accents simply enhance full appreciation. It must be intimidating for a fine performer to choose a career as a concert pianist. The decision was easy for Jennifer Lim, who has already taken her place with the keyboard greats."

"Lim, who appeared with the Regina Symphony Orchestra last February, has bookings that read like an international airline schedule. Still, she manages to keep fresh, confident and vibrant, qualities that showed in her Grieg (Concerto in a-minor) performance."

"The delicate Korean makes the piano shake in her fortissimos and with lots of energy, which is followed by the softest audible dynamic details."

"... an approach to Chopin that is very much her own. That approach is distinguished by enormous energy and sharpness of contrast - music-making at the outer extremes... dramatic, passionate... Chords thunder forth, chromatic runs dash through every register, quiet passages only mean the calm before the storm. This unremitting tension, along with the optical theatrics of this young pianist, has the power to keep us riveted up to the last note. All in all, a very idiosyncratic artist played Chopin as he's never been heard before."

"... luminous playing, immaculate in its beauty. Everything she did had an elegantly, evenly, and smoothly polished effect."

"A genius at the keyboard... her wizardry left the audience spellbound."

With a blaze, the first notes of the g-minor Ballade threw open a portal, a portal leading into the very distinctive Chopin world of Jennifer Lim. With great abruptness the motion slows down, comes to a standstill, but only to resume the journey once more, gradually building up to a movement now virtually unleashed.

The tremendous power of Jennifer Lim's playing fascinated her listeners and even more so the way in which glissandi coursed beneath her hands at the very limit of tempo feasibility. Above every other element, however, there stands a strong drive to give the material shape. The familiar themes of the A-flat-major Ballade or the dreamy Andante Con Moto of the f-minor Ballade - everything sounded new, like an improvisation that first came into being at that moment, as devised by Jennifer Lim.

What remains after this absolutely intoxicating Chopin evening? The experience of having heard this romantic composer in an entirely different form and a more than worthy way of closing a cycle of this kind."

"... impressive in the lyrical aspects of the piece (Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto # 1), she has a fine touch and a sense of line and is clearly promising."

"... sweet, soulful and poignant... showcases her virtuosity and skillful mastery of the keys."

The young Canadian, who emerged a prize-winner at the Clara Schumann Competition in Dusseldorf, manifestly stands very close to the world of Chopin's sound. She commands the necessary technical equipment to demonstrate more than sovereign mastery of the chords and the dizzyingly rapid passages of the b-flat-minor Scherzo, while at the same time bringing to bear exemplary clarity within compact gestures.

Through skillful tempo relations she develops enough space in the g-minor Ballade to let the music speak. And she develops the first movement of the Third Sonata across a large arch, unfolding - and not just there - a highly accentuated counterpoint with the left hand.

One can tell that this highly talented pianist studied with the Chopin expert Bella Davidovich; like her teacher she doesn't rush the tempi, mediates deftly between virtuosity and intensity of statement, and extracts the cantabile quality of the melodies with suppleness. That she holds reserves of strength at her disposal is proven by the outstanding Polonaise, before which she places the Andante Spianato as a kind of dream-like meditation.

Unless everything is pointing the wrong way, a great future awaits Jennifer Lim. Not very many young pianists fill Chopin's music with life in so personal, in so inspired a way."

"Alban Berg's one movement Piano Sonata, in impressive "Opus One" indeed, was treated with unusual expansive, ruminative lyricism and intensity. The performance built to an effective, brooding climax, and there was a plenitude of appealing nuance and contrast.

Ms. Lim truly recreated a suitably ravishing cantabile for the opening Andante Spianato of Chopin's Op. 22, and delivered a "no-holds-barred", forwardly - impelled account of the subsequent Grand Polonaise.

... to conclude on an even more positive note, the concluding Chopin Sonata No. 3 in b minor, Op. 58 was handsomely recreated in a tempestuous interpretation. Ms. Lim's precipitation nonetheless replicated a di rigeur gravitas and many of the horizontal contrapuntal lines emerged clearly and persuasively. The Molto vivace scherzo was suitably fleet, and the wonderful Largo slow movement came forth with concentration and certitude of pulse. I also liked the pianist's' thrusting response to the Finale: Presto, non tanto. Ms. Lim stormed the citadels and never for a moment lost forward-plunging momentum; her virtuosity was impressive."

"Getting straight to the point, Far Eastern precision and American nonchalance make, in this magic of the black and white keyboard, a truly explosive combination. The first time I heard Jennifer Lim was at the 2000 Clara Schumann Competition in Düsseldorf... She stood out with her refreshing presence and her spirited individuality- qualities that some conservative jury members don't always like. Now, the 25 year old Korean, of Canadian citizenship, who lives in New York, has released her first CD... Considering the competition, her CD contains a very courageous program of Chopin's works. She performs these overplayed pieces, such as the B minor Sonata and the irrepressible Grand Polonaise, Op. 22, tersely and like a daredevil, attacking with a lot of bite. This shows a high degree of mental power and that she is ready to take any risk. It is a vehement rejection of all pathos, against any palliation of the strong structure, and a reprimand of the ever-rebellious character of Chopin's music. Lim's clear thought, her precise timing, incorruptible feeling of form, and her crystal-clear diction, are approaching that of America's Chopin legend, William Kapell. Even Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli didn't play the Stretta at the end of Op. 22 as compelling and dramatic as the merciless Korean. This is a real "Chopin bang" and, mind you, not for the faint-of-heart."

"... Jennifer Lim is worthy of merit... has studied her Chopin well and offers a unique reading of piano works by the Polish piano maniac. Her reading is distinguished by an impetus, natural attack, and very precise articulation, even in the most delicate passages. In pieces like the Presto-Finale of the B minor Sonata, the Grand Polonaise, Op. 22, and the G minor Ballade (Stretta!!), she causes a pianistic sensation, making one lose one's breath... a very active and vital one (interpretation)... this is more than enough."

"Not only in jazz but also in classical music are there pianists that know how to play with swing and have a "certain something" that can't easily be put into words. One just has to hear them for themselves. The Canadian pianist, Jennifer Lim, was educated at The Juilliard School and at The Curtis Institute of Music. She shows on her first CD, an all Chopin program, that she has this "certain something". Not only is there brilliant technique, sparkling runs, and fully adequate powerful cascades of sound. Jennifer Lim has more to offer than just "pianistic mastery": ingenious phrasing, for instance, that is always aiming ahead of the present musical statement. She always plays long phrases and has the next phrase and the big picture in her mind. This is noticeable, even in the smallest of details, in her rubati, her emphases, and accents. By doing these things, she makes the following piano pieces by Chopin swing and sing: the Andante Spianato, the Bb minor Scherzo, the G minor Ballade, and the B minor Sonata, Op. 58. Jennifer Lim fulfills the demands of the composer, which he, himself, imposed well. Chopin once said, "The left hand is the Kapellmeister, and plays rhythmically strict . . . . The right hand plays rhythmically relaxed and has to extract the true musical expression from the rhythmical knots like a reciter who speaks passionately.

For Jennifer Lim, swinging Chopin is not a ploy but a natural expression of her artistic personality. When she dives into Chopin's cosmos of sound, as in the case of her CD, she is in her element. She seems to know all the corners, angles, and obstacles of this music and actually shows this off. She plays the most difficult passages with superiority. This is a magical sound. Magic, though, without a circus effect. Jennifer Lim takes her Chopin seriously. She also draws the emotional curves in an impressive and honest way. A fantastic recording of a young pianist that one will hopefully hear a lot more from."