SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Debussy, Ferneyhough, Dai Fujikura, Stravinsky: Taka Kigawa (piano), (Le) Poisson Rouge, New York City, 28.1.2010 (BH)

Debussy: Preludes, Book II (1912-1913)

Ferneyhough: Lemma-Icon-Epigram (1981)

Dai Fujikura: Joule (2009, U.S. premiere)

Stravinsky: Trois Mouvements de Petrouchka (1921)


A huge crowd packed (Le) Poisson Rouge on Thursday night, for pianist Taka Kigawa’s fascinating recital, with two early 20th-century pillars on either side of two lesser known but equally daunting works. His program began—yes, began—with the complete second book of Debussy’s Preludes, fluttering to life with a quietly bewitching “Brouillards.” Kigawa is a thoughtful artist, and if at times a few more sparks might have been welcome, his intelligence made an engrossing half-hour. “Canope” was especially touching, and the bravura demands of the final “Feux d’artifice” had the audience whooping.

On the first page of Brian Ferneyhough’s Lemma-Icon-Epigram (1981), the time signatures zigzag between 7/16, 5/16, 2/8, 3/8 and 9/16, and with more dynamic markings than are usually found in an entire score by anyone else. If one looks at the notes and staves like a drawing, the ratio of black to white on the page approaches 50-50. This is astoundingly difficult music, and any pianist can take a certain pride just in putting it on the program. That said, it is also rough terrain with built-in moments of brutality, and here it seemed somehow leached of a bit of its inherent violence. Kigawa introduced it as “hyper-Debussy,” and at least on this occasion, it seemed more closely linked to the Preludes.

Dai Fujikura (b. 1977) is a young Japanese composer now living in London, with an impressive record of commissions from many of the world’s most prestigious contemporary ensembles. The title of his recent Joule (2009) refers to a unit of electrical energy, and the composer writes: “I imagined that the energy of the pianist goes through the pianist's fingers directly into the piano, coming out as an aura...hence the big differences in dynamics and tempo changes.” Perhaps forged by a lover of jazz and minimalism, the piece has flourishes from each, being snuffed out shortly after they appear.

A favorite showpiece for pianists, Stravinsky’s suite of three movements extracted from Petrouchka closed the program. Although again the touch seemed on the light side, there was no doubt about Kigawa’s mastery. If the puppet Petrouchka seemed more studious than frenetic, that seems to reflect Mr. Kigawa’s outlook on this repertoire in general.

I don’t recall ever being at a concert in which a Boulez piece was used as an encore, but Mr. Kigawa began with Incises, reminiscent of the composer’s Second Piano Sonata. This unusual, generous and well-played evening ended with “La cathédrale engloutie” from the first book of Debussy’s Preludes.

Bruce Hodges