Two giants celebrate birthdays

In 2025, the music world celebrates the round birthdays of two French composers of superlatives: Maurice Ravel (150) and Pierre Boulez (100). Ravel was born on 7 March 1875, Boulez on 26 March 1925.

The ‘615313’ was still almost warm when it arrived just a few days after the recording of the Well-Tempered Clavier II from Berlin at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt. Inspired by the tonal precision and the richness of timbres of the ‘615313’, Pierre-Laurent Aimard decided at short notice to play the young piano duo protagonist again for his programme with Boulez and Ravel and to initiate him into the high art of French sound aesthetics.

Of course, the ‘615313’ had to change a lot in terms of sound and mechanics after the Bach recording in the Teldex Studio in Berlin: Its sound density had to be greatly increased, because the main hall of the Alte Oper, with its (estimated) well over 20,000 cubic metres and approximately 2,400 seats, has very good acoustics, but also very challenging ones due to its large, elongated volume. To make a clear, sparkling mezzoforte or even pianissimo sound reach the top of the house (the highest tier at the Alte Oper is called the Olymp) is an enormous challenge for a grand piano and its tuning.

But listen yourself: the concert was a tonal revelation, brilliantly played by the renowned Boulez expert and sound magician Pierre-Laurent Aimard. The repetitions and sparkling cascades of sound alone made the concert an incomparable experience, at times akin to the transition between dream and reality. The concert was broadcast live by Hessischer Rundfunk, and you can listen to and enjoy the piano extracts from it here exclusively!