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CONCERT REVIEW:<\/strong><\/p>\n Atlanta Symphony Orchestra<\/strong> Mark Gresham<\/strong> | 6 MAR 2026<\/p>\n T<\/span>he<\/span> Atlanta Symphony Orchestra<\/strong>\u2019s program this week paired two works of very different expressive worlds: Beethoven\u2019s Piano Concerto No. 3<\/em> and Bruckner\u2019s Symphony No. 6<\/em>. At Thursday night\u2019s concert at Atlanta Symphony Hall, the orchestra was joined by Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes<\/strong>, making his Atlanta Symphony debut in the Beethoven, with music director Nathalie Stutzmann<\/strong> conducting.<\/p>\n The evening belonged largely to Andsnes, whose performance of Beethoven\u2019s C-minor concerto demonstrated why he is widely regarded as one of the leading interpreters of the composer\u2019s music. Beethoven\u2019s Third Piano Concerto<\/em> stands at a pivotal moment in the composer\u2019s career: its outward classical balance still reflects Mozart\u2019s influence, yet its dramatic rhetoric and bold harmonic gestures anticipate the heroic voice of the middle-period symphonies.<\/p>\n From the concerto\u2019s opening movement, Andsnes shaped the piano\u2019s entrance with a sense of inevitability rather than theatrical display. His playing favored clarity of line and structural understanding over overt virtuoso flash. Even in the more turbulent passages, the tone remained finely controlled, the articulation clean and purposeful.<\/p>\n The \u201cLargo,\u201d one of Beethoven\u2019s most inward slow movements, emerged as the emotional center of the performance. Here, Andsnes spun the long melodic lines with luminous lyricism, drawing a wide palette of color from the instrument. The Atlanta Symphony players responded with attentive accompaniment, the winds in particular offering finely blended support.<\/p>\n The concluding \u2018Rondo\u201d restored the concerto\u2019s restless energy. Andsnes handled the quicksilver exchanges between soloist and orchestra with deft rhythmic precision, bringing wit and buoyancy to the music\u2019s playful turns.<\/p>\n I will continue to assert that Beethoven is simply not Stutzmann\u2019s thing (though it is very much the orchestra\u2019s), and her role in the concerto was largely serviceable, but the orchestra needed more steady focus than her baton delivered.<\/p>\n Set against the clarity of Andsnes, Stutzmann\u2019s interpretation felt somewhat heavy in phrasing, regardless of dynamic contrasts. And her grossly overdone sfortzandos<\/em> (one of her common malpractices) did not sharpen or impel the drama in the way the score invites. You don\u2019t have to use a sledgehammer on a 10-penny nail to drive it home.<\/p>\n After intermission came Bruckner\u2019s Symphony No. 6<\/em>, a work less frequently performed than the composer\u2019s better-known symphonies but nonetheless characteristic of his monumental style. Bruckner\u2019s music unfolds in vast architectural spans, built from blocklike themes and surging brass climaxes.<\/p>\n The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra delivered the score with commitment and sonic weight. The brass section produced the noble chorales that anchor the symphony\u2019s climactic moments, while the strings sustained the long crescendos that drive the music\u2019s cumulative power.<\/p>\n Stutzmann is much more at home with Bruckner, in the sense of wallowing in its massiveness and grandeur, where her interpretation leaned toward heaviness, occasionally blurring the underlying rhythmic pulse that keeps Bruckner\u2019s structures in motion. Still, the orchestra\u2019s disciplined ensemble and rich sound, at times edging into blaring at peak moments, per Stutzmann\u2019s penchant for doing so. But the orchestra itself carried the performance effectively, particularly in the finale\u2019s sweeping closing pages.<\/p>\n If the Bruckner provided volumetric scale and sonic spectacle, it was Beethoven\u2019s concerto that left the stronger artistic impression of the evening, thanks to Andsnes\u2019 thoughtful, skilled playing, which illuminated the drama of one of Beethoven\u2019s most significant early masterpieces.<\/p>\n The enthusiastic response brought Andsnes back for a short encore, a Chopin Mazurka<\/em> played with understated elegance. Beethoven\u2019s Third has become something of a calling card for the Norwegian pianist this season; after the Atlanta performances, he takes the concerto to Chicago, where he will perform it with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra<\/strong> on March 12\u201314 under conductor Jakub Hr\u016f\u0161a<\/strong>.<\/p>\n But wait, there was more to the evening than the orchestral concert. Georgia State University<\/strong> students also performed a brief pre-concert program in the lobby as part of Panthers at the Symphony<\/em>, a partnership between the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and GSU launched last spring, which allows GSU students to present lobby concerts, attend ASO rehearsals, and receive masterclasses from orchestra musicians. <\/p>\n Thursday\u2019s half-hour pre-concert performance featured a percussion quartet \u2014 Austin Mellen<\/strong>, Blaze Benavides<\/strong>, Nasir O\u2019Daniel<\/strong>, and Dylan Mantione<\/strong> \u2014 playing the first part of Steve Reich\u2019s Drumming,<\/em> followed by a woodwind quintet performing Valerie Coleman\u2019s Tzigane<\/em>: flutist Emily Gabbitas<\/strong>, clarinetist Rachel Odendahl<\/strong>, oboist Sophia Monteagudo<\/strong>, hornist Terri Lynn Ingram<\/strong>, and bassoonist Jackelin Guevara-Blanco<\/strong>. The student performances offered an energetic prelude to an evening that ultimately belonged to Beethoven\u2019s concerto and its thoughtful soloist, while the Bruckner appealed to a significant part of the audience that enjoys the feeling of size and saturation. \u25a0<\/span><\/p>\n About the author:<\/p>\n Mark Gresham<\/strong><\/a> is publisher and principal writer of EarRelevant. He began writing as a music journalist over 30 years ago, but has been a composer of music much longer than that. He was the winner of an ASCAP\/Deems Taylor Award for music journalism in 2003.<\/p>\n Read more by Mark Gresham<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n This entry was posted in Symphony & Opera<\/a> and tagged Atlanta Symphony Orchestra<\/a>, Leif Ove Andsnes<\/a>, Nathalie Stutzmann<\/a> on
March 5 & 7, 2026<\/strong>
Atlanta Symphony Hall
Atlanta, Georgia \u2013 USA<\/span>
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Nathalie Stutzmann, conductor; Leif Ove Andsnes, piano.<\/span>
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37<\/em><\/span>
Anton BRUCKNER: Symphony No. 6 in A major, WAB 106<\/em><\/span>
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