Pianist Ax: Musicians perpetual students Bach, Schubert offerings highlight MCA concert

When Emanuel Ax, the pianist, performed Friday, Dec. 13, at the Maine Center for the Arts, he was scheduled to play a concert that included works by Chopin, Bernstein and Beethoven. The draw for local music lovers was to hear a keenly talented pianist deliver a program scheduled a few days later for Carnegie Hall. But the night before Ax arrived in Orono, he suddenly was struck with an infection behind the nail of the middle finger on his left hand. He consulted a doctor, underwent a minor procedure, and then decided to keep his Maine engagement. At the last minute, Ax decided to change the program to Bach and Schubert. His choice, he said, was about not wanting any physical memory of pain associated with playing the pieces. Between Ax’s lyrical interpretations of the music and his warm apologies, he charmed the audience. After the show, he talked with me and with the audience about his life and thoughts as a musician. Below are excerpts from our discussion. A longer version can be heard by logging on to www.bangornews.com and clicking the Back Talk icon.

— Alicia Anstead

Alicia Anstead: You were born in Poland and began your music studies there before moving to Canada with your family. How have your European origins shaped you as a musician?

Emanuel Ax: I don’t know that they have, really. Things are so international now that training is pretty much the same all over the world. Because of the second world war, there are so many traditions that are European traditions that are here rather than in Europe. When you think of people like Arnold Schoenberg who came over in the ’30s and did so much work here. A lot of the Polish and Russian piano teachers and violin teachers took root here from the ’30s on. So a lot of the traditions are more authentic in White Plains than they are in Warsaw.

Anstead: While your repertoire has been wide-ranging, many critics have noted a particular sensitivity of yours toward Romantic music. What allows someone to have an affinity for or facility with a particular composer or era in music?

Ax: I think it’s largely a matter of typecasting if you ask me. What happens is a lot of people who write about music know I am from Poland and that I met Mr. Rubinstein because I won the Rubinstein competition. Therefore, I probably play Chopin well. But I love all sorts of music and I think it’s important for a performer to connect with the style of the composer he’s involved with at the time. If I don’t feel able to do that, I don’t play that music. For example, I love Prokofiev. I’m very bad at Prokofiev. So I don’t play any. It’s not my type of music even though I love to go and hear it. Most of the composers I play I feel I am somehow connecting with them.

Anstead: You’ve been playing publicly for more than 25 years. Do you still have someone you ask to listen to your music, to be the first listener to help you know when a piece is ready?

Ax: It’s not so much a first person. My wife very kindly goes to concerts that I do when she can. She’ll tell me pretty honestly if things are going well or not. She’s also a pianist. I have colleagues I play for sometimes. The musician is a perpetual student. That’s what we do all of our life. We keep studying and trying to get better. You don’t really have to think about what you’ll do when you retire. It is, in that way, very comforting.

Anstead: When your friend and frequent collaborator, the cellist Yo-Yo Ma, was called in an interview with People magazine one of the sexiest men alive, he said when he performs a concert, he thinks of the audience as having been invited into his living room. What do you think of when you imagine the audience you are performing for?

Ax: Yo-Yo is someone who is really great at reaching out over the footlights. I’ve learned a lot from him in that respect because I am not naturally that way. What I try to do is not think so much about the duality but about the triangle. So if the people who are listening and the one who is playing both admire and love the music, then you set up a very nice triangle. If any of the triangle is missing, if the audience isn’t too focused, or you’re not playing well, or if the piece isn’t to your liking, then it doesn’t work. So whatever I do, whether it’s Schubert or a brand new piece, I really try to believe in what’s going on with the music and get people to come with me.

Anstead: Just a couple of days after the events of Sept. 11, you kept your appointment with the symphony orchestra in Baltimore. You’ve also been generous with your time in playing benefit concerts. What’s the role of the classical musician when it comes to social responsibility?

Ax: That’s a big and difficult question. First of all, I think of myself number one as a private citizen. So I have my viewpoints on what’s going on in the country and the world. To some degree, I try to use my time to help that. If there are causes I believe in, I will contribute my time and effort in the only way I know how, which is playing music. It’s a very small thing actually compared to what a lot of people can do. I don’t see it as a huge contribution. People who work in a soup kitchen are doing things that are much more difficult and valuable and really committed. I am happy to give my time but I have no illusions that it’s something extraordinary and special. When people are feeling bad, I would like to think that music is something that helps people feel better about life or the future.

Anstead: Classical music has sometimes been a hard sell in remote areas such as Maine. Would you be willing to venture a guess as to why that is? Also, what’s it like for you playing in a hall that isn’t filled?

Ax: There are two things. One is that obviously I’d rather have the balcony filled. And the other is that I am grateful for everybody who came because I feel they probably want to be here and that they like what we are all engaged in and that there could be fewer. One of the reasons classical music is thought of sometimes as a hard sell is that it takes active listening. I think it’s very similar to reading really good but difficult books or going to live plays by people like Tom Stoppard. It’s not that you need to be educated, intelligent or rich. What you need to do is come and say I am going to actually listen. I am going to participate.