Jeremy Denk wants us to think of Ives as fun rather than dissonant.
Fortunately, he doesn't consider the two mutually exclusive,
and this recording of the Piano Sonatas excels in both. Whatever
historical continuities there might be behind Ives' music -
and I suspect they are very slight - it is important to treat
him as an original, as a maverick. There is regularly a tension
in Ives' music between the borrowed materials – the folk tunes,
the allusions to Beethoven – and the context. I think one of
the reasons why Denk's interpretations are so successful is
that he accentuates that tension. Even when the composer is
stating his apparently uncontroversial melodic ideas, there
is always something slightly crazed about the way they are played.
Denk provides copious liner-notes, which are well-written and
informative – Essays After a Sonata if you like. One interesting
point he makes is that Ives was distancing himself from the
European traditions that were dominant in America at the start
of the 20th century. That opens up some intriguing
possibilities in terms of performance. Is Denk fostering an
un-European piano technique. Well, he is certainly unafraid
of offending traditional European tastes. The sheer quantity
of pedal in these performances could seem brash and extreme
in anything from the European 19th century repertoire.
And the almost sensationalist way in which Ives' dissonances
are presented, or rather hammered home, seems somehow distinctively
American. There is also an urgency about this music, which is
distinctively Ives rather distinctively American perhaps, but
it comes through in the way that build-ups are affected through
accelerating the music while piling on the chords. The processes
almost seem external to the music, but achieve their aim through
the performer acting on every performance indication, and achieving
that loyalty without ever risking pedantry.
That's not to suggest that there is no subtlety here. True,
this music makes its greatest impact in its louder sections,
but there is also an impressive gradation of dynamics and of
articulation, although thick legato textures are the norm. It
is easy to overlook the many quieter dissonances in these scores,
but they allow Denk's technique to shine through in the evenness
of balance and control of tone he achieves.
The recorded sound is good, although perhaps a little resonant
given the amount of pedalling. The piano has a round rather
than a crisp tone, which if anything takes the edge of the most
grating of the dissonances. The belated entry of the flute -
marvellously played by Tara Helen O'Connor - at the end of the
Concord Sonata, is presented with the ideal balance, the piano
predominating throughout and the flute apparent, but always
distant.
These Sonatas don't get the exposure they deserve, not on this
side of The Pond anyway, so Jeremy Denk's fine recording is
welcome indeed. Both composer and performer are aware that the
music needs some explaining, and the excellent liner-notes here
are almost as useful as the recording itself in getting to grips
with the music. But it is the performance that really endears
this disc. It isn't easy music, but as Denk demonstrates it
is staggeringly original and, much more importantly, it's a
lot of fun too.
Gavin Dixon
Jeremy Denk (piano); Tara Helen O'Connor (flute)
