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Austin360 blogs > Austin Arts: Seeing Things > Archives > 2011 > February > 14 > Entry
Review: Emanuel Ax, piano
During his quick lifetime, the composer Franz Schubert sought a legacy of his own.
Composing music in Vienna under the shadow of Beethoven must have felt like writing plays in London next to Shakespeare. As Michael Tusa said in his pre-concert lecture, Schubert dedicated a sonata to Beethoven, but scholars aren’t sure Schubert and his mentor ever met.
After Schubert died at 31 it took decades for the dust to settle, for his most original music to be widely published and appreciated.
Celebrated pianist Emanuel Ax’s all-Schubert concert nicely demonstrated the arc of Schubert’s career, at Bates Recital Hall Thursday night.
Schubert attempted to sell complex sonata-like pieces by renaming them “impromptus,” short works en vogue at the time.
Ax began with “Impromptus Op. 142,” four works that are thought to belong together, and showcase Schubert’s struggle between complexity and popularity. They are alternately lyrical, with hummable tunes, and brilliantly complex, with long arpeggiated runs and surprising key changes.
Ax was a strong presence, infinitely composed while stretching through all corners of the piano.
The proper sonatas came next, with “Sonata No. 13 in A Major,” which Ax began with perfect pace. But the work falters slightly midway through, feeling a little short on drama.
If the impromptus and first sonata were more gymnastic than memorable, the “Sonata in B Flat Major” makes you wish Schubert had lived a few more decades.
Replete with sudden, dramatic pauses and a handful of tunes that wind a bittersweet feeling through the work, this work is a masterpiece.
In the digital era, hearing two hours of a single composer works against our instincts. We crave variety, and ultimately programs like this are more academic than emotive. But Ax is a silently brilliant tactician who made them look easy. He played the entire concert from memory, and only once did his eyes flicker in surprise at having missed a note.
The packed house at Bates was obviously smitten and ready for an encore, when Ax, like a Zen professor, quieted the crowd and thanked them for being an outstanding audience, putting the night to an end. Ever the master.
Luke Quinton is an American-Statesman freelance arts critic.
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