The Philadelphia Orchestra’s subscription concert last weekend featured an intriguing debut. Not Emanuel Ax, of course – he’s in his sixth decade of appearing locally. But on this occasion, he played for the first time the Maene-Viñoly Concert Grand, an instrument that has gained traction in the press since its introduction in 2022. An invention of the late architect Rafael Viñoly, who also designed the cello-like expanse of Verizon Hall, the Maene-Viñoly features an ergonomic keyboard, meant to mirror the wingspan of a pianist more naturally than a standard concert piano. The soundboard is also longer and deeper, and the piano itself looks sleek and streamlined in a futuristic way.
Ax christened the Maene-Viñoly with Mozart’s Piano Concerto no. 25 in C major, K503. Although touted for having a subtler and more even sound – it's a straight-strung piano – I confess I didn’t hear much difference from the Steinway Grand that’s typically employed. That could have as much to do with the artist as the instrument. Ax has always been a remarkable technician, one who favors a lighter touch and supremely elegant phrasing. Those qualities were especially on display in the Andante, which held an air of wistfulness. His approach lacked impishness and brio in the outer movements, however, and the orchestra couldn’t help but absorb him in more spirited passages.
Fabio Luisi led a reading of the score that sounded a tad string-heavy in Allegro maestoso, but which settled into a pleasant though hardly revelatory traversal as it progressed. The featherweight woodwinds sounded particularly lovely in the Andante, complementing Ax’s soft-grained playing, and the timpani made its presence known without overwhelming the reduced ensemble. Luisi generally favored expansive tempi, which seemed a little slack in the Allegretto but elsewhere made for a lush, enveloping performance.