by Craig Brinker
The hurricane affected everyone in the
New York/New Jersey area to some degree, and pianist Jenny Q Chai
also felt the repercussions of the “superstorm.” After coming back from intermission, Chai said that
this was the first time she had slept on couches for two consecutive
nights in order to give a recital. The 25 or so people in attendance
at (le) Poisson Rouge on Sunday evening were glad she was willing to
do so: Her intensity and control throughout a program full of
technically challenging repertoire was impressive. Chai has the
enviable ability able push past the sometimes overwhelming amount of
notes on the page to give the audience a comprehensive musical narrative.
Beginning the program was a rather cold and austere interpretation of Satie's Three Gymnopédies, followed by a performance of Schoenberg's Drie
Klavierstuck that was both mesmerizing and powerful. Chai played the piece in exactly the manner it was intended, with
emphatic gestures and some lovely usage of rubato. She also gave a
scorching rendition of French composer André Bouchorechliev's Orion
III–full of fire, but never lacking in subtlety.
The rest of the program was technically
precise and well-rounded. Chai was willing to sing, tap on the
piano, and reach inside the instrument to provide any of the more
eccentric colors required by the thornier compositions on the program.
The ever-versatile performer selected two vocal works to perform, John
Cage's The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs and,
as an encore, Victoria Jordanova's Prayer. Her
reedy voice entered into
fervent recitation during Wonderful Widow, highlighting
the eeriness of text.
The last two pieces on the program were
two Barcarolles, one by American composer Nils Vigeland, the other
more familiar of the two, by Chopin. Chai joked that when she decided
to program these two pieces she didn't think that boating through
lower Manhattan would be a distinct possibility. Her delicate touch
served her well for the Vigeland work, although there was a
slight rhythmic misstep in the middle of the piece. The Chopin
sounded simple and elegant after all the complex and often harsh
music from earlier in the program. If it was easier on the
listener's ears, it was certainly easier on her fingers, too; she played it
confidently and with great rhythmic control.
Both an intellectually and
viscerally fulfilling performance, Chai made a good case for the
continued importance of the avant-garde in 20th- and 21st-century music. Wishing the audience goodnight with a second
encore, “Child Falling Asleep” from Schumann's Kinderszenen, audience members left the venue with a simple, yet strange, lullaby ringing in
their ears.