A Piano Powerhouse Comes To Delight with a complete concert of the master works of Bach, Boulez, Stravinsky and Chopin.
From the NY Times:
It's
hard to put your finger on just what it is that makes the pianist Taka
Kigawa a phenomenon, but there's no denying that he's something special.
True, other pianists have made a specialty of the demanding modernist
works that Mr. Kigawa favors. Webern, Boulez, Xenakis and Stockhausen
are among his staples. (Bach, too.) And in his considerable technical
prowess, Mr. Kigawa is not without peers. Still, something about his
work has attracted a veritable cadre of devoted followers. On Monday
night, they turned up in force at the Greenwich Village nightclub Le
Poisson Rouge, where he has become a regular, for a characteristically
challenging, eventful program built around two milestone pieces by
Elliott Carter. Having watched Mr. Kigawa at work several times, I have
grown convinced that part of what makes him a magnetic attraction is
awe: not only in the sense that his skill dazzles the listener, but also
in his own evident humility and zeal. Some listeners will intuit more
fully than others the exact challenges of this or that work. But anyone
can appreciate how the wonder and joy Mr. Kigawa conveys in talking
about his repertory during a concert is also manifest in the way he
performs it.
From the NY Times:
It's
hard to put your finger on just what it is that makes the pianist Taka
Kigawa a phenomenon, but there's no denying that he's something special.
True, other pianists have made a specialty of the demanding modernist
works that Mr. Kigawa favors. Webern, Boulez, Xenakis and Stockhausen
are among his staples. (Bach, too.) And in his considerable technical
prowess, Mr. Kigawa is not without peers. Still, something about his
work has attracted a veritable cadre of devoted followers. On Monday
night, they turned up in force at the Greenwich Village nightclub Le
Poisson Rouge, where he has become a regular, for a characteristically
challenging, eventful program built around two milestone pieces by
Elliott Carter. Having watched Mr. Kigawa at work several times, I have
grown convinced that part of what makes him a magnetic attraction is
awe: not only in the sense that his skill dazzles the listener, but also
in his own evident humility and zeal. Some listeners will intuit more
fully than others the exact challenges of this or that work. But anyone
can appreciate how the wonder and joy Mr. Kigawa conveys in talking
about his repertory during a concert is also manifest in the way he
performs it.
