The Edge of Light

"A third composer hovers, ghost-like, in pianist Cheng's beguiling recital with the Calder Quartet. Listen to Messaien's glassy chords and Saariaho's cool rhapsodies and you can almost hear him...Debussy is the daddy. Exquisitely shaped playing and bold musicianship in a compelling, haunting disc." (The Independent)

"By pairing [Messiaen's Préludes] with a Prelude and Ballade by Kaija Saariaho, Gloria Cheng points to family resemblances, and joins the Calders for Saariaho's uncharacteristically open-hearted Je sens un deuxième coeur." Financial Times, 9th March 2013 ***

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

"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