Yefim Bronfman - Symphony Center

 Anybody who follows classical music has probably noticed the preponderance of "babes" among concertizing artists. You got your Anne-Sophie Mutter, you got your Lang-Lang, you got your Joshua Bell. Even Yo-Yo Ma, although somewhat long in the tooth, is a cute guy. This was not so in the old days. Audiences at classical performances looked forward to seeing balding white guys with mid-section body fat on the stage. Isaac Stern, the first big star I saw playing live, resembled an obese mouse.  Recently I saw Julian Rachlin conducting and playing with The Academy of Saint Martins in the Fields (he was really good by the way). The man may have had a Strad under his chin, but his hair was frosted, and on his feet were shoes a pimp would be proud to wear to a funeral.

Not so with Yefim Bronfman. Even though he's Israeli, you have to admit that he's a balding white guy. During the concert, his manner suggested that he was a musician just like the people playing with him, and not a star. I really liked this. He played with some rank and file members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The concert led off with a Beethoven quintet for piano and woodwinds. The music was lovely, although between movements the various woodwind players created quite a spectacle releasing spit keys and shaking their instrument to clear the saliva. The oboist actually sucked the liquid out of his mouth piece. Now that was a queaze inducing moment.  Next up was a piano trio by Dalbavie (a French guy). It was amazing how much noise the musicians got out of a violin and a cello. The concert wrapped up with a Brahms quintet, and it was just glorious. And there were a couple of babes on violin.