I've missed Jeremy Denk. Thanks to the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra's collaborative "artistic partner" structure, an audience can develop a relationship with a soloist. And few of the SPCO's partners have become as endearing to audiences as Denk, an American pianist who is insightful in his interpretations, entertaining to watch, and engaging in his stage banter.
This weekend, Denk becomes the first SPCO artistic partner to appear in concert with the orchestra since the pandemic began. Friday morning's performance at Ordway Concert Hall felt like the celebration the occasion demanded.
It was mostly a Mozart party, the intermission-less 90-minute program beginning with a captivating confab of a quintet and concluding with one of those exquisite Mozart piano concertos that set a high bar for the form that's arguably never been transcended. Bridged with a wild ride of a work for string quartet by Waseca-born composer Sky Macklay, there was an atmosphere of almost uninterrupted fun.
And Denk can have fun with the best of them. Both the Quintet for Piano and Winds and the Piano Concerto No. 14 were bursting with playfulness, the ebullient mood persisting aside from meditative slow movements that held more wistfulness than melancholy.
The Quintet often sounds like an instrumental version of one of those vocal quartets that dot Mozart's operas. All four SPCO wind players were given lovely melodies to sing; French horn player James Ferree was a standout with his sweet schmaltz on the slow movement, while oboist Cassie Pilgrim evoked unease above Denk's dark rumblings on the finale's minor-key interlude.
The SPCO's artistic director, violinist Kyu-Young Kim, introduced Macklay's "Many Many Cadences" as "maybe the most difficult seven minutes of music we've played," but assured the wary that there was much humor to be found in it.
Sure enough, Kim and his three collaborators brought forth the whimsy of the work, but also its agitated air. Its ample demands were met with marvelous musicality. While perhaps a challenging listen for more conservative palates, a partial standing ovation proved that the effort was appreciated.
Denk and the SPCO recently released a recording of two Mozart piano concertos (Nos. 20 and 25) and his A-minor Rondo, partially drawn from pre-pandemic Ordway concerts. International critics are starting to take notice of the rich relationship that this pianist and orchestra have cultivated, as are record buyers — especially in Britain, where the recording has been high on the classical charts.
