The Edge of Light: Messiaen, Saariaho Gloria Cheng & Calder Quartet

• Olivier Messiaen (1908 - 1992): 8 Préludes:
• 1 Messiaen: 8 Préludes: I. La Colombe 02:17
• 2 Messiaen: 8 Préludes: II. Chant d'extase dans un paysage triste 06:10
• 3 Messiaen: 8 Préludes: III. Le nombre léger 01:50
• 4 Messiaen: 8 Préludes: IV. Instants défunts 04:32
• 5 Messiaen: 8 Préludes: V. Les sons impalpables du rêve 03:37
• 6 Messiaen: 8 Préludes: VI. Cloches d'angoisse et larmes d'adieu 08:08
• 7 Messiaen: 8 Préludes: VII. Plaine calme 03:03
• 8 Messiaen: 8 Préludes: VIII. Un reflet dans le vent 05:16
• 9 Messiaen: Pièce pour Piano et Quatuor à cordes 03:28
• Kaija Saariaho (b. 1952):
• 10 Saariaho: Prelude for Piano Solo 05:53
• 11 Saariaho: Ballade for Piano Solo 05:59
• Je sens un deuxième cœur:
• 12 Saariaho: Je sens un deuxième cœur: I. Je dévoile ma peau 03:36
• 13 Saariaho: Je sens un deuxième cœur: II. Ouvre-moi, vite 01:58
• 14 Saariaho: Je sens un deuxième cœur: III. Dans le rêve, elle l'attendait 04:03
• 15 Saariaho: Je sens un deuxième cœur: IV. Il faut que j'entre 02:16
• 16 Saariaho: Je sens un deuxième cœur: V. Je sens un deuxième cœur qui bat tout près du mien 04:47
• Total Runtime 01:06:53

Info for The Edge of Light: Messiaen, Saariaho

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)

"[Cheng's] long association with Messiaen's music bears fruit in a fluid approach to the early Preludes...With Cheng's fine touch paramount in first recordings of Saariaho's Prelude and Ballade, this disc is unlikely to gather dust." (BBC Music)

"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)

Gloria Cheng, piano
Members of the Calder Quartet

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Booklet for The Edge of Light: Messiaen, Saariaho