Lim brings his personality to bear on Tchaikovsky: there are some exaggerated tempos in 'January', as the year opens in fits and starts. The famous 'February' melody is clear as a bell, 'March' melts into that Chopinesque world Lim inhabits so well; the summer months soar and swoop, culminating in a humid 'August' dance.

Lim lifts the musicianship to a high level, but without negating the sincere simplicity of these little pieces...Compared to rival recordings, Lim is lighter of touch than Yefim Bronfman and more playful than Bruce Liu. Mikhail Pletnev and Pavel Kolesnikov are similar, but Lim has a slightly wider range of accent and colour. The differences are relatively small, but this new recording edges into the number one spot.

Lim's technical aplomb is consummate, with tremendous articulation and a superb ear for harmony and voice-leading...The questions remain: whether there's a danger of loving Tchaikovsky too much.

There is an instinctive quality to Lim’s playing throughout the twelve movements - a feeling that he knows and understands the music so well that he has been able to allow free rein to a natural affinity with Tchaikovsky’s writing...Lim is never afraid of the potential power beneath his fingertips, finding joy in July and drawing a full-throttle ringing sound from the piano to depict the excitement of the September Hunt, just managing to avoid veering into sounding overly brash.

perhaps Lim’s gloomy view of the work explains why his tempi for some of the pieces seem on the slow side, never quite to the point of sounding laboured, but certainly slow enough to give the music more gravitas than usual. Everything else about Lim’s playing is, as you would expect, exemplary.

Hopefully, the 21-year-old Korean sky rocket Yunchan Lim will never outgrow the key attractions of his piano playing. Take his delicacy, audible in his phrasing and variety of touch and dynamics; qualities abundantly displayed in his second solo album...When a pianist has both piano and music under sympathetic and complete control, giving in to pleasure is always the best solution.