Ravel et Liszt

After I returned home from Versailles on Saturday, I left shortly afterwards with my host father to a concert. My host mom is a piano professor at a conservatory school, École Normale de Musique de Paris, and invited me earlier in the week to attend her colleague’s concert. As a pianist myself, I of course wanted to go. We took the RER as well as the metro to get to the venue, Salle Cortot, which is located at 78 Rue Cardinet in the 17^th arrondissement.

The recital hall, Salle Cortot, was built in 1929 by the architect August Perret. Salle Cortot is named after the pianist Alfred Cortot who established the École Normale de Musique de Paris in 1919. Cortot wanted a place for his students to perform and thus hired Perret to make this happen. The concert hall can seat 400 people in its two levels, orchestra and balcony, and was built in the “Art Deco” style. Perret was inspired by the idea of Greek ampitheaters and constructed this hall in a similar manner in order to obtain good acoustics.  

When we arrived at the Salle Cortot, we bought our tickets, got our programs and headed to the balcony level to find seats. The view of the piano from the balcony was incredible. It was a Steinway & Sons piano, the same brand of piano that I played on and performed on for many years as a pianist back home.

At about 8:45 my host mom went on stage and said a few words to the audience about silencing phones and what not. Afterwards the pianist Jean Luc Ayroles walked on stage and sat down in front of the beautiful, at least 7 foot, grand piano. A hush went upon the crowd; it was so quiet you could hear the rustling of a program. And then it began. I had never seen hands move so fast. The balcony was a prime place for this concert since the pieces that were performed were filled with glissandos, cross-over’s, and lots of fast repetitive chords in both hands.

The first half of the concert, Ayroles played pieces by Ravel. The first was Jeux d’eau and the second was Gaspard de la Nuit which was composed of three parts: Ondine, Le Gibet, and Scarbo. My personal favorite was Jeux d’eau and the Scarbo part of Gaspard de la Nuit. After he performed these pieces there was a short 5 minute intermission. The second half of the concert, Ayroles played the Sonate en si m by Liszt. This piece was amazing, intense, and filled with emotion. I wish I was able to record the whole recital so you guys could be in awe of this outstanding musician.

After the last note was played of Liszt, the hall was filled with applause. Followed by more applause. Ayroles bowed and left the stage. This however did not stop the crowd from continuing their applause. I’m used to seeing this happen at recitals and the musician comes out again for another bow. However, I have never seen it happen so many times. I kid you not Ayroles came out to bow at least three more times after that and also did an encore for the audience. It was incredible. I am so fortunate to have been a part of this experience as well as to be placed in a host family that has such a strong connection to one of my biggest passions: piano. After the applause ended, the audience as well as Ayroles gathered in a small room for wine and desserts. Since I did not know anybody there and therefore did not talk too much, I was able to observe the atmosphere around me. Most of the members of the audience went up and talked to Ayroles and to tell him “bravo!” on his performance. Ayroles seemed like a genuine and charismatic person and it was nice that he stayed to talk to the members of the audience.

Look up the pieces he performed at the concert so you can see the level of difficulty and the technique required to play such challenging pieces! Here are some links of other pianists playing these pieces: Jeux d'eau, Gaspard de la nuit, and Sonate en si m.