Saariaho From the Grammar of Dreams
Persuasive performances by this Finnish composer – undervalued vocal works that cast a strong spell
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Kaija Saariaho
Label: Ondine
Magazine Review Date: 1/2001
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 64
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: ODE958-2
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| You went, flew |
Kaija Saariaho, Composer
Anu Komsi, Soprano Jouko Laivuori, Piano Kaija Saariaho, Composer |
| Prelude-Confession-Postlude |
Kaija Saariaho, Composer
Anu Komsi, Soprano Jouko Laivuori, Prepared piano Kaija Saariaho, Composer |
| Miranda's Lament |
Kaija Saariaho, Composer
Anu Komsi, Soprano Avanti Chamber Orchestra Hannu Lintu, Conductor Kaija Saariaho, Composer |
| Caliban's Dream |
Kaija Saariaho, Composer
Avanti Chamber Orchestra Hannu Lintu, Conductor Kaija Saariaho, Composer Petteri Salomaa, Baritone |
| From the Grammar of Dreams |
Kaija Saariaho, Composer
Anu Komsi, Soprano Kaija Saariaho, Composer Piia Komsi, Soprano |
| (Il) pleut |
Kaija Saariaho, Composer
Anu Komsi, Soprano Kaija Saariaho, Composer Reija Bister, Harp |
| Farewell |
Kaija Saariaho, Composer
Anu Komsi, Soprano Hanna Juutilainen, Flute Kaija Saariaho, Composer Timo Korhonen, Guitar |
| Grammaire des rêves |
Kaija Saariaho, Composer
Anu Komsi, Soprano Avanti Chamber Orchestra Hannu Lintu, Conductor Kaija Saariaho, Composer Riikka Rantanen, Mezzo soprano |
| (Die) Aussicht |
Kaija Saariaho, Composer
Anu Komsi, Soprano Heljä Räty, Flute Jukka Rantamäki, Violin Kaija Saariaho, Composer Timo Korhonen, Guitar Tomas Djupsjöbacka, Cello |
Author: kYlzrO1BaC7A
Although vocal music runs through Kaija Saariaho’s career, her electroacoustic compositions have inevitably attracted greater kudos. So the present disc, spanning the period 1980-97, offers welcome and necessary redress.
You went, flew is an intimate setting of a sparse, imagistic poem, the undulating vocal line touched into focus by imaginatively restrained piano writing. Prelude-Confession-Postlude treats the question of ‘commitment’ with a directness unusual in Saariaho’s music, while the resourcefully deployed sonorities of prepared piano evoke the mature composer. Two settings from The Tempest opt for more overtly dramatic expression: Miranda’s Lament wraps the plangent vocal line around a diverse ensemble, while Caliban’s Dream almost tangibly evokes sounds that traverse the realms of sleep and awakeness.
From the Grammar of Dreams is aurally the most extreme work here, as two spatially separated sopranos exclaim, and dismember, Sylvia Plath’s tortured soul-searching. The tenderly intertwining lines of Part 3 (track 9) have a heartfelt quality that haunts the listener long afterward. Related only through title, Grammaire des reves overlays the text’s already dense interaction of dream and reality with a commentary that verges on the claustrophobic. More appealing is Farewell, its progress from sonic onomatopoeia to acute verbal depiction thrown into relief by evocative instrumental writing.
The remaining works are miniatures of a high order. Il pleut treats Apollinaire’s oblique melancholy with incantatory simplicity, enhanced by poignant descending harp phrases. Die Aussicht is a setting of late Holderlin that perfectly captures the poem’s naive mysticism, not least the beatific closing bars.
Persuasively performed by Avanti!, with Anu Komsi to the fore among the excellent soloists, this is an engrossing portrait of a significant composer.'
From the Grammar of Dreams is aurally the most extreme work here, as two spatially separated sopranos exclaim, and dismember, Sylvia Plath’s tortured soul-searching. The tenderly intertwining lines of Part 3 (track 9) have a heartfelt quality that haunts the listener long afterward. Related only through title, Grammaire des reves overlays the text’s already dense interaction of dream and reality with a commentary that verges on the claustrophobic. More appealing is Farewell, its progress from sonic onomatopoeia to acute verbal depiction thrown into relief by evocative instrumental writing.
The remaining works are miniatures of a high order. Il pleut treats Apollinaire’s oblique melancholy with incantatory simplicity, enhanced by poignant descending harp phrases. Die Aussicht is a setting of late Holderlin that perfectly captures the poem’s naive mysticism, not least the beatific closing bars.
Persuasively performed by Avanti!, with Anu Komsi to the fore among the excellent soloists, this is an engrossing portrait of a significant composer.'
Saariaho From the Grammar of Dreams
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