French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard makes a return to North America this season, with a Toronto appearance at Koerner Hall on February 28. The tour was launched in part to honour friend and late mentor Pierre Boulez, whose 100th birthday falls this March.
Along with the Toronto date, he’ll perform two recitals at New York’s Carnegie Hall and Québec City in March.
His Toronto and New York dates emphasize the Boulez connection.
Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Pierre Boulez
Pierre-Laurent Aimard was born in Lyon, France, where he began his music studies at the Conservatoire. He’d later study privately with Yvonne Liord (second wife of Olivier Messiaen), and Italian pianist and teacher Maria Curcio.
In 1973, at the age of 16, he won the chamber music prize at the Paris Conservatoire — and later that year, first prize a the Olivier Messiaen Competition.
Aimard’s musical and personal history with Pierre Boulez (1925–2016), a giant of 20th century classical music, began when Boulez invited the then 19-year-old pianist to become a founding member of Ensemble Intercontemporain. Boulez founded EIC specifically to explore new compositional and performance techniques, including his own music.
Aimard frequently collaborated with the influential composer and conductor, including premiering his work Répons, and many recordings, one of which snagged a Grammy nomination.
Prior to Boulez’ death, Aimard talked about working with him as both composer and mentor in an interview. “Almost every rehearsal was a music lesson, a way to discover a piece, little by little. … He likes to put interpreters at the border of what’s possible and what is not. If you like that, it’s incredibly exciting.”
Since that time, Pierre-Laurent has been a strong advocate of Boulez’ work, and more broadly, of 20th century music.
The Program
Aimard will perform three of Boulez’ major works for solo piano at his Toronto recital:
- Piano Sonata No. 1 (1946; revised 1949)
- Piano Sonata No. 2 (1948)
- 12 Notations / Douze Notations pour piano (1945)
For Toronto, he’ll add:
- Ludwig van Beethoven: 7 Bagatelles, op. 33
- Ludwig van Beethoven: 11 Bagatelles, op. 119
- Arnold Schoenberg: Six Little Piano Pieces, op.19
- Anton Webern: Variations for Piano, op. 27
- Claude Debussy: Études, L. 136 (3. Pour les quartes; 7. Pour les degrés chromatiques; 11. Pour les arpéges composés)
He’ll play the same program at Club musical de Québec (March 10). At New York’s Carnegie Hall (March 2), he’ll add Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit, Schoenberg’s Five Pieces, and selections from Bartók’s Mikrokosmos to the Boulez works.
Aimard’s tour continues to perform Ravel with The Philadelphia Orchestra and conductor Michael Tilson Thomas (March 7 – 9), Bartók with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and Tianyi Li (March 12 & 13), and Debussy with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Esa-Pekka Salonen (May 8, 10, & 11).
- Find more details and tickets for his February 28 Toronto recital [HERE].
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