Keigo Mukawa Piano Recital (Nov 14, 2025)
I went to Keigo Mukawa's recital at the Iwata City Cultural Hall Kataria. I missed out on tickets for the Shizuoka performance in July, so this was a long-awaited recital that I was absolutely determined to attend!😊
The program was themed around the innovative Beethoven, featuring sonatas alongside works by Schumann, who shared a similar sensibility, as well as an avant-garde short piece by the still-living composer Lachenmann. (It felt like a world of sound that was really pushing the boundaries...)
I remember Keigo Mukawa once visited the Ryuyo factory for a location shoot on grand piano manufacturing for the show 'Untitled Concert'!
According to Mukawa's commentary, these sonatas were the gateway to the Romantic era and were considered quite avant-garde at the time. He also spoke about how the first movement of the 'Moonlight' Sonata should be played with a blurred pedal effect.
By the way, you can find his detailed program notes here↓
Personally, I find Beethoven to be heavy, and listening to his sonatas requires a lot of concentration and can sometimes make me feel a bit melancholic...
But when Mukawa plays, each individual note gathers and condenses, layering and flowing as naturally as a wave.✨
I felt like, 'Is there really such a sweet and heart-wrenchingly painful Beethoven?' I was completely captivated, wishing the time would last forever.
and his posture while playing the piano and talking,
as well as his movements, were all so graceful!
The encore was the second movement of the 'Pathétique' Sonata.♫
'Many master pianists say that after the grand message left by this Sonata No. 32, there is nothing left to say, so they don't play an encore... but I am not a master, so I will play,' he said, which filled the venue with laughter.😆
No, no, Mukawa-san, you are already a master because you can resonate with people's hearts so deeply.😊
By the way, the piano tuner for the day was Eishitsu Okubo, who also played a major role at the International Chopin Piano Competition. Thank you for the truly beautiful and soothing piano tone.