Greensboro NC Masters Series Emmanuel Ax
by flvsmith on 9/27/09Greensboro Coliseum Complex - GreensboroSaturday night, Emmanual Ax played Beethoven's 4th Concerto for Piano and Orchestra wonderfully. The orchestra gamboled about with him as he and the conductor clearly had a good time playing a piece, as the concert notes indicated, that Beethoven wrote at the height of his creativity. However, it appeared that the orchestra was better rehearsed on the piece with Ax than the other two pieces that were on the play bill. Where was the horn and woodwind sections in the Scottish symphony? They had no life; no brightness. The strings played beautifully but may have overwhelmed the smaller horn and woodwind sections.