“Jeremy Denk Plays Ives,” the virtuoso pianist’s first solo recording, is a tribute to American composer Charles Ives who poured and stirred blues, hymns, jazz, ragtime, marching bands and scenes from his native New England into the melting pot that defines his work. Despite Ives’ stature in the eyes of musicologists and his admirers, he is still unfamiliar to many music lovers. To explore the thoughts and output of the unconventional Yankee, Denk and colleagues who have immersed themselves in Ives’ for many years bring him to life in The Ives Project. For three days, the composer will be the topic of concerts, discussions and lectures in Strathmore’s Mansion and the Music Center.
The series opens on Thursday with a free Ives masterclass conducted by Denk, followed by rare recordings featuring Ives playing his own music. The culminating event of the day is a concert describing Ives through his music, letters and essays. Written and directed by author and artistic consultant Joseph Horowitz, the program incorporates the expertise and talents of Denk, baritone William Sharp, actors Carolyn Goelzer and Floyd King and the Post-Classical Ensemble conducted by Angel Gil-Ord??ez.
| Onstage |
| The Ives Project |
| Where: Music Center at Strathmore, Mansion at Strathmore |
| When: Thursday through Sunday |
| Info: $15-$45 at 301-581-5100 or strathmore.org. |
Denk and Sharp perform a collection of the composer’s songs with subjects so diverse as “The Circus Band,” “The Housatonic at Stockbridge,” “General Booth Goes to Heaven,” “Thoreau” and new settings of German lieder.
On Friday evening, Denk will perform Ives’ Concord Sonata and Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 29 (Hammerklavier”). At its premiere in 1939, the Ives Sonata was praised by critics as a great American achievement. Ives dedicated its four movements to literary icons Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau and the Alcotts.
“Both Ives and Beethoven were pursuing an inner vision of the radical worlds about them,” Denk said. “Their music is a mixture of high and low, the serious and the incredibly silly.”
The Saturday afternoon of lectures and performances by Denk, Horowitz, Sharp and Tom Owens are tied together come evening by the innovative JACK Quartet performing Ives’ String Quartet No. 2 (“The Call of the Mountains”) paired with works by contemporary composers Philip Glass, Julia Wolfe and Caleb Burhans.
“At the close of the Project, I want the audiences to take away with them a love for Ives’ amazing music,” Denk said. “He was a great American figure and his music is glorious.”
