Yefim Bronfman tours four different composers’ piano realms in a San Francisco recital

United States Various: Yefim Bronfman (piano). San Francisco Symphony Great Performers Series, Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, 8.2.2026. (HS)

Robert Schumann – Arabesque in C major, Op.18
Brahms – Piano Sonata No.3 in F minor, Op.
Debussy – From Images, Book 2
Beethoven – Piano Sonata No.23 in F minor, Op.57, ‘Appassionata’

Robert Schumann, Brahms, Debussy and Beethoven produced some of the greatest piano music, but what might they have in common? If there was a thread that tied them together in Yefim Bronfman’s recital it was the range of styles that these composers require on the way to similar goals. As expected from a pianist as formidable and experienced as Bronfman, the distinctions were clear. The format of each half of the concert helped, starting with something lacy and picturesque before turning to heavyweight sonatas. Significantly, the two sonatas were in the key of F minor, often used for something dead serious.

Bronfman opened with Schumann at his most elegant: the Arabesque in C major. The piece requires a soft touch and flowing sense of rhythm in what seems at first to be a simple, hummable tune against rippling in the left hand. As it swung into more complex musical interludes, the tension rose, and it finished with a lush, dreamy coda that whispered at the end.

Brahms’s Piano Sonata No.3 was a work that helped establish the composer’s penchant for many-layered musical textures. It is almost symphonic in its grand gestures, and Brahms could not contain the piece in the usual four movements – it required five to complete the narrative. Bronfman forged his way through the work, creating resounding resonances that used the full length of the keyboard. He executed the majestic climaxes with plenty of muscle without ever tipping over into clangor. For me, a little more spaciousness might have parted the dense clouds of Brahms’s harmonies with more clarity, but there was no denying the depth of Bronfman’s playing.

The second half of the concert opened with three brief tone poems from Debussy’s Images, Book 2. The transparency of Bronfman’s playing made this descriptive music dazzling, starting with ‘Cloches à travers les feuilles’ (‘Bells through the leaves’). The knells of the distant bells wove their way sinuously through Debussy’s fuzzy harmonies. In ‘Et la lune descend sur le temple qui fût’ (‘And the moon sets over the temple that was’), a meditative mistiness wafted beautifully through the indistinct harmonies, creating a memorable moment. ‘Poissons d’or’ (‘Goldfish’) jumped and wiggled in quick rhythms, a delicate touch making everything clear.

To finish off the program, Bronfman chose Beethoven’s ‘Appassionata’ Sonata, and it turned out to be the capstone of the evening. It crackled with fire. The opening measures, like the beginning of the Schumann, were simple, but Bronfman got them to convey a sense of foreboding. The development of these first music gestures kept paying dividends as the themes flipped and twisted over the movement’s nine minutes.

In the Andante, a truly noble Beethoven slow movement in the relative major key of A-flat, the pianist established the theme with care and then turned each variation into its own statement with differing touches and phrasing. With hardly a breath, Bronfman steamed into the Finale as a full-tilt Allegro, ignoring the composer’s ‘ma non troppo’. The finale became a headlong rush through some of the most technically challenging music Beethoven wrote. The momentum continued to build in Beethoven’s several feints toward an ending that sped up until the final measures reached a thrilling climax.

The encores continued the theme of playing famous composers with a distinct approach that presented them at their best. First was ‘October’ from Tchaikovsky’s The Seasons, leisurely executed to calm things down with crystalline articulation, and then Liszt’s ‘Paganini’ Etude No.2 with crisp rhythmic bite.

Harvey Steiman