reviewvancouver: Vancouver Symphony Orchestra: Yefim Bronfman

Vancouver Symphony Orchestra: Yefim Bronfman

Dates and Venue 16 November 2013, 8pm | Orpheum Theatre

Featured performer Yefim Bronfman, piano

Programme Beethoven’s Leonora Overture No. 3, Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major & Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major

Reviewer Karen Fitzgibbon

If you close your eyes you can see the notes of Beethoven rising from Maestro Bramwell Tovey’s baton as they flow up to the ornate golden dome of the beautiful Orpheum Theatre.

Grammy Award winning Maestro Bramwell Tovey, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and Grammy Award winning pianist Yefim Bronfman give a stunning performance.

The works of Ludwig von Beethoven are truly overpowering in complexity but to reproduce these compositions with sixty musicians is one of the greatest feats that I can imagine.

The Orpheum is filled to capacity and if you have not heard a symphony performance live then now is the time. The Orpheum Theatre surrounds the musicians with grandeur and creates an exquisite ambience for the great classical music that Beethoven created from the late 1700’s until the early 1800’s.

Bronfman’s hands literally swirl up and down those ivory keys as he plays the five piano concertos with absolute perfection. Bronfman played at Carnegie Hall in 1989 and Avery Fisher Hall in 1993.

With the last note the audience applauds and rises for a standing ovation for these incredible musicians. As Tovey and Bronfman come back on stage for an encore Bronfman heads over to the grand piano. To the joy of the audience he plays a wonderful finale. With astonishing talent, knowledge and passion he stuns his admirers.

I love tonight’s performance and it is with great appreciation that I am able to hear it in such a grand old lady like the Orpheum Theatre. She has fabulous acoustics, comfortable seating and elegant design.

The long hours, hard work and incredible talent of the many musicians in the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra is what made tonight a wonderful success. Oh, yes and of course the brilliance of Beethoven.