Ax cuts through concertos’ knots

Mozart and Richard Strauss are the dual obsessions of Los Angeles Philharmonic On Location artist Emanuel Ax this month. The pianist is definitely providing value for money -- tackling concertos from both composers over the last weekend and, for good measure, running a marathon of chamber works from both Tuesday night.

Ax got through the first hurdles of his task just fine Friday night at Walt Disney Concert Hall, knocking out Mozart’s relatively sprawling Piano Concerto No. 22 and Strauss’ de facto piano concerto of his youth, “Burleske.” All of this exertion took about 53 minutes -- or just a bit more time than it takes to play Brahms’ Second Piano Concerto alone.

“Burleske” is more closely attuned to Brahms while laced with unmistakable hints of the Strauss to come. Here, Ax carefully kept his big guns in reserve for the endgame, underplaying the whimsy in the opening bars. Before this, Ax handled Mozart cleanly, even brilliantly, with sparing use of the pedal and plenty of expressive, but never precious, legato passagework as conductor Alexander Mickelthwate presided over a robust accompaniment.

Though Ax’s stamina dominated the first half of the evening, the biggest star after intermission was Disney Hall itself. Never have I ever heard the score of Strauss’ “Ein Heldenleben” laid out in such fantastically sharp, glistening detail, whether live or on recordings. The first section in particular, “The Hero,” has always sounded clotted and opaque, even when recorded with spotlighting microphones, but not this time; the hall clarified everything.

Mickelthwate made the right tempo calls, faring best when the music relaxed -- and the Philharmonic, starting with concertmaster Martin Chalifour, played like world-class virtuosos. Yet one felt little of the overwhelming physical and emotional force that this music can deliver in the battle segment -- even where Strauss asks for mit Steigerung (with intensification) -- and the subsequent grand roll call of Straussian self-quotations. The revelation of detail seemed to get in the way of the overall vision, as in the old cliche of not seeing the forest for the trees.

Nevertheless, a relevant link was made. Strauss sounded as transparent as Mozart.