Review: OPENING NIGHT WITH YEFIM BRONFMAN at Benaroya Hall

Music director Xian Zhang and piano phenomenon Yefim Bronfman took center stage for Seattle Symphony’s glittering Sept. 19 season opener. The evening featured two 20th century Russian works: Prokofiev’s Symphonic Suite version of Lieutenant Kijé, originally written for the film of the same name; and Rachmaninov’s famously challenging Piano Concerto No. 3. Both works displayed the conductor and soloist’s star qualities to the maximum.

Now in her second season as music director, Zhang starts off buoyed by a hugely successful first season. Having fostered a close and mutually respectful relationship with the orchestra’s musicians since she first started working with them in 2008, she created an atmosphere of both ease and excitement from the opening downbeat throughout the entire program. Her high energy and enthusiasm, combined with the comfort of a maestro well-established in her role, greatly enhanced the enjoyment of the audience.

Prokofiev was commissioned to write Lieutenant Kijé for the 1934 Leningrad- produced film version of the story. The 5-movement Suite premiered the same year. As the composer sought to revamp his often dissonant and experimental style into something more accessible in keeping with the official Soviet concept of art, he believed the sharp but gentle satire of Kijé written in his own classical style to be the perfect solution. Its charm and ingenuousness proved to have wide and immediate appeal, influencing films as far away as Hollywood, e.g., Woody Allen’s 1975 Love and Death.

Zhang brought out both the composer’s melodiousness and engaging simplicity. The pompousness woven into the piece, such as in Kijé's Wedding, came off as spirited but also elegant. The cornet solos, which virtually amounted to a concerto in their prominence throughout the piece, were well played. Solos by the tenor saxophone (inspired by Prokofiev’s admiration of Ravel’s use of the instrument), flute, and a string trio of double bass, viola and cello, were tastefully done. The Troika was pensive then lively, moving along at an exhilarating pace. The nostalgia and charm of Romance and the sweet and poignant final movement, The Burial of Kijé, primed the audience for the monumental solo work that followed.

2010 Avery Fisher Prize winner Yefim Bronfman, whose name is instantly recognizable among the world’s foremost piano virtuosi, was an ideal last-minute replacement for the ailing Yuja Wang. Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 3, with its supremely challenging technical demands, served as the perfect showcase for Bronfman’s abundant musical talents. From the outset, the pianist displayed a winning combination of the crisp precision and abundant lyricism that makes him one of today’s most sought-after soloists on the concert stage. He performed the piece with the reverence and expertise of an artist in whom the music has lived for many years.

At the beginning of the first movement, Allegro ma non troppo, Bronfman kept his finger movements minimal and close to the keys, leaving room for the immense buildup to follow. He showed evidence of his extraordinary versatility in melodic passages that were crisp and even, and paved the way for the more expansive, inspired lyricism of the second theme. As the relentless intricacies of the first movement progressed through the infamously difficult development, Bronfman was unstoppable, gaining momentum in the execution of the passagework requiring the technical mastery and power for which he is famous.

The second movement, Intermezzo: Adagio, gave Bronfman the opportunity to combine his astonishingly light touch with effortless dexterity in the melancholic passages and to emote to the max in the appassionato sections. He languished indulgently and played up the sheer romanticism while delighting in the rapid, spirited passages.

In the ensuing Finale: Alla breve, Bronfman took off like a rocket and never stopped, escalating the excitement all the way to the end. The sheer immensity of his massive strength and astonishing command of the cascades of notes, which must number in the tens of thousands, led to a climax that was received with such fervor from the audience that the only possible remedy was an encore. He delivered one that delighted the crowd: Franz Liszt’s transcription of Nicolò Paganini’s Violin Caprice No. 17 in E-flat major, from his Grandes Études de Paganini, S 141.  

Though it hardly seems possible, the Liszt was in some ways even more impressive in its technical scope than the Rachmaninov, alternating between a light touch and a huge demonstration of a sheer virtuosity that was transformative. Known as one of the most demanding works in the piano repertoire, the piece features interlocking octaves and requires nearly impossible stretches and precise hand-crossing. Bronfman delivered all of these, seemingly effortlessly. Also interesting were the knowing looks of the orchestra’s violinists as they watched and listened to a piece with which they perhaps were all too familiar. All in all, Bronfman is a technical wizard and mesmerizing performer.

In the Rachmaninov accompaniment, the musicians responded beautifully to Zhang’s urgings to let loose in the tutti passages, producing a jubilant, uninhibited sound. In the solo sections, she kept the orchestra well-controlled but not to the point of being restrictive.

The orchestra’s wind section, highlighted prominently in the score, delivered impressively. Zhang exercised her usual excellent control throughout each movement, handling the highly detailed score and interplay between soloist and orchestra with a deftness and skill characteristic of the most admired and respected music directors.

This dazzling expertly executed program with its magnificent scores provided an intriguing foretaste of what is sure to be an exhilarating season to come.

Photo credits: James Holt, Frank Stewart

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