Jeremy Denk, piano, at Tannery Pond Concerts, Saturday, July 3, 2010 at 8 pm

Jeremy Denk and Christian Steiner in Rehearsal. Photo © 2010 Leslie Teicholz.


Jeremy Denk, piano
at Tannery Pond Concerts, Saturday, July 3, 2010 at 8 pm

Johann Sebastian Bach, Toccata in D major, BWV 912
Johann Sebastian Bach,  Toccata in F-sharp minor, BWV 910

Franz Liszt,  Après une Lecture de Dante:  Fantasia quasi Sonata

György Ligeti, Études  Livre 1
Désordre (Disorder) (Molto vivace, vigoroso, molto ritmico)
Cordes à vide (Exhausted Chords) (Andantino con moto, molto legato)
Touches bloquées (Blocked Keys) (Presto possible, sempre molto ritmico)
Fanfares (Vivacissimo, molto ritmico, con allegria e slancio)
[Arc-en-ciel (Rainbow) (Andante molto rubato, con eleganza, with swing)]
Automne à Varsovie (Autumn in Warsaw) Presto cantabile, molto ritmico e flessibile
Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Opus 111

I was not the only member of the Tannery Pond audience who has been following Jeremy Denk’s career with some avidity. He played there a few years ago, accompanying Paula Robison (who preceded Denk this summer) with quite a different group of colleagues. This particular gentleman, however, had heard him elsewhere, in his general concert-going, and, like me, instantly beame a Denkist — or perhaps we should call ourselves Denkonians, to avoid confusion with that particularly odious and venal branch of the medical profession.

My entry into the fold occurred at the Liszt Festival at Bard College, when I heard Mr. Denk perform the Liszt B minor Sonata. (He teaches there.) This seemed to me at the time, although I’ve heard some important pianists perform the work, including some great Lisztian intellectuals, like Kentner and Brendel, to be a supreme statement of the work. (Yes, somehow — most likely due to Liszt’s own exceptional intelligence and the literary culture he had acquired — at least some of his music is intellectual music, although he worked very hard at developing quite a different persona in his earlier career.)

Read the full article on the Berkshire Review for the Arts!

Michael Miller