Pianist Lim Dong-hyek’s recently released Chopin album is among the Editor’s Choice recordings this month at Gramophone magazine, a British publication considered a worldwide authority on classical music.

Lim’s album, “Chopin Preludes, Op. 28, etc.,”  ranked among the 10 albums editor Martin Cullingford picked as the top classical releases of the month.

The review largely favored Lim’s album over that of Chinese pianist Yundi Li, who also released a recording of Chopin preludes this year, despite Lim being a “relative newcomer” and Li “much the better known and more recorded.”

“If Yundi’s readings are short on poetry, that is precisely the quality that Lim’s performances offer in abundance,” the review said. “(Lim’s) approach might best be described as close reading: Chopin’s markings are observed to the letter, including impeccable phrasing that lives and breathes.”

The review went on to praise Lim’s “hypersensitivity to the harmonies,” “rare eloquence,” “inerrant sense of pacing” and the “wealth of detail” and “textures of utmost clarity” on his tracks.

Gramophone further compared Lim’s album favorably with recent interpretations by Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov, claiming it sat “alongside classic accounts by Argerich, Rubinstein and Cortot without apology.”

Previous Korean artists who made the Editor’s Choice list include violinists Chung Kyung-wha and Sarah Chang, conductors Chung Myung-whun and Chang Han-na, cellist Yang Sung-won and composer Chin Un-suk.

By Rumy Doo (bigbird@heraldcorp.com)