Jeremy Denk Essays Beethoven, Ives and Ragtime
- Timothy Mangan
- Apr 10
- 4 min read
REVIEW: The American pianist’s ambitious program, anchored by the “Concord Sonata,” proves a little less than its parts.
Pianist Jeremy Denk, who gave what in many ways was an exemplary recital in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall on Thursday night, is one of the most intelligent musicians working today. You hear it when he plays, you hear it when he talks, you read it when he writes. Nor is it merely an academic intelligence, but a warm and even pleasant one. Denk seems like a fine fellow.
Nevertheless, his recital Thursday left me a little cold. I don’t think one (if you share my impression) could fault the playing. It was as near to perfection as anyone could ask. Not only was it technically flawless, but it was also spontaneous, sensitive, communicative and poetic. It hit on all cylinders, and in an exceedingly difficult (for listener and player alike) program, too.
The program itself was somewhat at fault. It matched late Beethoven with Charles Ives. It connected the dots admirably. But it played out a little too much like the demonstration of an idea, or like a senior recital at Juilliard after which the graduate (for surely he’d graduate) could brag, “I played both Beethoven’s Op. 110 and Ives’ ‘Concord Sonata’ on the same concert!”
Honestly, I don’t know what a musician could effectively pair with the “Concord.” It is perhaps unpairable. Do you know it? (Skip ahead if you do.) It is 45 minutes of Ives at his wildest, crashing, thumping, hammering and racing dissonances, with acerbically spiritual asides and a dash or three of quotations of good old American tunes thrown in for the usual good measure. And the first four notes of Beethoven’s Fifth repeated ad nauseam. It is the kitchen sink of piano sonatas, the “Everything Everywhere All at Once” of piano sonatas. In a word, a mess. A lovable mess, maybe, you decide, but a mess.
Denk gave a friendly and helpful spoken introduction to it, ending with “And if you’ve never heard it, good luck!” He then proceeded to play it from memory, or what we all took for memory. He could have made a lot of it up as he went along. It’s that kind of piece. No, he didn’t make it up. He played it magnificently, storming the heavens, igniting the explosions, turning somersaults, etc. He did full and fine service to it.
How does one listen to the “Concord”? You need a strategy, more than Ives’ suggestion that you should listen “like a man!” It helps to know something about it (more than I’ve told you here), certainly, but in the end it may be best just to empty your mind, dash all hopes and expectations, and let the whole thing wash over you like a tidal wave, in a dream state. Maybe I’m wrong. Thursday night’s audience seemed to like it well enough, judging from the bravos and ovation.
Microphone in hand, Denk gave brief, spoken prefaces to each of the pieces on the agenda. He told stories about them, stories that allowed the listener to make sense of the pieces as they subsequently rolled out. He even told a story that was probably concocted (without telling us it was concocted) by Beethoven’s biographer Anton Schindler about the Piano Sonata, Op. 90, which opened the concert, because it was helpful in listening to the piece.
I don’t really mind performers speaking at concerts, at least if they are as well spoken and pertinent as Denk. But Denk (and performers) should understand that said speaking does change the atmosphere at a concert, takes some of the mystery out of it, and the person performing. It turns an artistic event into a learning opportunity, at least to a small degree. Professor Denk will now demonstrate to you Beethoven’s penultimate piano sonata, Op. 110.
Denk is also a storyteller when he plays. He finds the through line and grabs it and never lets it go, shades it, urges it, coaxes it. He has the tools. He leaves room for spontaneity as well. He’s listening as he goes along (not just playing to a set plan) and reacts to the music, makes it do what it has to do at that moment, in that space. That’s how his Op. 110 sounded Thursday.
The Beethoven connected to the Ives, who idolized Beethoven. Denk added three pieces of “Americana” to seal the Ives theme. These pieces were Joplin’s “Bethena” concert waltz, Gottschalk’s “The Banjo” and William Bolcom’s “Graceful Ghost Rag.” He played them with great care and sensitivity and grandeur, as if they were by Chopin, while also capturing their snazziness.
If you’ve gotten this far, let this not be taken as a negative review. These are merely some of my observations, and I hope you found them amusing enough. Denk is an awesome musician. This particular concert didn’t quite work for me, but it was impressive nonetheless.
