An Alpine Idyll.

On a recent gray July morning in the Alpine village of Verbier, Switzerland, pianist Emanuel Ax and violinist Christian Tetzlaff were sounding the final notes of a recital encore -- the scherzo from Brahms's Sonata in D minor -- when they were joined by the soft murmur of distant thunder. It rumbled through the performance space, a church referred to (simply) as L'Eglise, at exactly the right instant, creating the impression that a gentle timpani roll had been intended all along for the ending of this piece, and everyone, audience members and artists alike, broke into broad smiles.

The communion of nature and art is one of the selling points of the Verbier Festival. Certainly, it's hard to imagine a more beautiful place than this pristine ski resort, nestled, even in summer, in the lap of magnificent ice-capped mountains. It can be artistically exquisite as well. The recital by Tetzlaff and Ax, featuring Mozart, Debussy, and Grieg, was music-making of the very highest order. And if some of the other offerings didn't quite reach that level, there were compensations.

For example, the gala concert celebrating the festival's tenth anniversary was the kind of star-studded affair that makes for an unforgettable evening, regardless of artistic outcome. Here were some of the world's top pianists, including Ax, Leif Ove Andsnes, Martha Argerich, Evgeny Kissin, Lang Lang, James Levine, and Mikhail Pletnev, among others, playing together on one stage -- up to eight pianos at a time -- along with a string orchestra featuring such renowned soloists as Sarah Chang, Gidon Kremer, Vadim Repin, Dmitri Sitkovetsky, Nikolaj Znaider, Yuri Bashmet, and Mischa Maisky. Watching rehearsals, one feared the worst. Sometimes as things went awry, many of the usually disciplined pianists would giddily succumb to the urge to bang away in a musical free-for-all. One afternoon on the stage of the large tent used for evening concerts, Ax, usually a beacon of calm, could be heard pleading for order as Levine searched for the missing bars in his part. Entropy waited eagerly in the wings.

Nevertheless, in the end, things went relatively well. The performances ranged from a graceful, glowing Mozart Sonata for four hands played by Argerich and Kissin, to workmanlike ensemble playing, to a train-wreck of a Scott Joplin rag in which eight great classical artists proved that they can't swing. But what a happening!

Martin Engstroem, the founder and executive director of the Verbier Festival, has always managed to attract big-name talent, even without a large budget. Years ago he confessed that he had enticed Isaac Stern and Evgeny Kissin to Verbier by telling each that the other had requested an opportunity to play with him. One wonders how he convinced all these stars to join in what Leif Ove Andsnes called "that crazy concert." "It's so funny," Engstroem says, "because so many of them asked me the same question: 'How did you get us to do this?' I have a personal relationship with most of these people, developed over many years. I think many of them performed because it was not only the birthday of the festival but also my own birthday. I told those who were a bit hesitant, 'You are doing this for me.'

"But I believe the primary reason they come has to be artistic. That it's nice and joyful here is 'added value.' I always ask artists to perform a piece they've never played before, or to play with people they've never worked with before. Some artists, like Martha Argerich, I try to ...