For their third Edition, Otlet Salons invited US pianist Jeremy Denk for a musical soiree centered around Bach’s Goldberg Variations: one of the most famous and difficult pieces for piano ever written and a challenge for both pianist and audience. A high-ceiling apartment and an eclectic mix of chairs and listeners forms the intimate setting wherein Denk proves his skills as performer by wittily illustrating the skeleton of the piece while playing excerpts ‘that go directly to the soul’.
A three-men panel (physicist, mathematician, artist) interacts with the musician and the diverse, involved audience on the subject of the seeming paradox between the soul and the mathematical foundation of the piece and the tension between art and science in general. The freely flowing discussion leads to the broader notion that science in its core seeks to describe an external reality; art and music are more about dealing with the world from the human perspective.
Read the full report for more information about this edition with quotes from the panel members and highlights of the evening.
More on this and previous editions.
Otlet Salons 