Rediscovering Modernity

French pianist Pierre–Laurent Aimard, the newest artistic partner of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, returns this month to introduce listeners to a world of modern exoticism. In addition to playing concertos by Ravel and Mozart, Aimard will play Ligeti's Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, a piece influenced by, among other things, Pygmy polyphony music from Central Africa. Also featured is the second scene from Chinese Opera by Hungarian composer Peter Eötvös, a piece inspired by the rituals of the Far East.

Aimard is a brilliant performer. From his teens, he studied under French composer and conductor Pierre Boulez, and that modernist upbringing enlivens his entire repertoire. In fact, I must confess that I never cared for Boulez's own polyphonous experimentation—until I heard Aimard play Boulez at Carnegie Hall, after which I was an enthusiastic convert.

When Aimard is playing, you get the sense that he is acutely aware of the impact of every note, which results in music that has a compelling immediacy and relevance. At Carnegie Hall, the world he created was disorienting, and sometimes even disturbing, but I succumbed to it because Aimard's interpretation was so interesting.

Aimard likens his interpretive process to hearing a foreign language for the first time. "At the start, [a foreign language] can have a charm, but you don't understand it. Ligeti's language I speak very well—I have learned and spoken it for decades. It is such a rich language, so fantastic, it makes sense to try to learn it. I am here as an interpreter. Interpreters are not people to always repeat the same piece, but to discover new ones." June 1–3. Various locations, 651-291-1144

Reach Lani Willis at laniwillis@aol.com.