{"id":10380,"date":"2013-03-28T11:47:55","date_gmt":"2013-03-28T15:47:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.musicalamerica.com\/mablogs\/?p=10380"},"modified":"2013-04-14T20:45:23","modified_gmt":"2013-04-15T00:45:23","slug":"%e2%80%9che%e2%80%99s-so-musical%e2%80%9d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.musicalamerica.com\/mablogs\/?p=10380","title":{"rendered":"\u201cHe\u2019s So Musical\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Sedgwick Clark<\/strong><\/p>\n

PK turned to me last Friday (3\/22) at Carnegie Hall when the applause had died down for intermission and asked, \u201cWhere did he come from? He\u2019s so musical<\/em>. Where did he train?\u201d Moments later, she continued animatedly to friends who had joined us, \u201cHe seems relaxed with the piano \u2013 it\u2019s not an adversarial relationship like the Serkin school, where the instrument is an enemy to be conquered. He doesn\u2019t play with anxiety, which is rare these days.\u201d She also liked his insightful program notes.<\/p>\n

What a relief! Her usual question when I\u2019ve cajoled her into going to a concert that initially elicited a frown is muttered after the first piece or movement: \u201cWhy am I here?\u201d Fact is, she\u2019d almost always rather spend the evening at home with our three bichons, but this time she was happy she came.<\/p>\n

The recitalist was Jeremy Denk, who opened the program audaciously with Bart\u00f3k\u2019s Piano Sonata (1926). I hadn\u2019t heard the Sonata in many years and was reminded\u00a0of its strong kinship to the First Piano Concerto (my favorite of the three), which Bart\u00f3k composed later that year. It\u2019s the first of his oeuvre to use the piano as a percussion instrument. \u201cThough dissonant and raucous, it\u2019s very good-humored,\u201d Denk states in his notes, and his rendering of the work\u2019s dance and folk elements, his colorful tonal palette, and refusal to bang served the music brilliantly.<\/p>\n

Great Liszt performances require beauty of tone, first and foremost. In \u201cWeinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen\u201d Prelude after J.S. Bach<\/em>, S. 179; Sonetto 123 del Petrarca <\/em>from Ann\u00e9es de p\u00e8lerinage, Deuxi\u00e8me ann\u00e9e<\/em>; Dante <\/em>Sonata<\/em>; and Isoldes Liebestod<\/em> from Wagner\u2019s Tristan und Isolde\u00a0\u2014 <\/em>a group Denk describes as \u201cranging from worldly pain to bliss to damnation to death\u201d\u00a0\u2014 he succeeded admirably, with all the requisite dynamic range. The first work, astonishingly, seems to be the first Carnegie Hall performance in recorded history. The Petrarca <\/em>Sonetto purred with velvet. The turbulent Dante<\/em>, which so often sprawls, was the most convincing, i.e., coherent, performance I\u2019ve heard. The Tristan <\/em>transcription, which easily curdles, was gorgeously sustained.<\/p>\n

Bach\u2019s Prelude and Fugue in B minor from The Well-Tempered Clavier<\/em>, Book I, BWV 869, appeared underplayed, perhaps deliberately, for it was followed by a Beethoven Sonata No. 32, Op. 111, replete with chance taking. Carnegie\u2019s wet acoustic has always challenged piano recitals (at least in the parquet seats), especially after the hall’s\u00a01986 renovation, and Denk\u2019s fingers seemed to race ahead at times in the Allegro. The second-movement Adagio lacked breadth to my taste, despite excellent trills and an emotionally satisfying coda, but PK \u201creally liked\u201d the performance in its entirety.<\/p>\n

Denk fans may look forward to Saturday evening, May 4, when he joins Ren\u00e9e Fleming and several other fine artists at Carnegie\u00a0in an attractive lineup of vocal and chamber fin de si\u00e8cle <\/em>works.<\/p>\n

By the way, Denk earned a master\u2019s degree as a pupil of Gy\u00f6rgy Seb\u00f6k at Indiana University and a doctorate in piano performance at Juilliard, where he studied with Herbert Stessin.<\/p>\n

Looking Forward<\/strong><\/p>\n

My week\u2019s scheduled concerts (8:00 p.m. unless otherwise noted):<\/p>\n

3\/28 Avery Fisher Hall. Los Angeles Philharmonic\/Gustavo Dudamel. Vivier: Zipangu. <\/em>Debussy: La Mer. <\/em>Stravinsky: The Firebird <\/em>(complete ballet).<\/p>\n

4\/1 at 7:30. Symphony Space. Cutting Edge Concerts New Music Festival. Pulse Chamber Ensemble; Chris Reza Trio. Victoria Bond: Cyclops. <\/em>Charles Mason: Pulsearrythmic<\/em>. Thomas Sleeper: Semi-Suite<\/em>. Jesse Jones: Unisono<\/em>. Chris Reza: Cacophony<\/em>.<\/p>\n

4\/3 Carnegie Hall. Boston Symphony\/Rafael Fr\u00fchbeck de Burgos. Hindemith: Concert Music for Strings and Brass<\/em>. Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini<\/em>. Bart\u00f3k: Concerto for Orchestra<\/em>.<\/p>\n

4\/4 Carnegie Hall. Boston Symphony\/Daniele Gatti; Anne Sofie von Otter, mezzo; Tanglewood Festival Chorus. Mahler: Symphony No. 3.<\/p>\n