{"id":11125,"date":"2013-04-01T20:31:20","date_gmt":"2013-04-02T01:31:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=11125"},"modified":"2013-04-01T20:31:20","modified_gmt":"2013-04-02T01:31:20","slug":"concert-appreciation-pianist-william-aide-so-suave-and-wise-at-walter-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2013\/04\/01\/concert-appreciation-pianist-william-aide-so-suave-and-wise-at-walter-hall\/","title":{"rendered":"Concert appreciation: Pianist William Aide so suave and wise at Walter Hall"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"William<\/a>
William Aide and Douglas MacNaughton at Walter Hall on April 1 (John Terauds phone photo).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Retired University of Toronto professor William Aide, one of this country’s finest collaborative pianists, threw himself a recital on Monday night at Walter Hall in honour of his 75th birthday. He played a programme of Debussy, Brahms, Buczynski and Chopin to a small but devoted audience.<\/p>\n

It had been several years since I’d heard Aide play, and wanted to catch up with this supremely elegant pianist.<\/p>\n

I can’t think of another word than suave to describe Aide’s playing on Monday. His performance of two pieces by Debussy — “Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l’air du soir” (Sounds and scents swirl in the evening air) from his Pr\u00e9ludes<\/em> and “Reflets dans l’eau” (Reflections in water) from Images<\/em> — was magical, capturing the elusive shapes and colours in fleeting figures and harmonies so delicately as to make us forget that the piano is a percussion instrument.<\/p>\n

But the vagueness of purpose (which was, of course, all artifice) that suited Debussy’s music so beautifully made the two Op. 118 Intermezzi<\/em> (Nos. 3 & 6) by Johannes Brahms a bit dull, almost cursory. They were interwoven with two poems of Aide’s that fellow Torontonian Walter Buczynski had set to music.<\/p>\n

Baritone Douglas MacNaughton did a fine job of making something of the composer’s awfully dull songs, which\u00a0 contain a quote or two from Brahms in their atonal sound world.<\/p>\n

But it was Aide’s poetry that affected me the most of all on Monday evening.<\/p>\n

I’m a longtime lover and admirer of Brahms’ music while also being perpetually intimidated by it, and Aide’s verses in “Why I Like Brahms” perfectly expressed what makes this composer so special.<\/p>\n

His poem encapsulates all the things performer and listener alike need to be aware of when approaching the music:<\/p>\n

Because he admired married sopranos
\nand was too scarred to misbehave.<\/p>\n

Because his adoration of the Kaiser
\nescaped the notice of Hermann Goering.<\/p>\n

Because his first piano concerto broke
\na certain sound barrier in Timmins, Ontario. [Aide’s birthplace]<\/p>\n

Because his genius moved forward
\nBy reconstructing the past.<\/p>\n

Because he was a smooth looker when young
\nand a dumpy trotting silhouette when old.<\/p>\n

Because he went to a lunatic Robert Schumann
\nwhen Clara couldn’t or wouldn’t.<\/p>\n

Because his frugal bourgeois life remained
\ngregarious and lonely.<\/p>\n

Because he buried his beloved Clara
\nand saved her husband’s symphony while she lived.<\/p>\n

Because he loved intelligent contraltos
\nand never wrote an opera.<\/p>\n

Because as any donkey can see he follows
\nthe giant behind him.<\/p>\n

Because his fourth symphony
\nis worthy of King Lear.<\/p>\n

Because he wanted to be
\nbetter than his music.<\/p>\n

Because he never ceases to defy, exalt, console
\nour helpless mortality.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There is nothing more anyone can add.<\/p>\n

John Terauds<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Retired University of Toronto professor William Aide, one of this country’s finest collaborative pianists, threw himself a recital on Monday night at Walter Hall in honour of his 75th birthday. He played a programme of Debussy, Brahms, Buczynski and Chopin to a small but devoted audience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11128,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3,76,19,36,47,52,56,63,1],"tags":[6451,462,544,857,1082,6468,3584],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2013\/04\/duo.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-2Tr","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11125"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11125\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11125"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=11125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}