Stretching the limits of sound

Gloria Cheng Today, 8 p.m. Schoenberg Hall

It’s easy to forget that, in his day, Beethoven was
pushing the boundaries of contemporary music ““ if not tearing
them apart. Some of his works are so progressive that they fit in
better with the forward-thinking composers of today, rather than
musicians from 170 years ago. Tonight, Gloria Cheng will
demonstrate this in Schoenberg Hall as she plays Beethoven
alongside more modern pieces in the first chamber music concert of
the year.

Cheng, a pianist who teaches contemporary music performance
practice at UCLA, will perform one of Beethoven’s most
avant-garde pieces ““ his Grosse Fuge, Opus 134 ““ as
well as works by two living composers, John Adams and Thomas
Adès, at 8 p.m. at Schoenberg Hall.

Don’t go in expecting to hear the Fifth Symphony, though.
Instead, Cheng chose unconventional pieces because of her love for
contemporary music, which she discovered in college.

“Music’s main function is not to be pretty,”
Cheng said. “It’s to add another dimension to our
lives.”

For music to accomplish that feat, new dimensions are sometimes
added to existing instruments. In Thomas Adès’ piece,
“Still Sorrowing,” the score calls for Blu Tak ““
the sticky blue putty used to hang posters ““ to be placed on
the piano strings, limiting the instrument’s midrange and
creating a bouncy, muted sound. Toward the end of the piece, the
Blu Tak is discretely removed and the music suddenly comes alive
and awash with a color that had been suppressed inside the
instrument.

Beethoven’s “Grosse Fuge” comes from a
recently discovered manuscript for piano transcribed by Beethoven
himself. It requires four hands, so Professor Robert Winter will be
playing as well. Winter was Cheng’s mentor in the UCLA
master’s program, and she describes him as a “rock star
of Beethoven studies.” The “Grosse Fuge” was
written near the end of Beethoven’s life when he was stone
deaf, the period in which he wrote some of his most adventurous
works.

Cheng will also be joined onstage by one of her students, Angel
Blue, who will sing soprano on Thomas Adès’ “Life
Story.”

Cheng is attracted not only to the music itself, but also to the
people behind the compositions.

“(Composers are) smart, literate and they need to be
engaged in the world at large to make music,” she said.

A luxury of performing contemporary music is the ability to work
one-on-one with current composers. Cheng has played various pieces
for their respective composers throughout her career. Tonight she
will perform John Adams’ “Phrygian Gates,” which
she began playing in 1980 and has since performed for the composer
many times.

The composition cycles through unusual keys and modes throughout
its 30 minutes, and may be the most unorthodox piece of the
concert, something Cheng is always listening for.

“I love stretching people’s ears,” Cheng
said.