My husband and I saw Jeremy Denk perform at the Portland Conservatory of Music today (Maine, we drove up from Massachusetts). It was my first time seeing a live solo piano performance, and I think we were very fortunate. The venue was 150 seats, sold out, casual and intimate, with the charismatic author and MacArthur Genius award-winning Mr. Denk introducing each sonata or suite of pieces with an often funny, touching story. If you enjoy a piano autobiography, Every Good Boy Does Fine might be right up your alley, featuring tales from Jeremy Denk's effortful and often funny journey from home to conservatory to stage.
Today's program:
Celebrating 150 years of Charles Ives
Beethoven – Sonata 30 in E major, Op. 109.
Scott Joplin – Bethany Waltz
Louie Moreau Gottschalk – The Banjo
Nina Simone – Just in Time (world premier)
William Bolcom – The Graceful Ghost Rag
Beethoven – Sonata in A-flat, Op. 110
– Intermission –
Charles Ives – Sonata No. 2 “Concord”
1. "Emerson"
2. "Hawthorne"
3. "The Alcotts"
4. "Thoreau"
Beethoven, ragtime, the blues, and Charles Ivesian brilliant madness all in one night was a breathtaking, jaw-dropping experience. Two young men from the conservatory sat behind us with the Ives score open on their laps, exuding quiet but profound respect. Just before the fourth movement of Concord, Jeremy Denk paused and gazed at the ceiling, smiling gently, as an airplane passed overhead with a long, gentle rumble - like a layered, past-present moment of time travel.
Here's a recording of part of Concord from a festival in Aspen a few months ago: