What an amazing concert season it has been and it's not over. -- in addition to the usual crop of talented performers we have recently been able to see superstars Midori, Radu Lupu and, last weekend, Emanuel Ax. Over the years we have seen some amazing keyboard talent but none more impressive than Ax. 2010 is the two-hundredth anniversary of both Chopin and Schumann's birth and the evening was a memorial to their work. The highlights of the program, at least for me, were his performance of Schumann's Fantasy, op. 17 [the one with multiple finales] and the Chopin Mazurkas, op. 41. The powerful ending of the fourth Mazurka brought the house down. I also enjoyed the delicate A minor waltz, op 34, no 2, which he performed as an encore. I wasn't able to find any performances of the concert pieces on Youtube, but the following should give you some idea of the quality of perfomance we heard.
After the concert we, as usual, headed off to Gertrudes at the BMA for dinner, conversation and good company. Then back home late and straight to bed. Only three weeks till the next concert -- another treat, Yefim Bronfman.
