Saariaho Maan Variot

The recording project Northscapes weaves works—from the first decades of the twenty-first century by composers from the Nordic and Baltic countries of Europe—into a tapestry of soundscapes, vibrating between landscape and the imagination, between the external and internal, between nature and psyche. What these works for piano solo share is a particular attunement to nature, reverberating out of the ever-present reservoir of pagan myths, legends, and folk music of the region. Their sensitivity to the sonic environment allows these composers to explore the liminal space dividing yet connecting landscape, soundscape, and mindscape.

This recording presents Kaija Saariaho's works for choir, a cappella and with electronics, and displays her virtuosity in the treatment of texts, which she endows with the full range of verbal expression. At least one of these works is also a discographic premières. Nuits, adieux, presented here both in it's a cappella version and with electronics, could be described as a lullaby, not so much for a sleeping child as for an elderly person sleeping out of our world. Funny and very serious at the same time, Horloge, tais-toi was conceived for a children choir.

Jennifer Koh, a brilliant violinist (The New Yorker) who performs with conviction, ferocity, and an irresistible sense of play (Washington Post), showcases works by Kaija Saariaho, the visionary and influential Finnish composer with whom Koh has closely collaborated and feels a deep personal bond. The album offers the world-premiere recording of Saariahos Light and Matter for violin, cello, and piano, inspired by sunlit colors and shadows in a city park outside the composers window. Also receiving its first recording is the violin and cello version of Aure, meaning a gentle breeze, created for and dedicated to Koh and cellist Anssi Karttunen, another champion of Saariahos music.

Con questo Vol. I d'una Opera Omnia ancora in corso, arriviamo subito alla piena maturità dell'importante musicista finlandese, ma anche forse del Meta4, importante quartetto connazionale: direi che si son fatti un regalo reciproco con questa produzione, ovviamente Ondine. Seppure resta per me sospeso il giudizio se queste possano essere delle interpretazioni di riferimento.

On Remembering, the Danish cellist Jakob Kullberg continues his collaborations with two of the foremost Nordic composers: Per Nørgård and Kaija Saariaho. Praised internationally for his performances of the modern cello concerto, Kullberg regards the concerto form as the encounter of an individual soloist with the sound world of a composer. With living composers this approach often results in an unusual degree of collaboration, as the works gathered here bear witness to. Since 1999, Kullberg has enjoyed a close and unique partnership with Nørgård which has resulted in a large number of works.

A skilled colorist and an innovative explorer of acoustics and live electronics, Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho employs a wide variety of natural and synthesized sonorities in her uncompromisingly avant-garde chamber works. Incorporating computer technology with traditional instruments, Saariaho creates elaborate structures in which eerie twitters, haunting whispers, and occasionally frightening screeches unexpectedly emerge from more familiar timbres.

La Passion de Simone is an oratorio for solo soprano, choir, orchestra, and electronics by Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho. Originally premiered in a stage version directed by Peter Sellars, this oratorio about the life and work of French philosopher Simone Weil, has been developed in a new version for live video by Jean-Baptiste Barriere. This new version premiered at the occasion of the 60th birthday celebration of Kaija Saariaho, offered to her as a surprise gift in Helsinki’s Musikkitalo earlier this month.