# Pierre-Laurent Aimard



## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

I'm a big fan of Aimard but have noticed that many do not like his work as much as I do. Of course, he has made a lot of records of contemporary music and Messiaen... and these are generally widely appreciated by those who like the repertoire. But I wonder if this has made those who do not like the modern to be less inclined to give him a proper hearing in older repertoire? The same seemed to apply to Michael Gielen for much of his career.

My first encounter with him may have been his excellent Beethoven piano concertos with Harnoncourt. It was issued with blurb that at first he hadn't been interested in the project as he didn't believe he had anything new to say about such often performed masterpieces. Apparently Harnoncourt had persuaded him that he would and he found, so the story goes, that he did. And we found it, too! 

Since then he has recorded Bach - a wonderful (to my ear) Art of Fugue and Book 1 of the WTC, a recording that was supposed to be followed by a recording of Book 2 that never appeared (perhaps his Book 1 had not stirred sufficient commercial success?). We have also had one of the very few totally convincing Dvorak piano concertos from him and more recently a really great Hammerklavier. 

I rarely see these records mentioned on these pages. The critical consensus seems to agree with my assessment of these records but it is not clear to me that the public agree. Where do you stand? Are you a fan? If not what is it you don't like? And if you just haven't tried him much what is it that stops you.


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## SearsPoncho (Sep 23, 2020)

I believe the only time I ever heard him was when I saw him in concert with the Cleveland Orchestra. He played the Schumann Piano Concerto. He was good but the whole thing was pedestrian and unremarkable. I don't know if the fault lay with him or Welser-Most. I had to fight off sleep the whole time! I believe I came after work, so perhaps I was just too tired.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

There are so many choices for older repertoire so probably not many will choose Aimard. I have his 6 disc Teldec box. He is best known for his Ligeti, and Messiaen but he has recorded pieces by Carter, Debussy, Beethoven, Ives, Berg, Boulez, and Ravel, among others.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

The thing I've enjoyed most from him on record is ‎Lachenmann's Ausklang 

Ausklang, Musik für Klavier mit Orchester - YouTube 

In concert I enjoyed very much some Stockhausen. There was also a Beethoven 110, Beethoven 106 and a Mozart 595. 

I think the AoF is not for me, he just seems to bang his way through the later cpti, just zero finesse or soul. I haven't heard his other Bach. From memory the Boulez is OK.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

I'm a big fan of Aimard's recordings and wish he had recorded more Bach.


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## Bwv 1080 (Dec 31, 2018)

Made a great recording of several Carter pieces, including _Night Fantasies_ along with Ravel's _Gaspard de la nuit_. Also played on this recording, which I highly recommend


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## mossyembankment (Jul 28, 2020)

his recording of Debussy's Preludes is the only one I listen to


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## mrravioli (Feb 2, 2014)

i got to know him when i started listening to contemporary music for piano, and end up liking pretty much all his 20 century repertoire recording. so i just followed up and listened to some of the classic recordings and enjoyed them. but as mentioned above, for those who mostly care about the older repertoire probably most wouldn't even think of him as a choice


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## lextune (Nov 25, 2016)

I enjoyed his Beethoven Appassionata sonata on his live from Carnegie Hall disc years ago, and it also had a recording of Liszt's St. Francois Legend that was absolutely fantastic. So much so that it put him on my radar for Liszt recordings.

Then in 2011, for the Liszt Bicentennial, he put out a two disc set called 'The Liszt Project' which not only has tremendous Liszt interpretations on it, but also pairs those Liszt pieces with recordings of Ravel, Scriabin, Bartok, Berg etc. highlighting Liszt's influences on those composers. It is a brilliant set.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

Well, I guess the response (or lack of it) demonstrates what I was expecting about Aimard on this forum - not a lot of love or appreciation. I am one of those listeners who likes to hear a great many recordings of music and often enjoys many very different ones. But I also quite often find myself thinking particularly highly of performers who are not greatly liked here except by a few. 

I do often agree with others about other greats even when I think we overrate them here but there are some who are widely enjoyed who I find a bit dull or "generic" (= "sound and reliable but nothing that special to say"). This is yet again one of the mysteries of tastes varying widely but I do sometimes wonder how it is that quite often what are peak experiences for me are just dull or ordinary for others. Aimard is certainly a pianist who has thrilled me more often than many noted greats and who I nearly always find at least interesting. Many critics seem to agree with me while few members do here! I don't want to say that the critics get it right while lay listeners (whether musicians or not) don't but I do wonder if (like Gielen, who I mentioned in my OP) Aimard will one day suddenly become a craze.


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## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

Enthusiast said:


> Well, I guess the response (or lack of it) demonstrates what I was expecting about Aimard on this forum - not a lot of love or appreciation. I am one of those listeners who likes to hear a great many recordings of music and often enjoys many very different ones. But I also quite often find myself thinking particularly highly of performers who are not greatly liked here except by a few.
> 
> I do often agree with others about other greats even when I think we overrate them here but there are some who are widely enjoyed who I find a bit dull or "generic" (= "sound and reliable but nothing that special to say"). This is yet again one of the mysteries of tastes varying widely but I do sometimes wonder how it is that quite often what are peak experiences for me are just dull or ordinary for others. Aimard is certainly a pianist who has thrilled me more often than many noted greats and who I nearly always find at least interesting. Many critics seem to agree with me while few members do here! I don't want to say that the critics get it right while lay listeners (whether musicians or not) don't but I do wonder if (like Gielen, who I mentioned in my OP) Aimard will one day suddenly become a craze.


I don't know many of Aimard's recordings but will keep an eye out for them. Maybe it's a bit like Pollini, who receives a lot of respect but quite a bit less love. I'm not suggesting that Aimard plays anything like Pollini, only that some people consider them cerebral. Both include modernist works (different ones!) in their recorded repertoire. Pollini plays quite a bit of classical music, classically, and that precluded the possibility of a "burn-down-the-barn" evening when I heard him in concert. Yet on record, Pollini's Chopin Barcarolle is as captivating as any that I've heard.


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