BRONFMAN: A PIANISTIC VETERAN AT THE AGE OF 28

When Yefim Bronfman first played Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto at age 16, it “seemed easy.” But when he returns to Hollywood Bowl to play the same piece Thursday night with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, he will be 28 and, over the years, the work has “gotten more difficult.”

As a result, he has performed it regularly, but not often. For a reason.

“It’s not only physically and technically demanding,” Bronfman says, “It’s so emotionally involving, I don’t want to schedule too many consecutive performances.

“I love Rachmaninoff’s writing for the instrument. He had such an amazing knowledge of technique, for instance,” the Russo-Israeli pianist adds. “Except for the Third Concerto, however, it’s not so satisfying, musically.”

Bronfman, speaking from the Aspen Festival in Colorado, says he has up to now avoided becoming a specialist in any particular corner of the repertory. But the time is coming.

“I’m beginning to think, life is too short not to be able to do one’s best. Do you know what I mean? As far as what music I lean toward, right now it’s the Beethoven sonatas. I already play the five concertos, and I know more than a dozen of the sonatas. Now I would like to know the rest.”

In the meantime, there is always new repertory to prepare for coming seasons.

“For this year, it’s Brahms’ B-flat Concerto. I’ve been looking at it for years, working on it, then laying it aside. Now it’s time to face reality and play it in public.” That will happen in January, 1988, when Bronfman plays the work in Melbourne, Australia.

What approach will he take? “I will close my eyes and hope for the best.”

ALSO THIS WEEK: Beginning a complete traversal of Rachmaninoff’s concerted works for piano and orchestra in Hollywood Bowl this summer, the Russian musician Alexander Toradze plays the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini Thursday night, with the Philharmonic under Ivan Fischer. Also on that program: Ravel’s “Rapsodie Espagnole” and the complete ballet score to Stravinsky’s “Petrushka,” in the 1947 version.

In two performances at Royce Hall, UCLA, Friday and Saturday nights, Leonard Bernstein leads the New York Philharmonic (he is conductor laureate) in his first appearance here with the ensemble since their joint visit to Hollywood Bowl in 1963. The orchestra’s concertmaster, Glenn Dicterow, will be soloist in Bernstein’s Serenade for solo violin, strings, harp and percussion, and the remainder of the program lists Bernstein’s “Candide” Overture and Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony.

BOLSHOI RETURNING: Next summer the Bolshoi Ballet will return to Los Angeles for the first time in eight years, according to Stan Seiden, president of James Nederlander Co. and president of L.A. Civic Light Opera. The engagement will encompass 14 performances in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Music Center, “more than likely in August (1987),” under CLO auspices, Seiden says. The company from the Soviet Union last danced in Los Angeles in Shrine Auditorium in 1979, also under Nederlander sponsorship.

BRIEFLY: The San Diego Symphony will host the 18th annual Conference of the Assn. of California Symphony Orchestras (ACSO), Aug. 7-10, at the Hotel San Diego. Among the speakers at the four-day conference, the theme of which is “Building Relationships That Work,” will be David Atherton, music director of the San Diego Symphony, and Ernest Fleischmann, executive director of the L.A. Philharmonic. Information: (619) 699-4200. . . . Robert Elias, formerly associated with Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the Pacific Symphony, has been appointed executive director of the Music Teachers National Assn., a 22,000-member organization headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. . . . The William Hall Chorale will give four subscription programs in four different halls during its 1986-87 season. That season begins Nov. 4, with a program titled, “The Romantics--Musical Obsession,” and including music by Schubert, Wolf, Debussy, Rorem and others. Two performances of Handel’s “Messiah” in Pasadena Presbyterian Church are the second offering of the season, Dec. 12 and 14 at 8 p.m. and 3 p.m., respectively. A Vaughan Williams program, including “Flos Campi,” Five Mystical Songs and Five Tudor Portraits, follows, March 28 in San Gabriel Civic Auditorium. The season concludes as last season was scheduled to end: with a semi-staged, multi-media presentation of what has become the chorale’s signature-piece, Benjamin Britten’s “War Requiem.” It will take place in Royce Hall at UCLA, May 24 at 3 p.m.