Emanuel Ax plays Chopin Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor

On Saturday, I attended an afternoon concert in which Emanuel Ax performed the Chopin Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor with the LA Philharmonic at Walt Disney World Concert Hall. This year marks the bicentennial anniversary of the birth of Chopin and R. Schumann and many orchestras are including many of these composers’ works this season. It was my first time hearing Emanuel Ax perform live, even though I have collected many of his recordings over the years and have foregone many opportunities to hear him perform at Symphony Center. I was particularly excited about this concert since it was a chance to hear one of the best perform a concerto that I’ve learned to play before (Man, can’t believe it’s been a decade since the Concerto Competition!). So Saturday for me was a piano masterclass of sorts. Even though I sat in the nosebleed section five stories up, it was definitely worth the price of admission.

This was the second time I’ve heard this concerto performed live. The other time was back in 1999 when my college buddy W and I attended a concert in which Jean-Yves Thibaudet performed the Chopin Concerto with the CSO. Man, I was such a nerd then as I brought a notebook and pen with me, taking notes on Thibaudet’s phrasing, pedaling, breathing, etc, in preparation for the competition. And overall demeanor…it still amazes me how these performers are so calm when they’re up there on stage. I appreciated the fact that both Ax and Thibaudet performed the piece without much bravado and flair. Especially when many pianists today, in an effort to sell more tickets, throw in needless acrobatic moves and the overuse of rubato, making Chopin sound overly sentimental. Ax’s approach seemed more minimalist than Thibaudet’s. From hearing the two performers, I’ve learned that I need to be more efficient in my hand and finger movements, which will help to make the fast and softer passages sound smoother and reduce the likelihood of hitting the wrong notes. Ax is an older, rotund dude, yet he demonstrates great balance on the bench. That is another area I need to work on to develop better balance/use of torque and be more attentive to breathing for better phrasing. It was also interesting to note that both Ax and Thibaudet were quite light on the right pedal, which worked especially well for the fast Third Movement in creating the theme of childlike exuberance. This is another major area I didn’t do well the first time around, and is something I’ll have to improve, since my pedaling at times blur the notes. When I practice, I’ll need to refrain from using any pedaling until at a later stage of learning a piece.

The highlight for me was Ax’s playing of the Second Movement. I felt that his interpretation was spot-on and brought out a sort of pseudo-Mozartian charm (this concerto, IMO, really shows Mozart’s influence on Chopin). Overall, I really enjoyed the performance. My only quibble with the Ax performance was that there were various times where it sounded a bit flat. Particularly at the end of certain phrases in the Third Movement, Ax elected not to crescendo much, if at all. Often, the last notes of certain key phrases actually sounded softer than the preceding notes. Was Ax trying to ‘play it safe’? Or was Ax simply respecting the composer’s wish to never exceed mezzoforte in dynamics when performing? This makes the built-up tension feel unresolved, creating a hanging audience. This was particularly pronounced in the final phrase, in which I would’ve preferred that it be played in a way that conveyed a mad dash to the finish punctuated with an exclamation mark.

For an encore, Ax played the Nocturne in C sharp minor. After Intermission, the LA Phil played the Shostakovich Symphony No. 6.