Kaija Saariaho (1952-2023)

[Mirror Image]

http://www.youtube.com/v/pP6BYRjHxgw

She's a very articulate and interesting composer. Saariaho, Lindberg, and Salonen are currently my favorite composers in the 21st Century and they're all Finnish. Very cool.

[springrite]

I like Saariaho a lot, and have many recordings as well as having attended at least two premieres. However, as of the present, I like Salonen, Gubaidulina etc. a lot more. Saariaho's music is wonderful but seems too much like music composed in a vacuum, an utopian idealistic artificial world. Salonen, for instance, is more human and easier to connect to on a human level. Don't misunderstand me, I do rate Sariaho highly and indeed consider her one of the best living composers. But I will eagerly await and follow Salonen's compositions much much more now.

[Mirror Image]

I like Saariaho a lot, and have many recordings as well as having attended at least two premieres. However, as of the present, I like Salonen, Gubaidulina etc. a lot more. Saariaho's music is wonderful but seems too much like music composed in a vacuum, an utopian idealistic artificial world. Salonen, for instance, is more human and easier to connect to on a human level. Don't misunderstand me, I do rate Sariaho highly and indeed consider her one of the best living composers. But I will eagerly await and follow Salonen's compositions much much more now.

I like Salonen and Lindberg much better than Saariaho who is still a tough nut for me to crack. I own three Salonen recordings of his own music and they are all first-rate. Do you own the releases on Sony and DG, Paul? Awesome music. The recording Wing On Wing is my personal favorite. I'm still eagerly awaiting a recording of his Violin Concerto.

[lescamil]

For me, it is unfair to compare Saariaho and Salonen. I am not saying that Salonen is far superior to her, but rather that they had a different culture of influences going into their music. Saariaho's music to me does seem a bit 'utopian', so to say, but it also seems a bit more exploratory than Salonen's music. Saariaho is always searching for new sounds, and because of that her music has much more varying qualities. She still has composed some first rate music, though. Salonen is much more set in his compositional ways, so he has more works that are 'solid'. The problem I have sometimes with his music, though, is that his works aren't as distinctive from each other as Saariaho's. I like both composers quite a bit, and I already feel a bit bad for comparing the two, for I feel it does a disservice to one, if not both, of these composers (depending on your point of view). Of course, this is just my opinion, and I welcome someone else's insights on these two.

[springrite]

I like Salonen and Lindberg much better than Saariaho who is still a tough nut for me to crack. I own three Salonen recordings of his own music and they are all first-rate. Do you own the releases on Sony and DG, Paul? Awesome music. The recording Wing On Wing is my personal favorite. I'm still eagerly awaiting a recording of his Violin Concerto.

I think I have everyone so far. I am eagerly awaiting the VC as well!

[petrarch]

Here's a good and economical reissue of her works. I got this the other day in NYC but haven't yet put it on rotation.

[asin]B006O8K3YK[/asin]

[CRCulver]

This month Ondine has released a recording of La Passion de Simone on a hybrid SACD.  Saariaho's birthday last year was a big deal in Helsinki and Dawn Upshaw and Esa-Pekka Salonen were on hand. It's a pity that Ondine is releasing a live recording instead of studio, though (our new concert hall is of such acoustic excellence there's no need to move everyone to a different venue for recording; it shouldn't have been hard for the label to get a recording without the audience there).

[snyprrr]

aariaho's music to me does seem a bit 'utopian', so to say,

I wonder what her politics are?

[milk]

I just purchased this. The samples sounded great. I almost always have to start with chamber works and she doesn't seem to have so many. Anyway, I hope the music lives up to the strength of the samples.
[asin]B008P76UYU[/asin]

[snyprrr]

That was where I started with Saariaho, albeit on the original issue sans papillons. The three main works on the disc are all comparatively early ('80s all, I think) and more modernistic, less melodic than her more recent work. That disc or either of these two ones with more recent compositions seems to me to be a good introduction to her work:

awaiting the arrival of the SONY disc,...



what might you say are the best discs concerning the Salonen/SONY partnership? Lindberg & Saariaho seem to top the list? I can't remember if there are other cool discs...

[Artem]

I actually listened to that Sony disk yesterday for the first time since getting it a few months ago. Graal didn't grab me, but the vocal work Chateau was very intriguing.

[ritter]

I actually listened to that Sony disk yesterday for the first time since getting it a few months ago. Graal didn't grab me, but the vocal work Chateau was very intriguing.

+1

My first exposure to Saariaho's music was this Salonen disc, which I got when it first apperaed. I really, really liked Château de l'âme, and the piece made me want to explore her output more. I think she is a great composer, with a potent and original voice, but sometimes her work (e.g., Oltra Mar) falls into soemthing I can only describe as "new age blandness". But still, I enjoy most of her works...

[snyprrr]

+1

My first exposure to Saariaho's music was this Salonen disc, which I got when it first apperaed. I really, really liked Château de l'âme, and the piece made me want to explore her output more. I think she is a great composer, with a potent and original voice, but sometimes her work (e.g., Oltra Mar) falls into soemthing I can only describe as "new age blandness". But still, I enjoy most of her works...

I actually listened to that Sony disk yesterday for the first time since getting it a few months ago. Graal didn't grab me, but the vocal work Chateau was very intriguing.

I'm only dipping into the vocal work, saving the cello for tonight... so far, typically sumptuous, likable...

Also whipped out 'Du cristal': sure, what's not to like? A Spectralist Anthem, this piece is a great "pop" intro to the field, but I don't mean the word frivolously- however, it's not as gruff as Grisey, it's very smooth and delectable. I can see where some might accuse her of "Utopianism", and, maybe too much of her would reenforce this, but, this piece can stand up to scrutiny,... somehow reminds me of 'Logan's Run'.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Just been reading a New York Times review of L'Amour de Loin http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/02/arts/music/review-met-opera-amour-de-loin-kaija-saariaho.html?_r=0

[bhodges]

Just been reading a New York Times review of L'Amour de Loin http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/02/arts/music/review-met-opera-amour-de-loin-kaija-saariaho.html?_r=0

It is being shown in the "Live in HD" series on Saturday, and I'm hoping to see it then.

--Bruce

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

It is being shown in the "Live in HD" series on Saturday, and I'm hoping to see it then.

--Bruce

Terrific! I'd like to know what you think as well........
I have listened to this opera countless times but unfortunately I've never seen it. I always find myself in admiration of Lepage's productions and it seems like he's being very creative with this show (even his very traditional Ring is more interesting to me than the older traditional one the Met did tbh)

[71 dB]

Saariaho is a very difficult composer for me. I feel her music does not contain any clues about how to decode it and what it is about. I have tried her music many times, but every time it leaves me perplexed.

L'aile du songs
Notes on Light/Orion/Mirage

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Saariaho is a very difficult composer for me. I feel her music does not contain any clues about how to decode it and what it is about. I have tried her music many times, but every time it leaves me perplexed.

L'aile du songs
Notes on Light/Orion/Mirage

It took me a little white with her music as well. I came to listen to Finnish composers through Rautavaara first before discovering a love for Sibelius and Kokkonen. Saariaho came next.

Her music to me comes from a very different soundworld to other Finnish composers, probably why I came to love her music much more recently. I got over my expectations about what I thought Finnish music ought to like and was blown away by a piece called Noanoa (here is an excerpt):

https://www.youtube.com/v/pS4ny7GU_Os

Somehow, listening to her music feels like stepping through a gateway and into a completely different, surreal but beautiful universe.

[71 dB]

It took me a little white with her music as well. I came to listen to Finnish composers through Rautavaara first before discovering a love for Sibelius and Kokkonen. Saariaho came next.

The only Finnish composers to my taste seem to be Einar Englund and Einojuhani Rautavaara, but I admit I haven't explored that much.

[Cato]

Terrific! I'd like to know what you think as well........
I have listened to this opera countless times but unfortunately I've never seen it. I always find myself in admiration of Lepage's productions and it seems like he's being very creative with this show (even his very traditional Ring is more interesting to me than the older traditional one the Met did tbh)

Here is an excerpt from a laudatory review by Heidi Waleson of the Wall Street Journal:

Yet the opera is filled with action: The constantly changing psychological and emotional states of the characters, as they struggle with the ideal and the real, are exquisitely limned in Ms. Saariaho's sensual music. This dynamism was front and center, expressed musically by the superb Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, under the expert leadership of Susanna Mälkki in her house debut. (This, too, was a milestone in the breaking of glass ceilings—she is only the fourth woman to conduct at the Met.)

As the orchestra explored the score's extraordinary timbral variety, laying out its volcanic emotion as well as its shimmering beauty, the production was doing the same thing. Strings with thousands of LED lights were stretched across the stage (Michael Curry designed the set and costumes; Lionel Arnould the lightscape images). Representing the sea, their colors changed kaleidoscopically, flowing with the moods of the characters and reinforcing the shape of the music. And they were more than just metaphor: In the spectacular opening of Act IV, they looked exactly like waves in stormy, surging ocean. It was a long way from Mr. Lepage's leaden Met "Ring" with its earthbound Machine.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/lamour-de-loin-review-songs-across-the-sea-1480716175