I skipped the sold-out Bonnie Raitt concert last week, but Bonnie and Beth went and enjoyed it. Of note: a few rows of seats were added within the orchestra pit.
The performance of Emanuel “Manny” Ax on piano along with Richard “Dick” Stoltzman on clarinet was much better than I expected. After seeing several pianists at Memorial Hall this year, Ax was the first to offer any kind of visual feedback with his animations and facial expressions.
I didn’t care too much for the Debussy piece that they started out with. With a lot of gaps and pauses, it seemed to be missing something. Bonnie liked it, though, and found it reminiscent of old movie scores.
Things picked up, however, when Ax performed a long solo that may have been largely improvised. It certainly wasn’t on the program. The third piece was a more classical duet, and after intermission there were three more duets from contemporary American composers. These were lively with something interesting happening on either the piano or the clarinet or both.
The casual comments from the performers also helped make the music more enjoyable, I think. Ax expressed how wonderful it was playing Memorial Hall’s new Steinway and how much he appreciated that there was a laundry in the basement. During one pause between movements, a cell phone could be heard ringing and Ax answered it by playing a ringtone on the piano.