Peter Herwitz praises a CD of...

>...Pierre-Laurent Aimard at Carnegie Hall.  I have heard little of Aimard
>in the past but that will soon change.  He is a superb player, sensitive,
>nuanced, with a tremendous technique and command of structure...
>
>The program consists of the Berg piano sonata, Beethoven Appassionata,
>Liszt Legendes No. 2, some Debussy Images, some Ligetti Etudes, and
>one piece from Messaien's Vingt Regardes.  ...quite a disc and a
>revelation.

As are Aimard's various Ligeti recordings.  Teldec's The Ligeti Project,
Vol 1, with Reinbert de Leeuw conducting the Asko Ensemble, includes his
Piano Concerto -- but I think that series was discontinued.  Pierre Boulez
also chose Aimard as the soloist on his own recording of Ligeti's PC
(Deutsche Grammophon 439 808-2).

In what must be a record of another kind, Aimard also plays Ligeti
for a third label:  Sony.  Two CDs in their series are especially
recommendable:  one has works for four-hands piano and two pianos, for
organ, for harpsichord, and some for piano solo (62307); another collects
Ligeti's solo piano works (62308).  This last features Aimard; in the
former CD he plays secondo to Irina Kataeva.

This varied CD made a superb starting point for me in the music of Ligeti,
who was then new to me.  But if Aimard's what you're after, the solo piano
CD is a no-brainer.

>Ahh the feeling of money well spent (when you don't have much money it's
>important not to waste it on stinky cds but rather on good ones;)

I gather the Carnegie Hall recording is already nla -- so, while sad for
the rest of us, your $ was doubly well-spent.  Maybe as a result of the
Teldec experience, however, the mentioned Sony CDs are at mid-price.

Bert B, in Ottawa