Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Klavier

French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard describes the music of his fellow countryman Olivier Messiaen as his »mother tongue«. This is not surprising, since he studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Messiaen’s second wife, Yvonne Loriod; in 1973, at the age of 16, Aimard won the first prize at the Messiaen competition and in 2009 he won an Echo Klassik for his solo album »Hommage à Messiaen«. In his recital, he presents excerpts from »Vingt regards sur l’enfant Jésus«, one of the central piano works of this deeply religious composer, whose thinking and writing was strongly influenced by his Catholic faith. Aimard combines the Messiaen with excerpts from the »The Well-Tempered Clavier« by Johann Sebastian Bach, which he recently recorded, and György Kurtág’s work-in-progress »Játékok« (»Games«).