Ax plays Mozart, ASO sounds 'French' under Bringuier
CONCERT REVIEW
8 p.m. April 9. Additional performances at 7:30 p.m. April 11 and 2:00 p.m. April 12. Tickets start at $24. Symphony Hall, 1280 Peachtree St., Atlanta. 404-733-5000, www.atlantasymphony.org.
It was a night of odd contrasts. Emanuel Ax was guest soloist on Thursday at the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, playing Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 14. It's really hard to go wrong with Ax, one of America's most beloved pianists, and he didn't disappoint.
His ASO debut was in 1976 and this was his 60th concert with the orchestra. This, and much more, was brought to our attention by a spokesman with loudspeakers, a folksy intrusion that has become more frequent at Symphony Hall. As program notes shrink, we instead get a talk fest that would not be tolerated in some places. New York would throw tomatoes.
Ax was in fine form. In the first movement his playing seemed wondrously alive, as if he were playing a little game with guest conductor Lionel Bringuier. In his understated way, he draws a range of colors from the piano like no one else. For the "Andantino," his was the gentlest, most soulful playing possible. Anyone seeking pyrotechnic display probably left disappointed. There are legions of young prodigies for that sort of thing, and despite its challenges, the 14th isn't about showing off. But you won't find a more intelligent artist around.
Chopin’s lively A-flat Waltz was the encore. It’s an accessible piece sometimes played by amateurs. But you could practice it for a lifetime and never approach Ax’s finesse.
Bringuier is a skinny little French guy who’s developed quite a resumé himself in his short time on the podium. He looks 20, but conducts like he’s 70 (I mean this as a high compliment). Under him, the orchestra no longer sounded like the ASO. On the one hand, there was a distinct Gallic sound, with fine textures and clarity, not as thick or full as we’re used to. You could literally close your eyes and think you were listening to an old-fashioned French orchestra under someone like Charles Dutoit.
But something else was going on which I don’t think has anything to do with France. All night, the orchestra had a dark sound. Bringuier seemed to make more prominent use of the lower strings and woodwinds, especially in Schumann’s Fourth Symphony, which came after the intermission. But it also felt as though the orchestra was tuned to a slightly lower frequency all night, giving it a strange resonance. And there were times all night when things were simply flat. As one prominent musician said, referring to its tuning: “Even the piano was flat.” Maybe it was the humidity? It all cast a vampire-like spell on the evening.
The evening’s Frenchiness was less prominent in the Schumann, but this was the fault of the composer, whose Germanic sound is about as un-French as you can get, especially in this version, the composer’s own revision from 1851. Still, this is where Bringuier’s touch was most apparent. He’s graceful, with a refined and restrained interpretive spin.
The Overture from Weber’s opera “Der Freischütz” opened the concert, but it seemed to function more as a warm-up, with unpleasant entrances, coordination problems, and some horn flubs. Spring fever.
