The Edge of Light
Messiaen:
Preludes (8)
Pièce pour Piano et Quatour a Cordes
Saariaho:
Ballade
Preludi
Je sens un deuxième coeur
Gloria Cheng (piano)
Members of the Calder Quartet
Grammy® Award-winner Gloria Cheng brings an exquisite array of touch to this programme which couples the first mature works of Olivier Messiaen with the darkly radiant music of Kaija Saariaho. The Calder Quartet joins Ms. Cheng for Saariaho's 2003 trio 'Je sens un deuxième coeur' and Messiaen's 'Pièce pour piano et quatuor à cordes'. Saariaho attended this first recording of her ‘Ballade’ and ‘Prelude’.
"This album portrays the connections I perceived between, as Peter Sellars describes in his liner notes, 'these most feminine works in Messiaen's entire catalogue,' and the deeply expressive, passionate music of Kaija Saariaho. I am thrilled to have the Calder Quartet, with whom I've joyfully collaborated for many years, join me in this endeavor." - GLORIA CHENG
“One of our most gratifying Messiaen pianists...she phrased with warmth and made the piano resound in a way that made Messiaen irresistible.” Los Angeles Times
“Gloria Cheng is a celebrity: an invaluable new-music advocate and a preferred collaborator of composers like Pierre Boulez and Esa-Pekka Salonen.” New York Times
“one of the heroes of the new-music world, an energetic and imaginative artist whose tastes range widely across the contemporary landscape.” San Francisco Chronicle