Aimard’s crystalline portrait of ‘Emperor’

Pierre-Laurent Aimard was only 19 when Pierre Boulez picked him, in 1976, as the pianist of the elite, newly formed Ensemble Intercontemporain. It wasn’t long afterward that other composers recognized what an amazing friend they had in this pianist with a sparkling tone, a keen sense of color, an almost superhuman rhythmic precision and the ability to make everything he plays seem to leap off the page. A favorite of Messiaen, he was also taken up by Ligeti, who wrote several of his nearly unplayable Etudes for Aimard.

Lately, this important specialist in contemporary music has shown another side as an exceptional Beethoven pianist. A year ago, he gave a startlingly fresh and exciting reading of the “Appassionata” Sonata at Carnegie Hall, and Teldec has issued a recording of that live performance. Soon to be released will be his recordings of the Beethoven piano concertos with conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt.

Thursday night at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Aimard played Beethoven’s Fifth Concerto, the “Emperor,” with the Philharmonic and Esa-Pekka Salonen, and he was as dazzling as ever.

What is most remarkable about Aimard is that he surprises and astonishes a listener with the self-evident. He does not have eccentric ways of playing, attention-getting novel approaches to war horses. But like many French musicians, he presents Beethoven with a sure sense of structure, treating the composer as a model of classical, logical thought.

Yet the first, and the lasting, impression of Aimard’s “Emperor” was the way he made every one of these logically expounded phrases in the music burst into vivid life. Perhaps it’s the utter clarity and brilliance of his playing that does it. But hearing him launch into Beethoven’s glittering runs and trills in the first bars was not unlike seeing stars in a clear desert night sky. We always know they are there, but when they are particularly bright they startle anew every time.

With Salonen as a sympathetic, alert colleague, Aimard was also able to sound spontaneous, integrating the orchestra’s individual, expressive ticks into his own style. There was a momentary lag in orchestral energy during the final movement, but as wonderful compensation pianist and orchestra provided a glowing, sustained, delicately colored beauty of the slow movement.

A short, convivial program for a harried time of year, it began with five orchestral excerpts from Mendelssohn’s incidental music to “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Salonen’s own music has a lot of the bright Mendelssohnian qualities to it, especially in its wit, color and textural intricacies. And he brings to Mendelssohn his own delight in dramatic rhythm.

The orchestra was kept small for both pieces. The Nocturne fell short of dreamy magic -- it was not a perfect night for the horns. But otherwise this was Mendelssohn with a spring in his step, a head buzzing with thoughts and lots of enchantment to spread.

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L.A. Philharmonic

Where: Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., L.A.

When: Today, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2:30 p.m.

Price: $14-$82

Contact: (323) 850-2000