Gloria Cheng & Ralph van Raat – in concert

RESONANT ENCOUNTERS: Boulez, Feldman, Cage, and Beyond

Pianists Gloria Cheng and Ralph van Raat pay homage to the legacy of Pierre Boulez, the unparalleled French composer, conductor, and cultural visionary who transformed postwar contemporary music and left an indelible mark on the sound of the 20th century.

Cheng and van Raat take brief solo turns in two unpublished Boulez works that are exclusive to them: a selection from the early Trois Psalmodies, for which Ralph van Raat was granted sole permission by the Boulez heirs to perform and record; and Courtes Dérives à partir d’Éclat, a whimsical, open-form work that Boulez composed for Cheng as a wedding present.

Quietly cherished for decades as a private gift, Cheng began performing the piece after its appearance in Boulez’s official catalogue drew inquiries from performers and scholars. It is a rare instance of Mr. Boulez supplying a pièce d’occasion, of which Cheng has so far been the only performer.

Program includes works for solo and duo piano by Boulez, John Cage, Morton Feldman, Magnus Lindberg, Olivier Messiaen, and Frank Zappa.

“A meaningful combination of Boulez’s music with that of others…, brilliantly performed…casts new light on the Frenchman’s music.” Opusklassiek (Amsterdam)

photo credit: Giannis Antonoglou/Greek National Opera

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Acclaimed for her “commanding technique, color, and imagination” (The New York Times), Gloria Cheng has long been recognized as a leading champion of new music. Over the course of her distinguished Grammy- and Emmy-winning career, she has served as a muse to composers across a wide stylistic spectrum, premiering works by John Adams, Thomas Adès, Pierre Boulez, Anthony Davis, Terry Riley, Esa-Pekka Salonen, John Williams, and many others.

Ralph van Raat is a pianist and musicologist mainly devoted to twentieth- and twenty-first-century music, performing worldwide and championing its beauty through recitals, concertos, recordings and special projects. Winner of major international awards, he has inspired new works from composers such as Andriessen, Bryars, Rzewski and Tan Dun, and performed over 60 concertos with leading orchestras. He has recorded more than 40 CDs and teaches in Amsterdam and Turin. A Steinway Artist since 2003.

Made possible in part by support from Villa Albertine, the French Institute for Culture and Education.

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