Photo by Michael Wilson
The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra concert of last Saturday evening was a highlight of this season so far, with the orchestra in top form in evolved performances of two great masterworks, joined by a distinguished guest artist.
As his many acclaimed recordings attest, pianist Richard Goode is one of the world’s great interpreters of Mozart and Beethoven. Goode performed Mozart’s Concerto No. 18 in B-flat Major, K. 456 (a piece he recorded for a 2008 release). In some ways it is unusual among Mozart’s 27 piano concertos, lengthier than most, a bit grand in spirit, and roaming to remote keys.
Goode played with a deep understanding of hard-to-define “classical style,” at the heart of Mozart’s music. There was an easy grace about this lively performance in which all intricacies emerged, played with the most refined of techniques and coaxing an unforced ring from the Steinway. The tone of his soft playing was unearthly in its beauty. Goode played with a sophisticated sense of phrase, and with a slight hint of rhythmic freedom within the style. The general approach was one of collaboration with the others on stage, as in playing chamber music. The orchestra responded with clear and transparent playing, with the winds (flute, oboes, bassoons, horns) especially accomplished.
Mozart’s music asks for so much from every point of view that frankly few performances achieve a golden zone. This one did. It reminded me of a statement made by one of my graduate school teachers: “I’m a far better person than I will ever be when I am listening to Mozart.”
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Schubert’s symphony known as “The Great” is generally known as Symphony No. 9, but now also alternatively called Symphony No. 8 (a history too complex to explain here). Edo de Waart led a well-sculpted, profound and considered account of the long movements. Dynamics were sharply stated with high chiaroscuro contrast. The only thing I missed was a little more sense of spontaneous drama. The orchestra was at its very best. Oboist Katherine Young Steele deserves special mention for her solos played with such lovely phrasing and with her simpatico sound.
