WORKING HIS WAY BACK TO BRAHMS AIMARD RETURNS FROM AVANT-GARDE.

Byline: David Mermelstein Correspondent

Many words aptly describe the French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard, but ``enigma'' may be the best of all. How else to explain the seemingly sudden ascendancy of a virtuoso soon to be 50? Or his unusual ability to sound equally at home in both Mozart and the astringent modernism of Elliott Carter?

Certainly his retiring stage presence doesn't suggest the sort of artist who has critics leapfrogging over each other to praise him ever more ecstatically. Yet they do.

For almost two decades, Aimard was known, if at all, as an exponent of the avant-garde, the house pianist of Pierre Boulez's IRCAM center in Paris. Then, in 1995, he decided to leave what had become his comfort zone.

``I've always been happy in different roles: chamber music, solo, accompanying singers,'' he said recently via phone from Cologne, Germany, where he was teaching. ``I stayed at IRCAM for 18 years. Sometimes you just have to change.''

Aimard, 48, is no stranger to Los Angeles, having performed with the L.A. Philharmonic on two previous occasions - most recently in December 2002, and before that in two of the orchestra's Green Umbrella programs. But tonight through Sunday, he's offering something special, his first performances of Brahms' challenging Piano Concerto No. 1 with an American orchestra - and the event signals his re-evaluation of the piece. He had played the concerto in the past, but unsuccessfully in his estimation.

Brahms is hard to make well,'' he says. ``You are never really ready, but you must have years and experience - after Schumann and Beethoven, when you are in your mid-40s, I think. I hope it will not be the disaster like last time!''

Though nerves are understandable, Aimard shouldn't worry. David Robertson, with whom he has performed this concerto in Lyon, will be guest-conducting this weekend.

Robertson, currently the music director of the St. Louis Symphony, was born in Santa Monica but lived in Paris for years, joining IRCAM about a year before Aimard left.

And they have collaborated frequently. ``This gives us a knowledge of each other,'' says Aimard, ``and this has value in a life where you make a lot of intimate music with people you don't really know.

Like Aimard, Robertson is highly regarded for his advocacy of new music, so hearing what they make of the Brahms concerto should be interesting and might even upend some listeners' preconceptions.

But there's nothing wrong with that, says Anthony Tommasini, chief music critic of The New York Times. He especially lauds Aimard's technical skills and the freshness of his approach.

``He hears what's crazy and modern in these pieces naturally,'' says the critic. ``When he plays music by Debussy and Ravel, he's saying, `This is 20th-century music, folks.'''

Not that Aimard is some sort of musical radical, infusing what he plays with an agenda.

``We are trying to bring a piece from the past or today to life,'' says the pianist. ``And we want to present, hopefully, a certain level of truth.

``We are servants of the piece.''

DAVID ROBERTSON CONDUCTS THE L.A. PHILHARMONIC, WITH PIANIST PIERRE-LAURENT AIMARD

What: French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard plays Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 1, with guest conductor David Robertson directing the orchestra. Dvorak's Symphony No. 8 fills out the program, though not tonight.

Where: Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles.

When: 8 tonight and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday.

Tickets: $15 to $129. [phone]. www.laphil.com.

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

PIERRE-LAURENT AIMARD