Jeremy Denk makes LA Philharmonic debut (March 17-20)
This week, Jeremy Denk makes his Los Angeles Philharmonic debut, when he steps in on March 17-20 to replace Martha Argerich, who was scheduled to perform Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto under Gustavo Dudamel. Denk’s Beethoven is already justly celebrated; after his rendition of the C-minor Sonata at the 2010 “Mostly Mozart” Festival, the New York Times reported: “This account, alive to every suggestion and nuance in the score, was an absolute joy to witness. Mr. Denk, clearly, is a pianist you want to hear no matter what he performs, in whatever combination – both for his penetrating intellectual engagement with the music and for the generosity of his playing.”
This eleventh-hour engagement at the Los Angeles Philharmonic tops off the pianist’s already very full schedule. Denk has just released a new recording – an album of Bach partitas – and given, among other high-profile engagements, a solo recital at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall, where he ingeniously paired Bach’s iconic Goldberg Variations with a modern classic, Ligeti’s Études. Guest appearances this week with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center once again allow the pianist to showcase his versatility as well as his gift for collaborative give-and-take, performing works for solo, duet, and quintet by Dvorák and Smetana.
Denk’s new album of Bach, released in January by the boutique Azica label, presents three of the composer’s six keyboard Partitas: Nos. 3 in A minor, 4 in D, and 6 in E minor. For many of today’s pianists, Bach’s Partitas are the most compelling of all the composer’s many suites, being technically demanding and ambitious in scale.
Jeremy Denk Plays Ives, the album the pianist released in October 2010 on his own Think Denk Media label, dominated the year-end top-ten lists of many of the country’s foremost music critics. Choosing Denk’s Ives disc as one of the “10 best classical albums of 2010,” Washington Post critic Anne Midgette marveled: “Denk’s piano playing mingles urbanity with unabashed beauty. …Downright seductive.”
Jeremy Denk’s spring 2011 engagements
March 14
Madison, NJ
Drew University
Dvorák: Selected Slavonic Dances (with Wu Han, piano)
Dvorák: String Sextet in A
Smetana: Selected piano works
Dvorák: Piano Quintet No. 2 in A
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
March 15
New York, NY
Alice Tully Hall
Dvorák: Selected Slavonic Dances (with Wu Han, piano)
Dvorák: String Sextet in A
Smetana: Selected piano works
Dvorák: Piano Quintet No. 2 in A
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
March 17, 18, 19, 20
Los Angeles, LA
Walt Disney Concert Hall
Los Angeles Philharmonic / Gustavo Dudamel
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 1
(Mozart: Masonic Funeral Music; Symphony No. 35, “Haffner”)
March 29
Houston, TX
Menil Collection
Da Camera of Houston
Ives: Piano Sonata No. 2, “Concord, Mass., 1840-60”
April 1 & 2
Indianapolis, IN
Hilbert Circle Theater
Indiana Symphony Society / Mark Wigglesworth
Mozart: Concerto for Piano No. 21 in C, K. 467
April 9 & April 10
Columbus, OH
Southern Theater
ProMusica Chamber Orchestra of Columbus / Timothy Russell
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 1
April 16
Sleepy Hollow, NY
Sleepy Hollow High School
Friends of Music Concerts
Recital:
Bach: Toccata in D; Toccata in G-sharp minor
Liszt: Après une Lecture de Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata
Ligeti: Études, Book 1
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111
April 17
Coral Gables, FL
Maurice Gusman Hall
Sunday Afternoons of Music
Solo recital
Repertoire: TBD
April 21
Madison, WI
University of Wisconsin at Madison
Wisconsin Union Theater
Recital
Repertoire: TBD
April 29
Kalamazoo, MI
Wellspring Theater
Fontana Chamber Arts
Charles Ives: Piano Sonata No. 1
May 13-15
Detroit, MI
Orchestra Hall
Detroit Symphony Orchestra / Peter Oundjian
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 21 in C, K.467
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