Yefim Bronfman, Piano
Performers
Yefim Bronfman, Piano
Program
SCHUBERT Piano Sonata in A Minor, D. 784
R. SCHUMANN Faschingsschwank aus Wien
ESA-PEKKA SALONEN Sisar
CHOPIN Nocturne in D-flat Major, Op. 27, No. 2
PROKOFIEV Piano Sonata No. 7
Encores:
R. SCHUMANN Arabeske in C Major
RACHMANINOFF Prelude in G Minor, Op. 23, No. 5
Event Duration
The printed program will last approximately 100 minutes, including one 20-minute intermission.At a Glance
SCHUBERT Piano Sonata in A Minor, D. 784
The same qualities that made Schubert a great song composer—his seemingly bottomless stockpile of melody, his ability to invest the simplest of musical phrases with dramatic significance, his quicksilver changes of keys and moods—are equally apparent in his solo piano music. Schubert cast the A-Minor Sonata in three highly compressed movements and filled them with music that is equally concentrated in expression.
R. SCHUMANN Faschingsschwank aus Wien, Op. 26
The “fantasy pictures” that comprise Faschingsschwank aus Wien (Carnival Jest from Vienna) form a kind of pendant to the short character pieces in Schumann’s Carnaval. A contemporary reviewer praised the work for its “skyrockets of wit and unbridled merriment.”
ESA-PEKKA SALONEN Sisar
Finnish conductor-composer Esa-Pekka Salonen wrote this brief tonal reverie for Yefim Bronfman, who comments: “It’s just six minutes, but it seems like an hour. You can immediately hear Salonen’s handwriting, so to speak. It has very rhythmic and also introspective elements to it. It’s a short piece but with definite structure to it.”
CHOPIN Nocturne in D-flat Major, Op. 27, No. 2
Chopin revolutionized piano writing in a large body of solo pieces that imbued the brilliance of the salon style with unprecedented poetic depth. Schumann likened Chopin’s piano playing to the sound of an Aeolian harp, as illustrated by the two Op. 27 Nocturnes of 1835.
PROKOFIEV Piano Sonata No. 7 in B-flat Major, Op. 83
Prokofiev completed his powerful B-flat–Major Sonata in the Soviet Union during some of the darkest days of World War II. Alternatively percussive and tender, the music expresses what pianist Sviatoslav Richter called “the anxiously threatening atmosphere of a world that has lost its balance.”