Piano Series: Gloria Cheng 2016

Montage: Great Film Composers and the Piano

The six film composers represented on this program have among them amassed 73 Oscar nominations and eight wins. “But,” ponders the introductory essay to Gloria Cheng’s recent CD, “what melodies, harmonies, what cadences haunt their private dreams?” Hear selections from pieces written expressly for her by John Williams (Star Wars, Jaws, E.T.), Bruce Broughton (Silverado, Young Sherlock Holmes), Don Davis (The Matrix, Beauty and the Beast), Michael Giacchino (Up, Lost, Ratatouille) and Randy Newman (Monsters, Inc; Toy Story). Alexandre Desplat (The Imitation Game, Grand Budapest Hotel) contributed a piece originally written for Lang Lang. A documentary film chronicling the composers and Cheng during their recording process completes the performance.

The program will feature all six composers on the CD with selections from the following works:

• John Williams: Conversations (2013)
• Alexander Desplat: L’Étreinte, from the 3 Études (2012)
• Bruce Broughton: Five PIeces for Piano (2010)
• Don Davis: Surface Tension (2013)
• Michael Giacchino: Composition 430 (2013)
• Randy Newman: Family Album: Hommage to Alfred, Emil and Lionel Newman (2013)

If you think you have John Williams pegged, listen to his angular, questing piano suite Conversations, which Gloria Cheng has recorded on a new disk titled Montage.” – Alex Ross, The New Yorker, February 27, 2015