February 10-16, 2005

musicpicks

Jaime Laredo/ Leon Fleisher

classical

Johannes Brahms is a composer who seems to appeal to the little old man or lady in all of us. His music can be as comforting as a hot rum toddy, but also, at turns, imbued with wisdom spiked by a dash of crankiness. When older, or to put it more nicely, seasoned artists play his music, this sense of sagacity and emotional depth is often intensified. Isaac Stern played the Violin Sonatas throughout his life, but the versions he recorded a few years before his death are the most eloquent of his career.

Violinist Jaime Laredo and pianist Leon Fleisher should remain active for years to come, but it would not be inaccurate to describe them as veteran performers at this stage in their lives. Fleisher, famously, has returned to the two-hand repertoire in recent years, after a long stretch during which he was unable to play with his right hand because of muscular problems. His grandiloquent pianism, a throwback to a golden age, is a beautiful match for Laredo's patrician violin playing. They will play one Brahms Violin Sonata and two Schubert Violin Sonatas for this Philadelphia Chamber Music Society concert.

Fri., Feb. 11, 8 p.m., $24, Kimmel Center, 300 S. Broad St., 215-569-8080.

—Peter Burwasser