Pierre-Laurent Aimard: an Etude too far?

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  • Lento
    Full Member
    • Jan 2014
    • 646

    Pierre-Laurent Aimard: an Etude too far?

    I wonder how many radio listeners persevered to the end of this recital of Etudes by Debussy, Ligeti, Bartok, Scriabin and Chopin (Monday 23rd June 7.30pm)? It was too esoteric for me on a warm night, so I gave up at the interval. All very educational and enlightening I'm sure, but I went away with the ungenerous thought that it was inconsiderate programming!
  • Serial_Apologist
    Full Member
    • Dec 2010
    • 37814

    #2
    Originally posted by Lento View Post
    I wonder how many radio listeners persevered to the end of this recital of Etudes by Debussy, Ligeti, Bartok, Scriabin and Chopin (Monday 23rd June 7.30pm)? It was too esoteric for me on a warm night, so I gave up at the interval. All very educational and enlightening I'm sure, but I went away with the ungenerous thought that it was inconsiderate programming!
    Well there's always Classic FM!

    Comment

    • Lento
      Full Member
      • Jan 2014
      • 646

      #3
      Ouch! That would be a step too far. Did you listen to it, SA, btw?

      Comment

      • Bryn
        Banned
        • Mar 2007
        • 24688

        #4
        Originally posted by Serial_Apologist View Post
        Well there's always Classic FM!
        Ouch!

        Comment

        • Pianorak
          Full Member
          • Nov 2010
          • 3128

          #5
          I sat through it, stoically - alwas suspected I might have a masochistic streak.
          My life, each morning when I dress, is four and twenty hours less. (J Richardson)

          Comment

          • gradus
            Full Member
            • Nov 2010
            • 5622

            #6
            I thought about going as it looked an interesting mix, typically Aldeburgh, but better perhaps on the page than in practice.

            Comment

            • Serial_Apologist
              Full Member
              • Dec 2010
              • 37814

              #7
              Originally posted by Lento View Post
              Ouch! That would be a step too far. Did you listen to it, SA, btw?
              No, I was out last evening - and just about to do ditto in a few moments, making the most now of what looks likely to become a mixed summer weatherwise, Lento. I will get around to it though. This is, after all, the kind of Radio 3 we once knew and loved, and was worth staying indoors for!

              Comment

              • french frank
                Administrator/Moderator
                • Feb 2007
                • 30456

                #8
                Originally posted by Lento View Post
                II went away with the ungenerous thought that it was inconsiderate programming!
                'Inconsiderate' rather than 'unconsidered' ... I see the interval includes 'Ă©tudes or studies for orchestra by Szymanowski, Stravinsky, Arthur Bliss and Frank Martin'. Might be worth working on in smaller chunks? http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0477jsj
                It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.

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                • Bryn
                  Banned
                  • Mar 2007
                  • 24688

                  #9
                  Looks like inspired programme building to me. I will be catching up with it later today.

                  Comment

                  • BBMmk2
                    Late Member
                    • Nov 2010
                    • 20908

                    #10
                    Hmmm not too daunting a prospect for me either Bryn! I will look it up deffo!! :)
                    Don’t cry for me
                    I go where music was born

                    J S Bach 1685-1750

                    Comment

                    • Richard Tarleton

                      #11
                      Originally posted by Bryn View Post
                      Looks like inspired programme building to me. I will be catching up with it later today.
                      I was at this concert! We attended three concerts in the final week of the Festival, just back today.

                      As a Ligeti rookie I think one really needed to have been in Aldeburgh for the whole Festival, as there was a Ligeti thread running through the three weeks - with a lecture by P-L Aimard and several masterclasses in weeks 1-2. The day after the concert (24 June) the students were due to play all 18 Ligeti studies at 11 am without a break - I'm afraid I went birdwatching There are many pages of articles and notes in the Festival programme, a good platform for further exploration - though I was very conscious of being insufficiently prepared.

                      The presentation was challenging, 12 etudes played without a break in each half. I had to keep peering at the programme to make sure where we'd got to. The Chopin studies came as a useful waymarker. The juxtaposition of the composers made total sense even to my relatively innocent ear.

                      Challenging too for P-L's page-turner, as he played everything from the music, eyes on the page even during some of the most fiendish passages. She dumped a pile of sheet music on the piano's music stand at the start of each half and he just worked his way through it. Remarkable - you need to have been there, in the Maltings' amazing acoustic - was the end of the last study - L'Escalier du Diable (dedicated to Aimard) - he froze at the end of his final dramatic flourish, for - it may have been a minute, perhaps two - while the sound of the last chord died, willing the audience to extract the last drop of sound from it.

                      We ate in the Plough and Sail beforehand, diagonally across the dining room from Tom Service and the R3 team - TS busily doing his homework from the programme notes. I couldn't see what he ate, though

                      Our other 2 concerts were easy listening by comparison - I'll review them on the What was your last concert thread.
                      Last edited by Guest; 29-06-14, 15:09. Reason: typo

                      Comment

                      • Lento
                        Full Member
                        • Jan 2014
                        • 646

                        #12
                        Originally posted by Richard Tarleton View Post
                        I had to keep peering at the programme to make sure where we'd got to.
                        It was a little confusing on the radio, as you might imagine. A bit more advanced preparation would definitely have helped me!

                        Comment

                        • Honoured Guest

                          #13
                          Five-star review in The Guardian.

                          Comment

                          • Richard Tarleton

                            #14
                            Originally posted by Honoured Guest View Post
                            Five-star review in The Guardian.
                            Indeed, here's the link

                            Comment

                            • Sir Velo
                              Full Member
                              • Oct 2012
                              • 3259

                              #15
                              Originally posted by Richard Tarleton View Post
                              I was at this concert! We attended three concerts in the final week of the Festival, just back today.

                              As a Ligeti rookie I think one really needed to have been in Aldeburgh for the whole Festival, as there was a Ligeti thread running through the three weeks - with a lecture by P-L Aimard and several masterclasses in weeks 1-2. The day after the concert (24 June) the students were due to play all 18 Ligeti studies at 11 am without a break - I'm afraid I went birdwatching There are many pages of articles and notes in the Festival programme, a good platform for further exploration - though I was very conscious of being insufficiently prepared.

                              The presentation was challenging, 12 etudes played without a break in each half. I had to keep peering at the programme to make sure where we'd got to. The Chopin studies came as a useful waymarker. The juxtaposition of the composers made total sense even to my relatively innocent ear.

                              Challenging too for P-L's page-turner, as he played everything from the music, eyes on the page even during some of the most fiendish passages. She dumped a pile of sheet music on the piano's music stand at the start of each half and he just worked his way through it. Remarkable - you need to have been there, in the Maltings' amazing acoustic - was the end of the last study - L'Escalier du Diable (dedicated to Aimard) - he froze at the end of his final dramatic flourish, for - it may have been a minute, perhaps two - while the sound of the last chord died, willing the audience to extract the last drop of sound from it.
                              They are marvellous pieces aren't they RT? Vertiginously virtuosic. A real high wire act. No doubt you've already snapped up P-LA's Sony Classical coupling of the Etudes with the relatively lightweight Musica Ricercata?

                              Comment

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