Proms Chamber Music 1 (19.07.20) Jeremy Denk piano recital - 1.00 p.m.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Bartók: Piano Sonata
Scriabin: Piano Sonata No. 9, ‘Black Mass’
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111

Jeremy Denk (piano)

(From BBC Proms 2015, 24 August)

Jeremy Denk is one of America’s foremost pianists – a musician the New York Times hails as someone ‘you want to hear no matter what he performs’. In 2015 he put Beethoven’s final piano sonata at the core of his debut Proms recital. This majestic work – which he later recorded for a 2019 disc entitled ‘c.1300–c.2000’ – blends extrovert passion with a depth that characterises all of the composer’s late works.

Denk paired the Beethoven with Bartók’s only piano sonata – a piece strongly coloured by Hungarian folk melodies and rhythmic attack – and Scriabin’s ‘Black Mass’ Piano Sonata. His most famous work in the genre, Scriabin’s sonata is a disconcerting, phantasmagoric musical journey – and a gleeful vision of horror.

[bluestateprommer]

Another case where I can't remember if I listened 5 years back, but again, as I didn't comment in the then-thread, gave this one a listen as well. Definitely a workout for any pianist, and JD did a very good job. The earlier thread noted odd tuning of the piano, and while I'm nowhere near expert enough to be able to discern piano tuning, even I could tell from the outset that something seemed a bit off with the instrument. But Denk seemed willing to work with what he had. From seeing him live several times, he has a rather relaxed air, or authority, to his stage manner, in the sense that he doesn't "brood" or look as though he's "struggling" with the music, if this makes any sense. Or perhaps another way of putting it is that JD seemed to toss off these worksc with an air of "I eat this for breakfast".