Mozart and Beethoven with Ax and Blomstedt

 

The outside of Severance Hall was lit red for Valentine’s Day and the auditorium very well filled for last night’s concert with The Cleveland Orchestra and guest conductor Herbert Blomstedt and pianist Emanuel Ax.  Blomstedt, now 95, is no longer the sprightly figure he was just a few years ago and held onto Ax’s arm as he slowly walked on stage.

The opening work was Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 18 in B-flat major K. 456, thought by some to have been written for his friend Maria Theresia von Paradis.  Ax brought his usual polish along with keenly sensitive treatment of the lower levels of dynamics. Playing soft, softer, softest is among the most difficult challenges for even the greatest pianists (there are numerous well-known pianists who never mastered it).  The soloist was perfectly matched in dynamics and interpretation by the orchestra and Blomstedt.  The near capacity audience was so enthused that applause was heard after the opening movement, with a sustained ovation following the finale.  Ax played an encore, Chopin’s Nocturne in F minor, Op. 55, No. 1, given in an unfussy manner.

Following intermission, Blomstedt was assisted onto the stage by First Associate Concertmaster Peter Otto, and sat on a piano bench placed on the conductor’s rostrum.  Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony is one of my five favorite works in that genre (the others being Mozart 41, Schubert 9, Brahms 4, and Rachmaninoff 2).  Blomstedt’s interpretation included all the repeats, which were most welcome.  The performance overall was noteworthy for balance between the sections, natural phrasing, and sensible tempos.  Everything was heard in proportion as it should be in Beethoven’s most perfectly structured symphony.  The second movement unfolded with logical inevitability.  The Scherzo featured a Trio that was, for a change, not turned into an Adagio but rather played “much less fast” as Beethoven indicated.  The finale was a marvel of controlled dynamism, given at a tempo brimming with life but not at warp speed.  The audience leapt to its collective feet and gave a prolonged and richly deserved ovation.  Blomstedt may be slowing down physically, but he has lost nothing in musicality, interpretive power, or the ability to project his ideas through the orchestra to the audience.