Two absolutely first-rate performances to open LPO’s new concert season
28/09/2025 by John Rhodes
United Kingdom Benjamin, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky: Yefim Bronfman (piano), London Philharmonic Orchestra / Edward Gardner (conductor). Royal Festival Hall, London 27.9.2025. (JR)
Program:
George Benjamin – ‘Ringed by the Flat Horizon’
Beethoven – Piano Concerto No. 5 ‘Emperor’, Op.73
Tchaikovsky – Symphony No.5, Op.64
“Classics Today, a well-recognised and popular American online classical music guide, recently reviewed a dozen recordings of the ‘Emperor’ Concerto, including versions by Arthur Rubinstein, Rudolf Serkin, Leon Fleisher, Rudolf Firkušný, Friedrich Gulda, Claudio Arrau and Mitsuko Uchida – but the ‘winner’ was the recording by Yefim Bronfman with the Tonhalle Orchestra of Zurich under David Zinman, dating back to 2005. (Bronfman’s teachers included Serkin, Fleisher and Firkušný.) Bronfman is not known particularly as a Beethoven specialist, but in this concert he showed not only his unfailing virtuosity but also his absolute mastery of this repertoire. In the opening Allegro Bronfman astounded with the lightness of his touch, there followed a lyrical, poetic Adagio unpoco mosso, neither rushed nor dawdled; and to finish, an ebullient and rhythmic Rondo: Allegro, the final movement. Bronfman impressed in the muscular passages, Beethoven in heroic mode, with masterful trills, phrasing and well-judged dynamics – a perfect swift performance for the ages. Gardner accompanied with suitable grandeur, with spontaneity and passion, the horn section standing out – though the orchestra played very well across the board. Period timpani and trumpets gave the performance a whiff of authenticity. By way of encore, Bronfman rewarded rapturous applause by giving us a wistful Robert Schumann Arabesque in C minor, Op.18.”