Emanuel Ax Enthralls, Yannick & Phil Orch in Top Form March 6, 2015

The day after what may have been winter’s worst storm, the Kimmel Center rocked with high spirits March 6 as Emanuel Ax performed in a stunning Philadelphia Orchestra program.

Ax, one of America’s finest classical pianists, presented a compelling Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto, the only one of the five in the moody minor mode. Yannick Nézet-Séguin, in top form, led the full orchestra in the powerhouse concerto, full of Beethoven’s riveting Middle Period bombastics, but also infused with a lyricism and yearning seldom heard in music before his time.

Ax’s robust performance married perfectly with the new Philadelphia sound, with a richness of tone, a firm attack, and a melting delicacy when called upon in the second movement. In the third and final movement, I noticed that Ax, who looked a bit like Roger Ebert in the peak of his health and waggishness, was so involved in the music in between his solo parts that he seemed to be co-conducting with Yannick. There was a big, sincere smile on his face as he relished each enthusiastic phrase teased out of the orchestra by its young, persuasive leader.

Perhaps Yannick was even more buoyant than usual during the matinee as he had just received a 40th birthday cake on stage as the orchestra played “Happy Birthday,” sung-along by the near-capacity audience. Lots of fun, and I saw helpers in the lobby wearing “Yannick 40” athletic shirts, a fun touch for those of us happy to see the “stodgy” removed from the local classical music scene.

The Beethoven came after what may have been the most thrilling performance of a Haydn symphony I’ve ever heard. It was the Oxford Symphony, and again, there was no tip of the hat to original instruments and small-scale performance theory here: the full orchestra ripped into Haydn, and Haydn reciprocated splendidly. This is Haydn’s 92nd symphony, full of imagination, vitality, and surprises that astonish and delight. Haydn composed this perfectly balanced, almost edgy symphony in 1789 when he was 57 (in contrast, Beethoven died at the age of 56). Clearly, there is a lot more to Haydn than we’ve been led to believe by sleepy performances.

The concert concluded with Ralph Vaughan Williams’ startling Fourth Symphony, quite a brash departure for the English composer famed for his pastoral diversions. The Fourth is on this season’s 40/40 list (inspired by Yannick’s 40th birthday), a list of works rarely or never performed locally. It’s a huge, challenging work, and one that invites repeated hearings.

All in all, a memorable program and, for Yannick Nézet-Séguin, one helluva birthday party. (Photo of setting up before concert.)