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Saturday, October 19, 2002

By Jane Vranish

When all is said and done, last night's Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra concert featuring guest conductor Christoph von Dohnanyi and piano soloist Emmanuel Ax must be counted as one of the highlights of the Heinz Hall season.

	The program will be repeated tonight at 8 and tomorrow at 2:30 p.m.

Credit must go to Dohnanyi, who tapped the enormous musical resources of the orchestra, energizing and ultimately galvanizing the members so that it played like a chamber concert, where each and every player was completely involved.

That was particularly so in the first half of the concert, with two works that were worlds apart, but connected by some of the sweetest pianissimo work this side of heaven. It would be the foundation of the concert, where Dohnanyi often restrained the musicians, but a technique that allowed for greater dynamic range.

He led with his right in a 1997 work, "Asyla," by the celebrated young English composer Thomas Ades. Since the title is the plural of the word asylum, it sets the stage for Ades' fresh outlook on the orchestra framework. He divided the strings in novel ways, sometimes composing entrances from the back of the sections, scoring solos for as many as four players and producing softly sustained chords. This allowed for some chewy textures that offset some of the brass/percussion cacophony, although the third (and only titled) movement, "Ecstasio," would produce a momentum all its own.

Dohnanyi then followed with his left, cleansing the palate with Mozart's Concerto No. 20 in D minor. Ax displayed a creamy technique, played with a breathtaking ease, yet one where each note had meaning and purpose. The cadenza in the first movement was a whole musical story in itself, phrases dissipating slowly into the air, fingers like butterflies kissing the keys and power available when needed. This was a musician of scope and confidence, one who never had to overwhelm the music and Dohnanyi and the PSO wisely complimented his effortless style.

After all this restraint, so delicious you could taste it, Dohnanyi unleashed the orchestra like a tidal wave in Dvorak's Symphony No. 8. It was a piece where simple folk-like inspirations reached a complex, artful and exciting conclusion.

Jane Vranish is a free-lance writer for the Post-Gazette.