TT 468: Jeremy Denk in Recital

Beethoven, Ives, and American swing at the 92nd Street Y

• Beethoven, Sonata No. 27 in E Minor, Op. 90

• Joplin, Bethena

• Gottschalk, The Banjo

• William Bolcom, Graceful Ghost Rag from Three Ghost Rags

• Jule Styne, “Just in Time” (arr. Ethan Iverson, after Nina Simone)

• Beethoven, Sonata No. 31 in A-flat Major, Op. 110

[intermission]

• Ives, Sonata No. 2, “Concord, Mass., 1840–60”

Beethoven and Charles Ives is not a common pairing for major concert pianists, but Jeremy Denk went all in, making a strong case with a glittering jewel box of a program.

Most of the Beethoven sonatas are pretty famous, but op. 90 is perhaps a bit of dark horse. (Trivia: Denk has written a libretto based on Charles Rosen’s book The Classical Style, and the one time I saw Charles Rosen play a piano recital, he also started with op. 90.) The first movement wanders around with an abstracted air, then the finale offers direct song.

Op. 110 is a firm favorite for pianists and their public, and is also perhaps my personal choice from the last sonatas, especially the first movement, one of the most effective “medium tempo tuneful” sonata allegros. The slow movement has harsh corners that resolve into a healing counterpoint for a fugal finish.

Denk’s performances are virtuosic, poetic, and strongly characterized. The bass roars and the fast figuration glitters; the melodies sing over mists and thunderstorms. With such a player, one is reminded of the Busoni commandment: “Bach is the foundation of piano playing, Liszt is the summit. The two make Beethoven possible.”

In between the Beethoven sonatas were four dance cameos. I know all these pieces (in fact, I transcribed and arranged the Nina Simone performance of “Just in Time” specifically for Denk) but as I listened I realized I had never heard any of them live. They were all beautiful and beautifully played, and told an engaging story as a set. Joplin’s waltz “Bethena” is easy, almost something a competent home pianist can sight read, but only a professional like Denk can apply such a prismatic wealth of color. Gottschalk’s “The Banjo” used to be famous in the 19th century, but maybe it’s making a bit of a comeback these days as concert pianists explore their early American heritage. It’s a big piece, not for the faint of heart, but Denk aced it, of course. Bolcom’s “Graceful Ghost Rag” is a masterpiece, probably the single best-known rag not by Scott Joplin, and the pianist swung the melodies (it is written straight in Bolcom’s score). Nina Simone is famous as a singer but she was also a hell of a pianist; the elongated double-time phrasing in her solo choruses on “Just in Time” seem reminiscent of John Coltrane.

Denk is a comfortable public speaker, and he gave a marvelous verbal guide to the Concord Sonata before launching into a stunning performance.

I love Ives, and I like the Concord, but traditionally I feel like I am “outside looking in” whenever I listen to this landmark of American experimentation. “Does it all really work?” I have wondered more than once in the past. But Denk sold the Concord last night. The rhetoric of this obdurate composition was absolutely clear. I was mesmerized, and was the first one up out of my seat after the final Walden Pond piano notes drifted off into infinity.