Pierre-Laurent Aimard at Carnegie Hall

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Pierre-Laurent Aimard is a remarkable pianist, and this concert, taped live at Carnegie Hall in December 2001 (and only barely touched up), is living proof. The Berg actually sounds perfectly Classical, the Beethoven is clearly, beautifully played (with only the final movement slightly lacking in thrills), and the Liszt is less aggressively showy than it can be. The two Debussy "watery" works are gorgeous--misty yet easy to make out--and the Ligeti come across as approachable, sensible, and fascinating, instead of mere clusters of sound, which can often be the case. And nobody beats Aimard in Messiaen: the seven-minute piece of Vingt regards whets one's appetite for the whole work. Aimard is never a sentimentalist and he never dances on the keys; the playing is full-bodied and exciting. This was clearly quite an event, but it works just as well piece-by-piece. Highly recommended. --Robert Levine

Tracks:

Berg: Piano Sonata
Beethoven: Sonata No. 23 in F-Minor Op. 57: Allegro assai
Beethoven: Sonata No. 23 in F-Minor Op. 57: Andante con moto
Beethoven: Sonata No. 23 in F-Minor Op. 57: Allegro ma non
Liszt: Legendes, No. 2 "St Francis de Paule marchant sur les flots"
Debussy: Images pour piano: Reflets dans l'eau
Debussy: Images pour piano: Poissions d'or
Etudes for piano, book 1: Cordes a vide
Etudes for piano, book 1: Automne a Varsovie
Der Zauberiehrling
Messiaen: Vingt Regards sur ;'Enfant Jesus: Premiere communion de la
Debussy: Douze Etudes pour piano: Pour les huit doigts

Amazon.com

Pierre-Laurent Aimard is a remarkable pianist, and this concert, taped live at Carnegie Hall in December 2001 (and only barely touched up), is living proof. The Berg actually sounds perfectly Classical, the Beethoven is clearly, beautifully played (with only the final movement slightly lacking in thrills), and the Liszt is less aggressively showy than it can be. The two Debussy "watery" works are gorgeous--misty yet easy to make out--and the Ligeti come across as approachable, sensible, and fascinating, instead of mere clusters of sound, which can often be the case. And nobody beats Aimard in Messiaen: the seven-minute piece of Vingt regards whets one's appetite for the whole work. Aimard is never a sentimentalist and he never dances on the keys; the playing is full-bodied and exciting. This was clearly quite an event, but it works just as well piece-by-piece. Highly recommended. --Robert Levine

Customer Reviews:

Aimard's a bit aseptic, but very musical and interesting.......2006-11-02

The pendulum has swung far away from personality pianists like Horowitz and Rubenstein who were bigger than the music they played, at least so far as audience appeal went. Aimard is definitely of another breed, the superb technicians and sensitive musicians who almost erase their persoanlities. (Only Martha Argerich seems like a throwback to the grandstanders of yesterday, and she is sixty.) Here we get a superb Berg sonata that makes it sound as lyrical as Schumann.

It's followed by a somewhat aseptic Appassionate, however. Every note's in place, and there's a breahttakig continuity that seamlessly gathers everything into one onrush of feeling. but the feeling doesn't go that deep. By comparison, Pollini, who's so often accused of coldness, is actually much more intense and fervent. However, once you get used to Aimard's self-effacement, there's no denying his musicality. This is especially helpful in the Liszt, which is clen-lined but still expansive without indulging in glitz or cheap theatrics.

He's on more familiar ground with the Debussy and Ligeti pieces that follow. Their vocabulary comes as naturally to him as Beethoven came to generations of German pianists. It's startling to find three French virtuosos (Grimaud, Thibaudet, and Aimard) with such big international careers, but audiences don't demand personalaity or tradition anymore. One can't imagine Serkin or Gieseking at home in Ligeti and Messiaen, yet Aimard's range extends even to Charles Ives. This live Carnegie recital shows him off at his best, and there's nno denyig that his playing can be warm and satisfying. He and Grimaud are among the best Beethoven exponents among the new breed. It just takes a bit of adjustment.

Why have I given this cd 5 stars?.......2004-06-12

The playing is always insightful, intelligent and fascinating. Throughout the recital there is never a dull moment, Pierre Laraunt Aimard has an uncanny ability, similarly to Michelangeli and Richter, to summon the work of art almost from the depths or bowels of the earth, and render the piece with visionary sweep. The pieces evolve and metamorphose in the most astonishing manner.
By all accounts this is a staturesque performance. One may disagree with certain readings, for example the Beethoven or Liszt, yet is this not true of all great artists? Great artists do not sit on the fence, they are visionary and although many will find the Beethoven to astringent at times, (the linear harmonic development is quite asperse)not for one second does the listener remain indifferent.
Aimard's forte seems to be in the soundworld of the Debussy and Ligeti. He brings to these pieces a unique tonal translucence; a liquid, pensive sheen graced with a sense of the ineffable.
In the Berg Sonata, Aimard is able to shape and nurture the contrapuntal strands, with cohesive and spontaneous inflection. This is something quite special, it is the best Berg I've ever heard. The Berg's majestic progression is amply projected and the rhetoric of the sonata leaves the music floating..afterwards.
The Messiaen is perfectly controlled. The atmosphere Aimard creates is spiritual. Many performers of Vingt regards etc, often lose the spiritual dimension, which after all inspired Messiaen. Aimard, though, seems to be fully aware of this,(he was after all taught by Yvonne Loriod, Messaien's wife)and so the performance sets a new precedent for the performance of Messiaen. The ending is out of this world...the audience are left in awestruck silence.
This CD presents so many directions. Aimard has the potential to explore so much music, and as such this is a phenomenal recital. For someone to sit down on the piano stool and issue forth music of such divine essence, such intellect and panache....it's up to you!

Few recitals are so spirited and exciting!.......2004-03-30

This is an absolutely spectacular disc with revelatory playing. It is often said that today's pianists aren't very interesting compared to artists of the past, but Pierre-Laurent Aimard proves exactly the opposite here. His recital at Carnegie Hall in December 2001 was a great event and it has fortunately been captured on disc. Throughout the whole disc you can feel the thrill that hangs over the event, particularly because of Aimard's spellbinding playing. I attended a splendid recital by him some time ago, and this disc contains exactly the same excitement that I felt over there. What makes Aimard's playing so fascinating is that he has a great `control' over his music, combined with a beautifully clear toucher, high expressivity and a gorgeous tone throughout. At every moment you listen to an artist who is in full command of the music he plays, however difficult the piece is. And what is more, he can also keep the longest and most complex structures in his hands. This is probably one of the great benefits of Aimard's modern training, as most modern music requires an enormous amount of concentration and clarity. He plays in fact all pieces on this disc with the same full-bodied, clear and expressive approach, and it works wonderfully as much in Beethoven as it does in Ligeti. It's also interesting to note that the program isn't an arbitrary combination but very well thought out: the first part consists of two densely architectural works, the Berg and Beethoven sonatas, while the second part contains three different kind of visual and imaginative pieces, evolving from Liszt and Debussy to Ligeti.

The Berg sonata opens the recital, and here you immediately hear how much Aimard gets to the core of this highly complex and powerful, dramatic composition: the whole performance is brought out with a commanding and strong attitude, with a great feeling of sphere and tonal colour that keeps the listener in awe for the entire 11 minutes of the piece. The next piece on the disc is no less a work than Beethoven's Appassionata. Aimard turns in what is one of my very favourite versions of this piece. I have probably practiced this sonata myself more than any other work, and am always most interested to hear a new take on the sonata. I've always admired, among others, the intellectuality of Brendel, the drama of Arrau and the personality and forcefulness of Kovacevich, but Aimard seems to unite all these visions into one all-encompassing performance. He never looses grip of the tension in the first movement, and then follows the theme with variations which is very bold, solemn and also a little spiced. And I don't know of a more intense and exciting performance of the sonata's final, except Richter's perhaps.

Some less structured but rather impressionistic works form the second half, and here Aimard is just as much thrilling and uplifting. The Liszt Legende is truly amazing, played with so much vision and religiosity. But what is really remarkable here, is the gigantic tension bow Aimard creates: during the first five minutes he sustains one long crescendo! From the first mysterious left-hand waves to the blasting (though not bombastic) climax, to the final quietness, this is one superbly engaging performance. The Debussy works are filled with mystery and suggestiveness, but always perfectly clear and fresh, just as you might expect in works that resemble this `watery' sphere. Then there are the two Ligeti etudes: the subtle meanness of Cordes a vide and the mysterious and explosive Automne a Varsovie. The latter etude has the pianist playing in four (!) different tempos, as the booklet says. The piece begins softly but with a lot of unrest, and this ever develops and finishes into a mass assault at the bass keys. Aimard plays through the piece with the same full control as always and you've got to hear how he performs the last minute of this piece!

As a finish of the recital, three encores follow, all with their own interesting contents. First comes Ligeti's amazing `die Zauberlehrling' (with a kind of piano pyrotechnics you seldom hear; actually I hardly believed I was hearing a piano!). One of Messiaen's twenty `Regards' is the second encore, a peaceful piece with a funny dance rhythm and disturbing atonal chords in the mid part. Here, Aimard may be at home more than anywhere else, and his performance is incredibly moving and beautiful. Finally, there's a Debussy etude, `Pour les huit doigts' which is played with unbelievable virtuosity and swiftness.

The audience is extremely enthusiastic (ok, it's Carnegie Hall but even then!) and with very good reason. Solo recitals seldom get this good nowadays. What also adds to the pleasure of this disc, is the fact that everything is presented as naturally as possible: only the most urgent flaws (coughs etc.) were removed and for the rest everything sounds as it did in the hall. Additionally, there are hardly any cuts in the applause if I have listened well: it all adds to the feeling of being in that hall yourself. In conclusion, this is an extremely satisfying, exciting and insightful disc that no one should miss. You owe it to yourself to hear this. My highest possible recommendation.

A Thrilling Recital Disc.......2002-10-26

I'd only heard Aimard play Ligeti and Messiaen on disc, and it was a revelation for me to hear him play Beethoven, Liszt and Debussy. Although the Ligeti etudes lack the elan of his playing on his previous recording of the Books I and II, you can hardly argue with the man's love and conviction in the interpretation. The Appasionata is sublime. Apart from Brendel's EMI recording and Richter's, this is my favorite interpretation. There's a thrilling tightrope-walking here, between brio and control. It's an aristocratic sturm-und-drang performance that never preens in academia or rigid classicism. The Berg sonata is passionate, and the Liszt's Legende is poetic. His offering of Debussy is tantalizing here, especially given that in the CD booklet, he lets us know that his next recording will be of Debussy. All in all, a highly recommendable disc.

Dissapointing.......2002-08-02

After hearing Aimard's excellent recordings of messiaen and ligeti and attending an exciting live performance of bartok's 2nd piano concerto with the paris orchestra, i was looking forward to the release of his carnegie hall recital. Unfortunately, i have to report that this is not a satisfying performance to say the least. Even though Aimard once again proves himself brilliant when it comes to clarify the textures of modern berg, messiaen, and ligeti, this excess of clarity for its own sake has very unfortunate results in the music of beethoven, liszt, and debussy. The Appassionata sonata runs pretty well (though rather uneventful) the first two movements as the work is laid out precisely and with great attention to structure - but the final movement, where a sense of angst must be portrayed, lacks any emotional commitment from Aimard. Then, the Liszt St. Francis Legend receives an absolutely straight performance where the left hand runs are played evenly but with no attention to dynamics - here Liszt tried to represent waves whereas Aimard seems simply to be running through the keys as if this was an excersize. Played this way, the work never raises to the religious climax Liszt intended. And then, Debussy is played deliberately and down to earth - again, the music is robbed of any composer-intended message.
Aimard is a fine musician when it comes to twentieth century works, and maybe he should have stuck with that repertoire where his gifts for clarity are welcome. From the performance in this recital of Liszt and Beethoven particularly, i have the impression that it is not music he enjoys and he programmed them just to please the New York public. It is a pitty - pianists such as Polini and Uchida have proved already that audiences in the United States are ready for recitals of Schonberg, Boulez, Ligeti - Aimard could have stayed in the repertoire he seems to favor. Finally, a word for the label - the full recital should have been issued in a double cd priced for one as was Mikhail Pletnev's carnegie hall recital of 2000.

Track Listings:

Track Listings

track listings

Track Listings

An Evening With the Allman Brothers Band: 2nd Set [Live]

Dream World

Daisies of the Galaxy [Explicit Lyrics]

Wild Muse

Before & After Science [Import] [Limited Edition]

Early Classics [Import]

Company - A Musical Comedy (1995 Broadway Revival Cast) [Cast Recording]

Dukas: L'Apprenti Sorcier/Debussy: Prelude/Satie: Gymnopedies Nos. 1 & 2/Saint-Saëns: Danse Macabre/Ravel: Pavane/L

Days of Future Past [Import]

Cello World

Con Alma

Brown Pride Riders, Vol. 2 [Explicit Lyrics]

El Rancho E La Cambicha

Blues Legend

The Best of Steps