Nightclub Boulez: Taka Kagawa at (Le) Poisson Rouge

By Kurt Gottschalk, 26 September 2021

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“gracefully measured reading of the slow second movement, as if spun from elastic”

Reviewed at (Le) Poisson Rouge, New York City on 22 September 2021

Ligeti, Etudes for piano (selection)

Boulez, Piano Sonata no. 2

Boulez, Piano Sonata no. 3 (Version 2021)

Taka Kigawa, Piano

Taka Kigawa sails through Zorn and Carter at (Le) Poisson Rouge

Rebecca Lentjes, 26th August

It can be difficult to focus on the music at (Le) Poisson Rouge, a venue “serving art and alcohol” on Bleecker Street in New York. During any of their widely varied avant-garde and new music sets, you will hear forks clinking against plates and see waiters striding across the space to deliver drinks to the audience members, seated around tables or at the bar.

***11

Saariaho's Notes on Light receives its Berlin premiere

Elena Luporini, 29th April

Sakari Oramo and Annsi Karttunen bring Northern lights and folklore to the Philharmonie, closing on a touch of Czech optimism with Dvořák’s Eighth Symphony.

***11

Steve Reich at 90 celebrated in Liverpool

Pwyll ap Sion, 29th April

A compelling concert at Liverpool’s Tung Auditorium offers a striking Josephine Stephenson’s UK premiere, dazzling John Adams and Steve Reich’s mesmerising Reich/Richter.

*****

Requiem to a troubled genius at the Southbank’s Multitudes

Chris Garlick, 29th April

As part of the Southbank Centre's Multitudes festival, Unnatural Harmony: Sounds of Lee Alexander McQueen offers a multimedia tribute to the life and creative vision of the iconic British fashion designer.

****1

Dazzling Prokofiev from Alim Beisembayev and the RLPO

Peter Connors, 26th April

In an all-Russian programme in Liverpool, Alim Beisembayev gives a breathtaking performance of Prokofiev's fiendishly difficult Second Piano Concerto.

****1

Wretches like us: the LPO’s concert Wozzeck cuts to the quick

Peter Quantrill, 25th April

Beautifully prepared singing and playing brings out the tender side to Berg's modernist classic as part of the Southbank Centre’s Multitudes festival.

****1

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Kurt Gottschalk

Kurt Gottschalk is a journalist and author based in New York City. His writings on contemporary and classical music, jazz and improvisation have been published in outlets throughout Europe and America and he has two volumes of short fiction to his name. He produced and hosted the Miniature Minotaurs radio programme on WFMU and currently hosts Afternoon New Music on WKCR.

Nightclub Boulez: Taka Kagawa lives up to his promise at (Le) Poisson Rouge