Editorial Board

London Editor:
(London UK)
Melanie Eskenazi

Regional Editor:
(UK regions and Worldwide)
Bill Kenny

Webmaster:
Bill Kenny

Music Web Webmaster:

Len Mullenger

                 

Classical Music Web Logs

Search Site With Google 
 
Google

WWW MusicWeb


MusicWeb is a subscription-free site
Clicking  Google adverts on our pages helps us  keep it that way

Seen and Heard Concert  Review


Schumann, Debussy, Ligeti, Chopin, Rachmaninov, Messian :  Pierre-Laurent Aimard (piano) Barbican Hall, 22.5. 2007 (CC)


Few pianists today exhibit the searching intellect that gives birth to the recitals of Pierre-Laurent Aimard. An entire concert  anchored around the concerpt of the etude sounds, on paper at least, dull; but despite its somewhat short measure (it finished at 9.10pm!), Aimard gave us an experience that was at once thought-provoking, surprising and ultimately uplifting.

The first half was dedicated to just one piece – Schumann's Etudes symphoniques (with the posthumous etudes inserted between the seventh and eighth etudesd of the original). I found Aimard's Warner recording of this rather dry and underwhelming. In concert, things were rather different. The chordal theme came from deep within, perfectly balanced by a pearly treble. Here, with the aid of an audience Aimard successfully projected a sense of the monumental. The major-key Etude III had real warmth while the fourth displayed elements of a Mendelssohn scherzo but with sharp, almost grotesque accents added. The circular figures of the first Posthumous Variation could perhaps have been a tad more warm, of human even – humanity, though, was definitely not lacking in the 'nocturne' (with its excellent, emphatically non-Chopinesque filigree). The finale bulldozed its way onto the scene, grand in conception but lacking the vital cumulative effect Schumann's insistent repetitions surely invoke.

Like many music publications, MusicWeb has a Concert of the Year. Aimard may have provided my 'Second Half of the Year', so impressive was Aimard's trawl; through paired etudes by Debussy, Chopin, Ligeti (the mainstay of this sequence) and Messiaen. This was truly inspired programming.  Aimard is inextricably linked with the Ligeti Etudes (masterpieces all, by the way). Ligeti's Etudes are most often heard as a group, so to have them juxtaposed with works that comprised a mini-history of the genre was a masterstroke.

Debussy's sideways glance at Czerny ('Pour les cinq doigts') paired well with the quasi-Debussian Ligeto of Ligeti's seventh Etude, 'Galamb borong' (the latter reveals whole-tone invocations of gamelan).Chopin, of course, is the Grand Master of etude composition. Aimard's delicious right-hand tone made the Op. 25/2 a special experience; Ligeti's stuttery Third Etude, 'Touches bloquées' was the perfect foil.

Aimard is not really known for his Rachmaninov, but his Etude-Tableau Op. 33/5 (E flat minor) was carefully pedalled and made one yearn for more. It was Rachmaninov's characteristic nostalgia that linked to Ligeti's 'Automne à Varsovie' (Etude 6), the latter's descending scales dripping hypnotically. Another Chopin/Ligeti juxtaposition brought complementary colours. The crepuscular indigo of the first Nouvelle Etude sat perfectly beside the multi-greened Ligeti study 11, 'En suspens'. A fairy-tale next, in the form of Liszt's Fifth Paganini Etude ('La chasse'), a partner to Ligeti's 'Fanfares', with its typically Ligetian ostinati.

Finally, some of Aimard's beloved Messiaen – the first of the 'Quatre Etudes de Rhythme ('Île de feu I'). Messiaen's total compositional mastery was clear in this dark piece, whose rhythmic shiftings are not so far removed from Ligeti's 'L'escalier du Diable' (the thirteenth etude). Aimard feeds off Ligeti's challenges as if they are his daily bread. It appeared in this performance that the very boundaries of the piano's capabilities were being stretched, generating an excitement that was sorely missed at the end of the Schumann.

 

Colin Clarke

 


Back to the Top     Back to the Index Page


Seen and Heard
, one of the longest established live music review web sites on the Internet, publishes original reviews of recitals, concerts and opera performances from the UK and internationally. We update often, and sometimes daily, to bring you fast reviews, each of which offers a breadth of knowledge and attention to performance detail that is sometimes difficult for readers to find elsewhere.

Seen and Heard publishes interviews with musicians, musicologists and directors which feature both established artists and lesser known performers. We also feature articles on the classical music industry and we use other arts media to connect between music and culture in its widest terms.

Seen and Heard aims to present the best in new criticism from writers with a radical viewpoint and welcomes contributions from all nations. If you would like to find out more email Regional Editor Bill Kenny.





 








Search Site  with FreeFind


 


Any Review or Article




 
Contributors: Marc Bridle, Martin Anderson, Patrick Burnson, Frank Cadenhead, Colin Clarke, Paul Conway, Geoff Diggines, Sarah Dunlop, Evan Dickerson Melanie Eskenazi (London Editor) Robert J Farr, Abigail Frymann, Göran Forsling,  Simon Hewitt-Jones, Bruce Hodges,Tim Hodgkinson, Martin Hoyle, Bernard Jacobson, Tristan Jakob-Hoff, Ben Killeen, Bill Kenny (Regional Editor), Ian Lace, John Leeman, Sue Loder,Jean Martin, Neil McGowan, Bettina Mara, Robin Mitchell-Boyask, Simon Morgan, Aline Nassif, Anne Ozorio, Ian Pace, John Phillips, Jim Pritchard, John Quinn, Peter Quantrill, Alex Russell, Paul Serotsky, Harvey Steiman, Christopher Thomas, Raymond Walker, John Warnaby, Hans-Theodor Wolhfahrt, Peter Grahame Woolf (Founder & Emeritus Editor)


Site design: Bill Kenny 2004