Jeremy Denk Makes Nonesuch Label Debut with Ligeti / Beethoven Album on May 15

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Highlighting Busy Spring for Acclaimed Pianist / Writer / Blogger

“So many recitalists these days mix old and modern music, but few have Denk’s gift for stacking both halves of the deck with works of such iconic grandeur, and then pulling off the mammoth recital as if it’s all in a day’s work.” — Boston Globe
On May 15, Jeremy Denk makes his Nonesuch label debut with Ligeti/Beethoven, a solo recording featuring selections from the first and second books of Ligeti’s Piano Études, plus Beethoven’s Sonata No. 32 in C Minor, Op. 111. Denk played the Ligeti works in a series of recitals last year to stunning effect, with the New York Times reporting that the performances left audiences “grasping for superlatives at intermission.” The sets of etudes, six from Book 1 and seven from Book 2, bookend Denk’s recording of Beethoven’s final piano sonata. Denk’s performance of Beethoven’s Opus 111 at the 2010 Mostly Mozart Festival brought this enthusiastic response from the Times: “This account, alive to every suggestion and nuance in the score, was an absolute joy to witness. Mr. Denk, clearly, is a pianist you want to hear no matter what he performs, in whatever combination—both for his penetrating intellectual engagement with the music and for the generosity of his playing.” Ligeti/Beethoven is available for preorder at http://www.nonesuch.com/albums/ligeti-beethoven.

About recording his new CD for the prestigious label, Denk remarked: “So many of my favorite artists have been affiliated with Nonesuch; it is a slightly out-of-body thrill to release an album for them. It goes without saying I’m nuts about the label’s aesthetic, the creativity, the unusual mixture of styles and disciplines … And so we came up with the unusual combination of Ligeti and Beethoven — music that I love, wild music of great integrity. I’m honored to add it to their incredible catalogue.

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