Is it fair play to ask a world-famous pianist if he has an especially favorite performance piece? “You know, it’s a tough question,” said Yefim Bronfman, who is among the most talented pianists playing today. “In my life there are concertos I love to play and they are favorites at the moment; but then it might change, you know? But I love Tchaikovsky.”
This is great news for D.C. audiences since Bronfman will perform Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall this week with the National Symphony Orchestra. Maestro Neeme Jarvi will guest conduct the all-Russian program that includes Glazunov’s Concert Waltz No. 1 and Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 6.
| ONSTAGE |
| Yefim Bronfman performing Tchaikovsky |
| » Where: Kennedy Center Concert Hall, 2700 F St. NW |
| » When: 7 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 8 p.m. Saturday |
| » Info: $20 to $85; 202-467-4600; 800-444-1324; kennedy-center.org |
“[Tchaikovsky’s] Piano 1 is definitely a favorite piece for me,” explained Bronfman, who was born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in 1958 and moved to Israel with his family in 1973. “This [work] needs no introduction; I think everybody in the audience has probably had some kind of experience with the piece.”
To that end, no matter how often Bronfman performs the concerto, it is never a matter of second nature to him.
“There are always challenges,” he said, “because you are always trying to do a better job than before. It’s never routine; it’s a difficult piece. But it’s my job to make sure the audience doesn’t really know how difficult it is.”
No stranger to working with the NSO, Bronfman looks forward to a return visit as part of a busy season that began with a U.S. tour with his good friend and collaborator, Pinchas Zukerman. The two performed in Chicago, Kansas City, Boston and New York’s Carnegie Hall.
“We are very lucky, we pianists. We have incredible repertoires,” Bronfman enthused. “There is no shortage of the range of pieces.”
The season then highlighted performances of the Piano Concerto No. 1 with the orchestras of Houston, Cincinnati and St. Louis, as well as the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major with the orchestras of Atlanta, New York and Los Angeles.
When asked, however, if he will be performing a favorite work solely to and for Washington audiences, he doesn’t hesitate in his reply; “Exactly.”
