Jeremy Denk Sunday, January 28 | 3 PM Soka Performing Arts Center at Soka University of America
Jeremy Denk
PROGRAM JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Partita No. 1 in B-flat Major, BWV 825 Praeludium Allemande Courante Sarabande Minuet I & II Gigue
Partita No. 2 in C Minor, BWV 826 Sinfonia: Grave; Andante Allemande Courante Sarabande Rondeaux Capriccio
Partita No. 5 in G Major, BWV 829 Preambulum Allemande Courante Sarabande Tempo di Minuetto Passepied Gigue
- INTERMISSION Partita No. 4 in D Major, BWV 828 Overture Allemande Courante Aria Sarabande Menuett Gigue
PROGRAM
PROGRAM (cont.) Partita No. 3 in A Minor, BWV 827 Fantasia Allemande Courante Sarabande Burlesca Scherzo Gigue
Partita No. 6 in E Minor, BWV 830 Toccata Allemande Courante Air Sarabande Tempo di Gavotta Gigue
ABOUT THE PROGRAM Partitas for Keyboard, BWV 825-830 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Born March 31, 1685, Eisenach Died July 28, 1750, Leipzig When Bach moved to Leipzig in 1723, his musical duties changed. For his music-loving prince in Cöthen, Bach had written the great part of his secular instrumental music, but now–as Cantor of the Thomaskirche–he was charged with producing music for religious functions, and the music flowed out of him at a pace that would have exhausted even a Mozart: from the late 1720s came several hundred church cantatas and the St. Matthew Passion. But Bach did not altogether lose interest in instrumental music–he had
written the first book of The WellTempered Clavier in Cöthen, and now in Leipzig he continued to compose for keyboard. Bach’s set of six partitas, originally written for harpsichord, was composed between 1726 and 1731 and published in the latter year as the first volume of his ClavierÜbung (“Keyboard Practice”). In a wonderful introductory note in the score, the composer described these works as having been “Composed for Music Lovers, to Refresh their Spirits, by Johann Sebastian Bach.” Bach understood the partita to be a suite of dance movements–its name implies a set of “parts”–based on the traditional sequence of allemande-courante-sarabande-
Jeremy Denk gigue. He adopted this tradition but made it his own by supplementing it with three of what he called “galanteries”: extra movements, somewhat lighter in character and intended to make the work more attractive to listeners. These consisted of an introductory movement (in a different form in each of the six partitas) and two extra dance movements. Partita No. 1 in B-flat Major BWV825 The Partita No. 1 in B-flat Major dates from 1726, when Bach was 41. It opens with a flowing and stately Praeludium, whose progress is enlivened by constant turns. Each of the four traditional movements of the partita has a distinct national origin. The Allemande (that name suggests it German ancestry) is traditionally a slow dance of serious character, usually in 4/4 time and in binary form; the present Allemande moves along rather quickly. The Courante (French for “running”) is a lively movement in triple time; this one dances along its steady triplet figurations. The Sarabande, of Latin American and Spanish heritage, is a stately dance in triple time, while the concluding Gigue (derived distantly from the Irish jig) rockets along at a blistering pace and requires some deft handcrossings by the performer. The interpolated “galanteries” in this partita–they come between the Sarabande and Gigue–are a pair of minuets that are played without pause. The first dances nimbly along its hard-edged main
theme, while the second–much shorter–is chordal and restrained. Partita No. 2 in C Minor, BWV 826 The Partita No. 2 in C Minor comes from 1727, when Bach was also working on his St. Matthew Passion. It opens with an imposing Sinfonia in three parts: the opening Grave is built on steadilydotted rhythms, the Andante moves easily above a walking bassline, and the concluding section is a spirited fugue. The partita’s C-minor tonality gives the Allemande, Courante, and Sarabande a wistful, dark cast, and Bach keeps the tempo restrained in these movements as well. The interpolated movement here is a Rondeaux in 3/8, athletic and poised, and then Bach springs a surprise: he drops the expected Gigue and in its place concludes with a brilliant Capriccio in binary form. Partita No. 3 in A Minor BWV 827 The Partita No. 3 in A Minor opens with a Fantasia that dances gracefully along its 3/8 meter as the melodic line flows easily between the two hands. The ornate Allemande is enlivened by turns, mordants, and sharp interjections, while the energetic Courante contrasts a steady flow of sixteenth-notes in one hand with sharply-dotted rhythms in the other. The Sarabande is solemn and dignified–some scholars have noted that there is nothing distinctly sarabande-like about this music. Two interpolated
ABOUT THE PROGRAM movements follow. The Burlesca is sturdy and propulsive (though not self-consciously “funny”), while the Scherzo is distinctive if for no other reason than the fact that this is the only time Bach used that title. The partita concludes with an unusually powerful Gigue, full of contrapuntal complexity, that rushes relentlessly along its 12/8 meter. Partita No. 4 in D Major, BWV 828 The Partita No. 4 in D Major dates from 1728, when Bach was 43. It opens with a lengthy Ouverture in the French style: a grand slow introduction, full of runs and dotted rhythms, gives way to a fast fugue in 9/8 that rushes along its staccato main idea; Bach does not return to the slow opening at the end of this movement. Like all the “standard” partita movements in this work, the Allemande is in binary form, and if both halves are repeated this stately movement is by far the longest in the whole work. The Courante is full of a jaunty, snappy energy, while the Aria–one of the “galanteries”–is not so much lyric or vocal in character as it is balanced and precise. The spare Sarabande moves slowly along its 3/4 meter, while the brief Menuett is energized by the showers of triplets in the pianist’s right hand. Bach rounds the partita off with a brilliant Gigue, contrapuntal in character, that rips along its 9/16 meter. This is a tour de force of keyboard writing (and of contrapuntal complexity), and it brings the work to an impressive close. Partita No. 5 in G Major BWV829
The Partita No. 5 in G Major dates from 1730. The wonderful Preambulum has been likened to a concerto. It features brilliant exchanges between the hands, and all this dashing energy is interrupted by dignified chords that provide moments of repose before the music dashes off again. The Allemande is of a slow and serious character, while the Courante is lively. The Sarabande, in 3/4 meter, makes frequent use of dotted rhythms and grace notes. The concluding Gigue dances energetically and features polyphonic entrances and off-thebeat accents. The interpolated “galanteries” are first a Tempo di Minuetto that belongs mostly to the right hand; its athletic and angular character makes this quick music seem at far remove from the minuet of classical form. The second is a Passepied (“pass-foot” in French), a lively dance in triple time, said to be originally a sailors’ dance. Partita No. 6 in E Minor BWV 830 The Partita No. 6 in E Minor is one of Bach’s most imposing–and serious–works for keyboard. Its opening Toccata, by far the longest first movement of the six partitas, is in ternary form: its outer sections have an improvisatory character (carefully written out), and these frame a somber and expressive fugue, which is all the more effective for being so restrained. The Allemande is propelled along dotted rhythms made ornate by rhythmic swirls and rolled chords. The Courante requires quite different music from the pianist’s
Jeremy Denk two hands: the left has the steady 3/8 meter, while the right breaks free with syncopations and racing 32nd-note runs. The energetic Air, one of the interpolated movements, is brief, but the complex Sarabande returns to the somber mood of the opening fugue. Textures are complex here, with long runs, dotted rhythms, turns, and broken chords. The other interpolated movement, Tempo di Gavotta, nicely meshes triplets and
dotted rhythms. Bach rounds the partita off with a Gigue that does not so much dance as drive this serious music to a firm close. Program notes © Eric Bromberger, 2024
About the Artist Jeremy Denk is one of America’s foremost pianists, proclaimed by the New York Times as “a pianist you want to hear no matter what he performs.” Denk is also a New York Times bestselling author, winner of both the MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship and the Avery Fisher Prize, and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In the 2023-24 season, Denk premieres a new concerto written for him by Anna Clyne, cocommissioned and performed by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra led by Fabio Luisi, the City of Birmingham Symphony led by Kazuki Yamada, and the New Jersey Symphony led by Markus Stenz. He also returns to London’s Wigmore Hall for a three-concert residency, performing Bach’s Solo Partitas, as well as collaborating with the Danish String Quartet, and performing works by Charles Ives with violinist Maria Włoszczowska. He further reunites with Krzysztof Urbański to perform with the
Antwerp Symphony and again with the Danish String Quartet in Copenhagen at their festival Series of Four. In the US, he performs a program focusing on female composers, and continues his exploration of Bach with multiple performances of the Partitas. His collaborations include performances with violinist Maria Włoszczowska in Philadelphia and New York, and, in the summer, returning to perform with his longtime collaborators Steven Isserlis and Joshua Bell. He closes the season with the San Diego Symphony and Rafael Payare with Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4. Denk is also known for his original and insightful writing on music, which Alex Ross praises for its “arresting sensitivity and wit.” His New York Times Bestselling memoir Every Good Boy Does Fine was published to universal acclaim by Random House in 2022, with features on CBS Sunday Morning,
ABOUT THE ARTIST NPR’s Fresh Air, The New York Times, and The Guardian. Denk also wrote the libretto for a comic opera presented by Carnegie Hall, Cal Performances, and the Aspen Festival, and his writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The New Republic, The Guardian, Süddeutsche Zeitung and on the front page of The New York Times Book Review. Denk has performed multiple times at Carnegie Hall and in recent years has worked with such orchestras as Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, and Cleveland Orchestra. Further afield, he has performed multiple times at the BBC Proms and Klavierfestival Ruhr, and appeared in such halls as the Köln Philharmonie, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and Boulez Saal in Berlin. He has also performed extensively across the UK, including recently with the London Philharmonic, Bournemouth Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and play-directing the Britten Sinfonia. Last season’s highlights include his performance of the Well-Tempered Klavier Book 1 at the Barbican in London, and performances of John Adams’ Must the Devil Have All The Great Tunes? with the Cleveland Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, and Seattle Symphony,
as well as a return to the San Francisco Symphony to perform Messiaen under Esa Pekka Salonen. Denk’s latest album of Mozart piano concertos was released in 2021 on Nonesuch Records. The album, deemed “urgent and essential” by BBC Radio 3. His recording of the Goldberg Variations for Nonesuch Records reached No. 1 on the Billboard Classical Charts, and his recording of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata Op. 111 paired with Ligeti’s Études was named one of the best discs of the year by The New Yorker, NPR, and The Washington Post, while his account of the Beethoven sonata was selected by BBC Radio 3’s Building a Library as the best available version recorded on modern piano. Jeremy Denk is represented by Opus 3 Artists.
“Hamelin’s legend will grow right now there is no one like him”
UPCOMING
Marc-André Hamelin PROGRAM: BEETHOVEN Hammerklavier INTERMISSION SCHUMANN Waldszenen, op. 82 RAVEL Gaspard de la Nuit SUNDAY, FEB 25, 2024, 3 PM SOKA PERFORMING ARTS CENTER TICKETS & INFORMATION HERE
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SUA BOARD OF TRUSTEES Steve Dunham, JD Chair Vice President and General Counsel Emeritus, Pennsylvania State University | Baltimore, Maryland Tariq Hasan, PhD Vice Chair Chief Executive Officer, SGIUSA | New York, New York Andrea Bartoli, PhD President, Sant’Egidio Foundation for Peace and Dialogue | New York, New York Matilda Buck Benefactor | Los Angeles, California Lawrence E. Carter, Sr, PhD, DD, DH, DRS Dean, Professor of Religion, College Archivist and Curator, Morehouse College | Atlanta, Georgia Andy Firoved CEO, HOTB Software | Irvine, California Jason Goulah, PhD Professor of Bilingual-Bicultural Education and Director, Institute for Daisaku Ikeda Studies in Education, Director of Programs in Bilingual-Bicultural Education, World Language Education, and Value-Creating Education for Global Citizenship, College of Education, DePaul University | Chicago, Illinois Clothilde V. Hewlett, JD Commissioner of Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, State of California | San Francisco, California Lawrence A. Hickman, PhD Director Emeritus, The Center for Dewey Studies and Professor Emeritus, Department of Philosophy, Southern Illinois University Carbondale | Carbondale, Illinois
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CONCESSIONS
Concessions A wide variety of wine, beer, soft drinks and freshly prepared snacks will be available before the concert and during intermission in the lobby.
Artist Drink Pick Mezcal Paloma We asked the artists for their favorite drink pick to feature at concessions! The Mezcal Paloma was chosen by Jeremy Denk and will be available for purchase before the performance and during intermission
Click here for menu and to order Pre-order your concessions and skip the line ahead of time!
Concessions provided by FPG Events