For years I’ve been reading the essays and blog posts of MacArthur “genius” grant-winning pianist Jeremy Denk. Not since Leonard Bernstein has the music world had such a compelling explainer. Who else would compare a moment in the first movement of Beethoven’s Opus 31 No. 3 to a “Seinfeld” episode? Last March, I finally heard Denk play with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, performing Bartok’s Piano Concerto No. 2, a piece so technically demanding that critics have called it a “knucklebuster.” When he was done, the audience leaped to its feet. On November 13, four of us were back to hear Denk in a solo program that included works by Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert. Before beginning, he announced that—because he suspected some of us had slept as poorly as he had that week — he’d be swapping out John Adams’ “Phyrygian Gates” for more cheering fare, including piano rags by Scott Joplin and William Bolcom. Denk, a truly physical player, can go from the lightest touch to the fastest frenzy; you literally see the music moving through him. We went in contemplating our doom and left in awed silence, our feet hardly touching the floor.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30