Piano Music of Salonen, Stucky, and Lutoslawski

Copy at Case Memorial Library
Allan Kozinn wrote in the New York Times: "The program Gloria Cheng played at Le Poisson Rouge on Monday evening was drawn from her most recent Telarc recording, a compilation of the complete (if slim) piano music of Esa-Pekka Salonen and Steven Stucky, along with a Lutoslawski rarity, the youthful Sonata (1934). But other threads bind the works as well. Ms. Cheng is friends with Mr. Salonen, who composed 'Dichotomie' (2000) for her. Mr. Salonen, who as a conductor has been a champion of Mr. Stucky, persuaded Ms. Cheng to include Mr. Stucky’s 'Four Album Leaves' (2002) on her disc. Mr. Stucky, who published a monograph on Lutoslawski, put her onto that composer’s Sonata. And as it turns out, the piano music of all three composers draws heavily on the harmonic language and textures of the French Impressionists. … Judging from her performances, what Ms. Cheng sees in Mr. Stucky’s music is a fluidity that lets him move easily between delicacy and assertiveness; serene, Debussian introspection and highly chromatic playfulness" ("Music Review: Gloria Cheng …,"12/24/08).