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

Sumptuous Sheffield Chamber Music Festival finale

Phil Parker, 23rd May

Ensemble 360 and soprano Claire Booth test to the limits the definition of ‘chamber music’ in this richly orchestral closing concert of the 2026 Sheffield Chamber Music Festival.

****1

More gold than corn: María Dueñas plays Korngold at the Barbican

Mark Pullinger, 22nd May

The young Spanish violinist proves an ardent advocate for a work originally dismissed as a “Hollywood Concerto” as the BBC Symphony Orchestra closes its Barbican season.

****1

Memorable Mendelssohn from Marek Janowski and the New York Phil

Susan Stempleski, 21st May

Principal Trumpet Christopher Martin plays Haydn before the esteemed German maestro conducts a vibrant Scottish Symphony.

****1

Intimate colossus: Daniil Trifonov with the Rotterdam Philharmonic

Max Lima, 21st May

Late Brahms, early Schoenberg: under Lahav Shani and the Rotterdam Philharmonic draw tenderness from two monumental scores.

****1

Heavenly Mahler – and Strauss – from Lucy Crowe and the LSO

Roy Westbrook, 21st May

Songs and symphonies from Sir Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra, concluding with a vision of “heavenly life” from Gustav Mahler.

****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