Pierre Rigaudière, Diapason

“This anthology of recent pieces enchants even more than "Dystemporal” (cf. No. 651). Cheung has matured, the refinement of his writing illuminates discourse as form. If the Impressionist tendency of "The Real Book of Fake Tunes" (2015) can sometimes call to mind Debussy or Roussel (undoubtedly the alloy of the flute and the strings, here a quartet) and even Murail, it is thanks not only to the fluidity of the material, but especially to the circulation of its influx between the voices. Claire Chase's flutes (piccolo, and C, and alto) weave through the interstices of the more lyrical strings and sometimes envelop them. As with the flutist, the Spektral Quartet modulates brightness and grain. When it comes to producing a more raspy timbre and a vigorous rhythmic frame, the bows hold nothing back.

Cheung’s Chinese cultural heritage and background are manifest in "More Marginalia" (2014): sheng, guzheng, pipa and erhu become the ambiguous alter ego of Western instruments, and vice versa. With a subtlety that is fully his own, he avoids any exorcising drift, and the three moments of the piece return as many "marginal comments" to his "Windswept Cypresses", which appeared in the aforementioned album.

With "Assumed Roles" (2014), the composer returns to his avowed obsession with multiple voices and realities. It is a role play that we attend, and the status of the viola vis-à-vis the ensemble is never final. By the harmonic climate that prevails, and with the help of an electric guitar, the piece takes a spectral coloration, hybridized by looped patterns. Bright and virtuosic, fluid and lyrical - all qualities that the International Contemporary Ensemble renders with naturalness - "Assumed Roles" is typical of the sense of formal dynamics developed by the composer.

“Time's Vestiges” (2013) for ensemble is an extension, with its well-negotiated transition from a faltering overactivity to a stripped stasis. The finely dosed microtonality that Cheung readily uses is also evident in the “Bagatelles" (2014) for piano and string quartet, where its necessity seems obvious. Highlighting Winston Choi, the consubstantial mixture of suppleness and supersonic reactivity increases the communicative vitality of these miniatures. We will surely continue to talk about the musical inventiveness of Anthony Cheung.”

Pierre Rigaudière, Diapason (5-star review of Cycles and Arrows, translated from French), Feb. 2019