Saturday, July 26, 2025
8:00 PM
Music Director Andris Nelsons leads the BSO in the world premiere of John Williams’s Piano Concerto, inspired by three legendary jazz pianists and written for soloist Emanuel Ax, part of a program that also includes the epic musical journey of Mahler’s Symphony No. 1.
Andris Nelsons, conductor
Emanuel Ax, piano
John WILLIAMS Piano Concerto (world premiere)
Gustav MAHLER Symphony No. 1
The performance of John Williams's Piano Concerto is no longer available on demand.
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To hear a preview of John Williams's Piano Concerto with Emanuel Ax, use the player below, and read the transcript underneath.
Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at the Koussevitzky Music Shed with Emanuel Ax. And Manny, thank you so much for a little of your time today. I appreciate it.
Emanuel Ax It's my pleasure to be here, thank you.
Brian McCreath Every concerto has some kind of an origin story, whether it's with the composer, a soloist, a funder, who knows, but what's the origin story the way you would describe it for this new concerto by John Williams?
Emanuel Ax Oh, it's actually my chutzpah, because I saw an interview with John, I think it was probably the Washington Post, and he said that he had been thinking for a long time about doing a piano concerto, because of course that's his instrument, he was a wonderful pianist. And I saw this interview and I just wrote him a letter and said, dear Mr. Williams, if you really mean that you are going to work on one, I would be thrilled to play it. And he wrote right back, you know, he wrote back and he said, oh that sounds wonderful and I'll work on it and I'll send it to you when it's done. End of story.
Brian McCreath And then, but the next chapter of the story is you get this concerto and you find that it is John's own sort of tribute, maybe, if we can put it as simply as that, to Art Tatum, Bill Evans, and Oscar Peterson. Tell me what you thought when you first saw that.
Emanuel Ax First of all, I was aware that his concert music was very different from his movie music. And we met a couple of times before he actually finished the piece. And he said that, you know, these are the people that affected me when I was young. But it doesn't sound like any of them. It's just, I think he was inspired by certain aspects of their playing, their invention, and so forth. And I think that's really what it is. So I think it sounds like a John piece, and I've been practicing it for a long time, so when you practice something for a long time you start to love it, and I love it. And I'm very, very happy to say that most of the people that have heard the rehearsals and my friends in the orchestra also seem to like it enormously. So that makes me very happy.
Brian McCreath Tell me about your relationship to those three artists that John is sort of channeling, again, not to oversimplify.
Emanuel Ax Yeah, well as it happens, I'm a fan of jazz, especially jazz piano, and I am a fanatic for these three guys, especially Oscar Peterson. I have a number of his recordings on my iPhone. I carry them around with me. So these people played the piano better than I could ever hope to play the piano. It's beyond belief what they were able to do. But there is a guy now who I think is gonna be there as well, Aaron Diehl.
Brian McCreath Oh yes!
Emanuel Ax I am a tremendous fan of Aaron Diehl, and I have a recording of his on my iPhone. Anyway, I'm generally a piano buff, but certainly of jazz piano, so big thrill for me. It's all very exciting. I hope I do a decent job.
Brian McCreath I'm sure you will, but one more question, which is simply, was there something, even after your discussions with John, when you first saw the concerto and you knew kind of what might be coming, was there anything that especially surprised you in what he did or what he's pulled off or some craft that you were kind of amazed by?
Emanuel Ax Not really, but only because I didn't know what to expect. So I was generally amazed. I can't say I was surprised by anything in particular, but the whole thing was a discovery, you know, and it was wonderful. And it was wonderful to be able to spend time with this incredible man. He's, aside from his genius, one could say, he's also the warmest, kindest, most generous person one can imagine, and it's a privilege to spend time with someone like that.
Brian McCreath Manny, thank you so much.
Emanuel Ax My pleasure.