Pianist Garrick Ohlsson with the Seattle Symphony: effortless virtuosity

Concert review |

Maybe there's something pianist Garrick Ohlsson doesn't play well, but we certainly haven't heard it yet. Ohlsson, one of the country's most reliably excellent keyboard virtuosi, has a vast repertoire and seems to be a master of nearly every style — including Mozart, as he proved Thursday evening in a very fine Seattle Symphony program with conductor Günther Herbig.

Ohlsson's silky touch and effortless ease illuminated Mozart's last piano concerto, the No. 27 (K.595), and his great variety of articulation and phrasing underscored all the mercurial changes in this work: the bright, playful moments and the darker, more serious ones. Herbig kept the orchestra light and flexible, in good balance with the soloist.

Herbig is in town for two programs, the current one and also next week's two-concert series with cellist Xavier Phillips (April 24 and 26). When you have a good guest conductor (as Herbig surely is), it makes a lot of sense to give him a longer stint as the Symphony has done — giving an opportunity to build on rapport and communication, and to make a stronger effect on the players. Guest maestros sometimes report that just when things are going really well, at the end of a program series, it's time to leave. Two programs should give Herbig more opportunities.

Herbig, who debuted here in 1992 and has held major posts with the symphonies of Detroit, Toronto and Dallas (as well as several European orchestras), made his musical points on Thursday evening with clear, direct gestures and a firm hand on the dynamic levels. After a nicely played but unremarkable opener (Mozart's "Don Giovanni" Overture), Herbig had more scope with Schubert's lovely Symphony No. 9 ("Great").

Here he engaged the orchestra in an unusually wide dynamic range, carefully building the gradual rise of the trombones in the first movement, and the surging passages that rose out of nowhere and then subsided again. Some minor individual inaccuracies did little to affect the overall impression of spirited excellence. This is a program well worth hearing.

Melinda Bargreen: mbargreen@seattletimes.com