Rhythm and colour from Karina Canellakis and Emanuel Ax at Tanglewood

Karina Canellakis, the first guest conductor invited to the helm of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in this summer’s Tanglewood festival season, proved to be an excellent choice leading a programme that, without being adventurous, was challenging and full of potential slippery slopes.

The evening started with the Act 1 Prelude to Wagner's Lohengrin, a vision of the Grail descending “to pour out light like a benediction” in the composer’s own words, that starts with an almost immobile string murmur slowly swelling to an incredible full orchestral climax before returning to its origins. Canellakis’ approach was both long-breathed and airy, constantly drawing attention to all those gradual harmonic transformations.

There is an obvious evocation of Wagner’s music (Siegfried’s Funeral March from Götterdämmerung) in the last of Rachmaninov’s three Symphonic Dances. Canellakis made sure to bring it forward as she underlined the inclusion of frequent references to Rachmaninov’s own works, from the Symphony no. 1 to The Isle of Dead. His final completed composition and the only major work conceived entirely during his American exile, the Symphonic Dances are not just a series of nostalgic reminiscences about the old world with its liturgical rituals and muzhik dances. Even if the sonorities are not necessarily “modern”, it is nevertheless difficult to associate the prominently featured saxophone with a 19th-century Russian idiom. More, the music sounded – especially in the first movement – as a movie score, a potential homage to an essential 20th-century art form.

With sweeping, precise gestures and incisive attacks, Canellakis was in full control of every aspect of the performance. The non allegro directive in the first movement was quite literally followed and rubatos were rather regulated. Transitions back to the main themes were tension-releasing while nostalgia was kept (maybe a tad too much) at bay. Maintaining a luxurious sound and vibrancy of detail, Canellakis successfully brought clarity to the sometimes-busy soundscape of the final dance, combining the Dies irae motif with another from Rachmaninov’s own All-Night Vigil. There were just a few moments when instrumentalists were allowed to explore at their own pace the score’s hidden nooks and crannies. Nevertheless, there was a parade of exceptional solos from Associate Concertmaster Alexander Velinzon in the second movement’s Valse to those of Elizabeth Klein (flute) or Richard Sebring (horn).

The evening’s soloist was Emanuel Ax, a ubiquitous presence every season at Tanglewood, either as musician or just as a mindful listener. Interpreting music of his beloved Chopin, he imbued every passagework with poetic sensitivity. Under his fingers, Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto evoked more of a Classical, disciplined aura than Romantic effusiveness. The outer movements – every detail in its proper place – had a Mozartian quality. Any unnatural, forced changes of pace were discarded in favour of constant, infinitesimal variations of timbre. There were myriads of nuances to be heard. Pianissimos were as outstanding in the second movement, as they were in the only encore, Chopin’s Nocturne Op.55 no.1, written in the same F minor key as the concerto. Reigning over the not always imaginative orchestral contribution, Canellakis was in constant accord with the pianist’s intentions, proving that she can be an as attentive accompanist as she is a determined direction-setting leader.