It was a rare and delightful experience to enjoy a kaleidoscope of not one but six Mozart piano concertos, performed by an artist of Emanuel Ax’s stature. He may no longer be sprightly as he enters the stage, but his pianism has lost none of its agility. His memory remains as rock-solid as his technique. Ax’s attention to the smallest musical details made his phrasing invariably convincing: for example, at the opening of the slow movement of the Piano Concerto No. 27 in B flat major, K 595, an unusual case among Mozart concerto movements with the soloist playing the theme first, rather than reacting to the orchestra’s introduction of it. Ax is a consummate chamber musician. Toward the end of the same movement, in that stunning moment when the melody is played together by the solo flute, the concert master, and the piano, his attention to his colleagues’ phrasing was palpable. Even the fastest passages emerged with a self-evident elegance that was captivating. Every note, phrase or melody was perfectly formed, although this effect occasionally diminished the dramatic effect of the music. There are plenty of occasions in Mozart’s oeuvre for dark sentiments, anguish, even desperation. In the fast movements of the Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K 466, I would have liked more of those sombre feelings to come to the fore. Similarly, some of the cadenzas (the solo sections towards the end of most first movements of concertos which showcase the virtuosic powers of the soloist) flowed so smoothly that the impression of muscle-flexing, heroic and ultimately triumphant battle, which audiences love and is arguably one of the main purposes of a cadenza, did not always eventuate.

The balance between soloist and orchestra was expertly guided by David Robertson, the SSO’s chief conductor (who will lead a new production of Così at the Metropolitan Opera in April). Only occasionally – for instance, in the first movement of the Piano Concerto No. 17 in G major, K 453 – did the soloist’s feather-light accompanying figures become hard to hear, due to the number of players around him.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (by Barbara Krafft, Wikimedia Commons)The SSO musicians played with exemplary attention to one another, their conductor, and their soloist. Their contribution to the concertos and their performance of the symphonies was confident and supremely executed. However, the numbers were against them. The decision to present Mozart symphonies with the sonority of almost fifty string players (plus the requisite wind, brass forces, and timpani) produced an orchestral sound and playing style which, though beautiful and impressive, was favoured by the likes of Herbert von Karajan and Karl Böhm quite some time ago. The sound-world of the Classical Era we take for granted nowadays has changed enormously since then, even for performers using ‘modern’ instruments. The musical forces at Mozart’s disposal and the well-documented playing style of the late eighteenth century need not be replicated by every orchestra that performs this magnificent music; however, there is plenty of useful information about them that can inform modern performances.

The three symphonies were thus characterised by a robust symphonic sound, polished and well balanced. The witty side of Mozart’s musical language was less evident, while at the other end of the emotional spectrum, the dark, disturbing undertones of the Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K 550 were often smoothed out by gentle articulation.

It all ended in triumph, though, with Robertson and the SSO in fine form for the delightful sound-orgy of the polyphonic Finale of the Jupiter symphony.

David Robertson Emanuel Ax perform Dramatic Mozart with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (photograph by Daniela Testa)

Dramatic Mozart was performed in the Concert Hall at the Sydney Opera House on 1–3 February 2018 (performance attended: 2 February); Seductive Mozart was on 5 and 7 February (performance attended: 5 February); and Magnificent Mozart on 9 and 10 February (performance attended: 9 February).

ABR Arts is generously supported by The Ian Potter Foundation and The ABR Patrons.