Pianists on Beethoven
Two giants of the piano discuss the challenges and rewards of performing Beethoven, and Emanuel Ax plays a favorite Beethoven sonata.
I am not an expert on piano, don't even know how to play, but having the chance to listen to the two Giants talking about the experience, questions of performing Beethoven, is such an pleasant experience. Emanuel Ax successfully visualized the language of piano. He talked about the balance of architecture, the technique of changing tempo, and the accurate arrangement of the whole score, which was really easy to understand and completely enlightening. It is like being a child again and enjoy the wisdom of the senior, what a bliss and luxury.
And I noticed the Emanuel Ax's resemblance to Jack Nicholson, one of the actors that I like, especially the way he talks.
Pierre-Laurent Aimard
Pierre-Laurent Aimard Pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard performs throughout the world each season with major orchestras under conductors including Pierre Boulez, Christoph von Dohnányi, Christoph Eschenbach, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Seiji Ozawa, Sir Simon Rattle, David Robertson, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Franz Welser-Möst. During the 2006–07 season he curated and performed in his own “Perspectives” series at Carnegie Hall, and a “carte blanche” at the Vienna Konzerthaus, and was pianist-in-residence with the Berlin Philharmonic.
In the 2007–08 season Mr. Aimard is artistic director of the Messiaen Festival at Southbank Centre, London, and artist-in-residence at both the Salzburg Mozarteum and The Cleveland Orchestra. The Cité de la Musique in Paris has invited him to curate a “Domaine privé,” and he continues as artistic partner with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. Mr. Aimard holds professorships in Cologne and Paris, and gives concert lectures and workshops worldwide. He was the recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Instrumentalist Award in spring 2005.
Born in Lyon, France, in 1957, Pierre-Laurent Aimard studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Yvonne Loriod, and in London with Maria Curcio. Early career landmarks included first prize in the 1973 Messiaen Competition, and an appointment at age 19 by Pierre Boulez to become the Ensemble InterContemporain’s first solo pianist. For more than 15 years Mr. Aimard collaborated closely with György Ligeti, recording his complete works.
Pierre-Laurent Aimard has been honored with ECHO Classic Awards in both 2003 and 2004. His recording of Ives’s Concord Sonata and songs with mezzo-soprano Susan Graham was a Grammy Award winner in 2005. Recent releases include discs of music by Ravel and Elliott Carter, Schumann, and Mozart piano concertos with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, which he directed from the keyboard. In August 2007 he signed an exclusive recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon. His first disc under this agreement, Bach: Art of Fugue, is due for release in spring 2008. Mr. Aimard last appeared with the New York Philharmonic in June 2006, performing Elliott Carter’s Dialogues for Piano and Chamber Orchestra and Stravinsky’s Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments, led by Lorin Maazel.
Emanuel Ax
Emanuel Ax Pianist Emanuel Ax captured public attention in 1974 when, at age 25, he won the first Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition, in Tel Aviv. In 1975 he won the Michaels Award of Young Concert Artists and, four years later, took the coveted Avery Fisher Prize.
In the 2006–07 season, as an “On Location” artist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, he will contribute to a series of chamber and orchestral programs centered around Mozart and Strauss works. With his wife, pianist Yoko Nozaki, a project with the Mark Morris Dance Company, originally presented at New York’s Mostly Mozart Festival in the summer of 2006, will be repeated in Vienna and London in 2007. Tours will include a series of West Coast performances of Mozart concertos with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra; Florida appearances with the Atlanta Symphony conducted by Robert Spano, a 10-city recital tour; duo recitals with bassist Edgar Meyer in spring 2007; and concerts in Japan with his long-standing colleague and partner, cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
Mr. Ax last appeared with the New York Philharmonic earlier this season, on the Orchestra’s Opening Night, September 13, 2006, performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto for Two Pianos in E-flat major, K.316a, with Yefim Bronfman.