Fantasies through piano: Emanuel Ax opens the Celebrity Series of Boston
The acclaimed pianist performs Beethoven, Schoenberg, and Schumann
Photo Courtesy of Robert Torres
Emanuel Ax
Piano Recital
Celebrity Series of Boston
Oct. 13, 2024
NEC Jordan Hall
On October 13, acclaimed pianist Emanuel Ax opened the Celebrity Series of Boston’s 2024-2025 season in Jordan Hall. Ax’s list of accolades is impressive: he has received many Grammy awards, won first place in the Rubinstein Piano Competition, and been awarded the Avery Fisher Prize. The concert consisted of five pieces from Ludwig van Beethoven, Austrian-American Arnold Schoenberg, and German composer Robert Schumann. Although they come from different backgrounds, one theme they have in common is fantasy, a compositional style that has improvisational roots.
For the first half of the concert, Ax played Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 13 “Quasi una fantasia” (“in the meaning of fantasy”) followed by Schoenberg’s Drei Klavierstücker (“Three piano pieces”) and Sonata No. 13’s more famous twin: Piano Sonata No. 14 (“Moonlight”).
Sonata No. 13 began with gentle, calming chords which provided a stable heartbeat throughout the beginning. It was delightful to hear the left hand’s ascending and descending scales with its light-hearted and graceful nature. Ax’s stage presence was engrossing as he held his hand mid-air after an intense passage and allowed the last note to float for a while, before returning to a calm section.
The second movement was characterized by light staccatos that provided small bursts of resonant sounds akin to other instruments, such as a clarinet or horn. Afterwards, Adagio took on a dreamy, meditative theme that reflected the title of the piece (“Quasi una fantasia”) because of its expressiveness, especially the long trills that built up anticipation. The piece concluded with Allegro vivace, a vibrant movement for its rich, polyphonic texture of arpeggios in staccato and rolling notes.
Before Ax played Drei Klavierstücker, he shared his thoughts about Schoenberg and the piece with the audience. Although some in the audience may not enjoy Schoenberg’s musical style because of its atonality and dissonance, Ax argued otherwise. “I find a kaleidoscope of emotions, from fury to yearning,” Ax said. From this, he hoped that his rendition would “transmit wonderful music” to the audience.
In Schoenberg’s “Three piano pieces,” the combination of contrasting rhythms, tempos, and dynamics compared to how scenes switch drastically in a dream, with no direction or apparent logic. The largely different elements mashed together in a way reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland, especially in the cliffhanger ending that felt like a dream cut off in the middle of the action.
Ax’s rendition of “Moonlight,” one of the most popular pieces in classical music, was a highlight of the concert. The piece was filled with rather simple melodies and repeated chords, but has the ability to entrap the listener in its emotional imagery as it builds over time. The slow, more depressive tunes it began with conjured a sense of emptiness yet endlessness. Then, the music reached a crescendo that felt like a ray of light shining through an otherwise gloomy and dark night. As the music gained force, it was like the complete force of a full moon that radiated on the stage.
The intermission was followed by Schoenberg’s Sechs kleine Lavierstücke (“Six Little Pieces”) and Schumann’s Fantasie in C Major. Ax described Scoenberg’s six “little pieces" as “moments of whatever emotion you choose,” and invited the audience to listen to Schoenberg’s “experiments.” He jokingly said that “even if you didn’t like them, they’ll be over in a minute,” which elicited some laughs from the audience.
Truly, they were remarkably short for a musical piece, with the longest miniature being only eighteen bars long. Each burst of music focused on one theme or feeling, such as playful tip-toeing or very slow repeating beats. Each moment appeared and ended quickly, almost like a fleeting dream that’s hard to remember after it passes.
The concert closed with Schumann’s Fantasie in C Major, an energetic and passionate piece involving three movements: the first two building in vitality and passion and the third being more slow and meditative. The piece felt full of yearning and want, but also like a dance with no mistakes; every step was placed exactly where it was expected. As the tempo increased, tensions appeared in the music as it became more frantic. After bowing and receiving a standing ovation, Ax sat down again to perform Schubert’s Lied Ständchen (Serenade) as a goodbye to the audience.
With the eighty-eight black and white keys of a piano at his fingertips, Ax strung together soft and powerful melodies that resembled dreams and unrestrained imagination. The audience filed out into the gray rainy Boston evening, contemplating what fantasies are left beyond those recorded by sheet music and notes.