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During recent years, Kaija Saarjaho has

received a lot of publicity for her operas

L'amour de loin (1999-2000) and Adriana

Mater (2004-2005), both based on a text by

the Lebanese writer Amin Maalouf. They were

commissioned by the Salzburg Festival and

the 0pdra National de Paris, respectively, and

directed by Peter Sellars. The premiere of

L'amour de loin was conducted by Kent

Nagano and that of Adriana /l4ater by Esa-

Pekka Salonen. But Saariaho is not just a com-

poser of large-scale stage works. Her large

and versatile output consists of all kinds of

music, vocal as well as instrumental, and over

the years she has developed a particular

expertise in electroacoustic music.

A decisive moment in Saariahos life as a

composer occurred in 1982, when she was

accepted to attend a course of computer

music at IRCAM in Paris. At this point, she had

finished composition studies with Paavo

Heininen at Helsinkis Sibelius Academy and

wjth Brian Ferneyhough and Klaus Hubert at

the Musikhochschule in Freiburg, Germany. ln

IRCAM, a new world with computers and pro-

gramming, sound analysis and synthesis, fil-

tering and processing of sound opened up for

her, and she could fulfill her desire to enter

inside sound and to mold it just the way she

wanted.

ln Saariahos list of works there is a group

of solo vocal and instrumental pieces in which

she uses prerecorded sound material and live

electronics in a most sensitive and imagina-

tive way. Two works that belong to this group

are Six Japanese Gardens for percussion and

electronics (1993-1995), a commission of the

Kunitachi College of Music in Tokyo, and

NoaNoa (Fragrant) for flute and electronics

(1992), the origin of which lies in the material

worked out for the ballet 44aa (1991), a com-

mission of the Finnjsh National 0pera.

Six/apanese Gardens (1993-95)

Kaija Saariaho (b. 1952)

There is a visual impression or a serjes of

them behind many of Saariahos works. "Six

Japanese Gardens is a collection of impres-

sions of the gardens I saw in Kyoto during my

stay in Japan in the summer of 1993 and my

reflections on rhythm at that time," Saariaho

says. The six pieces of the cycle are named

after the gardens.

34 PERFORMAilCES I.IAGAIIIIE

llkka 0ramo

l.Tenju-an Garden of Nanzen-ji Temple.ln

the very simple first piece, the main instru-

ments are introduced. They are, in the order

of appearance: triangle, crotales, suspended

cymbal, wood block, tambourine, log drum,

two gongs, and timpani. Thus, there are both

wooden and metallic sounds. 0nly two of the

instruments. crotales and timpani, can pro-

duce different pitches. The prerecorded elec-

tronic part consists of filtered voice of click-

ets, and is triggered by the percussionist

with a pedal from a Macintosh computer at

the beginning of the piece. The dynamics

fluctuate between pp and f. The performance

instruction at the beginning of the piece

reads 'Molto calmo," and the rhythm should

be kept "very even" all through.

2. lAany Pleasures (Garden of the Kinkaku-

ji). The second piece, to be performed

"lntenso, dolce," is twice as fast and rhythmi-

cally more complex than the previous one.

The instrumentation consists of three sus-

pended finger cymbals, a metal plate, and

timpani, and the overall sound is light and

airy. The electronics part consists of prere-

corded finger cymbals and filtered singing,

and it has to be triggered at seven different

instances.

3. Dry Mountain Stream keeps the vivid

tempo of the previous piece and should be

played "Sempre energico." There are three

staves for percussion instruments. The

uppermost stave is reserved for instruments

from three different famihes (wood, skin,

stone). The choice of the instruments is free,

as long as they don't have a clearly defined

pitch. The two other staves are for tam-

tam/gong and timpani, and the electronics

part consists of prerecorded sounds of per-

cussion instruments, constantly changing.

4. Rock Garden of Ryojan-ji ("Misterioso,

sempre poco rubato") is a slow piece and the

largest of the cycle, when it comes to dura-

tion. lts scale of expression varies between

"calmo,"'espressivo," and "poco furioso," and

there is something ritualistic to it, not least

because of the low filtered singing heard in

the background all the way through. The

metallic percussion sounds are produced by

small cymbals, gongs, zen cymbals, and tam-

tam.

5. Moss Garden of the Saiho-ji

("Espressivo") is a limpid study of polyrhythm

and the only piece of the cycle without an

electronic part. Here, as in the third piece, the

percussionist may freely choose some of the

instruments, as long as they belong to the

three different families of wood, skin, and

stone. The three other instruments are cro-

tales, triangle, and tambourine.

6. Stone Bridges ("Furioso") is the most

uneasy piece of the whole cycle due to its

constantly changing meter and rhythmic

divisions by 12, 9, 6, and 3. The electronic part

consists of tutti tremolo sounds. Towards the

end, the piece slowly fades al niente.

NoaNoa (1992)

Kaija Saariaho

The name of this piece refers to a series of

ten woodcuts Paul Gauguin executed after his

return to Paris from Tahiti in 1893. The figures

on these plates of hard wood reflect the style

of Oceanjc sculptures Gauguin had seen dur-

ing his travels. The woodcuts were intended

as illustrations to a book titled Noa Noa ('fra-

grant'in Tahitian), based on his diary, that he

wanted to write together with Charles

Morice on his Tahitian experiences and that

was to show the art of future a new yet unat-

tended goal. The book was never realized, but

the diary is there, and from this diary are the

fragments of phrases selected for the voice

part of the piece.

ln this piece the flutist does not only play

the flute, but also breathes, hisses, sings, and

whispers into the flute and triggers process-

es from a Macintosh computer using a pedal.

Part of the electronic material is prerecorded

and part of it is processed live from the

sounds the flutist produces during the per-

formance. The result is a new instrument, a

kind of super flute. "l wanted to write down,

exaggerate, even abuse certain flute manner-

jsms that have been haunting me for some

years, and thus force myself to move into

something neW" Saariaho explains.

The prerecorded part was made at the

IRCAM studios with the flutists Camilla

Hoitenga, who premiered the piece in

Darmstadt, and Xavier Chabot, who also took

care of writing the computer code that con-

trols the prerecorded part. ln the perform-

ance a computer, sound processing equip-

ment such as a Lexicon LXP-15 digital multi-

effects processor, and a mixing console are

needed, as well as an assistant engineer who

takes care of the balance and, when needed,

intervenes if the flutist fails to push the pedal

at the right moment.

Piccola musica notturna (1954)

Luigi Dallapiccola (1904-1975)

The title of Dallapiccola's "Little Night

Music" is Mozartian, but the music itself is of

another kind than that of Mozarts renowned

serenade. lt is closer to Bart6ks night music

topos. lts orig'in lies in Antonio Machado's

poem Noche de verano (Summer Night), the

feel of emptiness and solitude that it minute-

ly catches.

It is not only the poems image of a desert-

ed village square that the music evokes, but

also the mental images of the lonely passer-

by who feels like a ghost and is sensitive to

the smallest stir or noise. Dallapiccola com-

posed the piece to a commission by Hermann

Scherchen in 1954. lt is written in free serial

technique, which the composer adopted after

the war as one of the first after Schoenberg,

Berg, and Webern.

Graal th{Atre (1994,1997)

Kaija Saariaho

Graal thddtre is a concerto for violin and

orchestra, of which there are two versions.

The BBC and a Dutch radio station co-com-

missioned the first version, and Saariaho

wrote it for Gidon Kremer, who premiered itwith the BBC Symphony Orchestra under the

baton of Esa-Pekka Salonen at the London

Proms in August 1995. The second version

(1997) is a reduction of the former for cham-

ber orchestra with an identical solo violin

part. The Finnish vjolinist John Storgdrds pre-

miered this version with the Avantil

Chamber 0rchestra conducted by Hannu

Lintu in Helsinki in September 1997.

"ln my case,writing a concerto has always

been triggered by a vivid interest not only in

an instrument but in a performer," Saariaho

wrote in an article entitled 'A Couple of

Thoughts on Concertos" (2005). To date, in

addition lo Graal thditre, she has composed

three concertos, two for cello and one for

flute. Both cello concertos have been inspired

by the musicianship of Anssi Karttunen, and

the first one (Amers, 1992) is, the composer

says, a kind of a portrait of this celhst with

whom she has cooperated more closely than

with any other instrumentalist, except per-

haps the flutist Camilla Hoitenga, the dedica-

tee of her flute concerto Aile du Songe (2000-

2001).

The cello and the flute adapt themselves

particularly well to express the kind of musi-

cal ideas Saariaho is interested in. The violin

offers more challenge.'My relation to the vio-

lin clearly is more complex, since it was at

one time my majn instrument. The violin is

connected with a lot of frustrated illusions,

longing, and love. 0n the other hand, many

interesting things in music and musicianship

culminate in the violin: utmost virtuosity, the

importance of a personal sonority, instru-

mental fetishism. A really interesting violinist

always seems to be not only a brilliant musi-

cjan but an unusually enigmatic person at the

same time!"

The first impulse behind 6raal theetre,

Saariaho tells, was Gidon Kremer practicing

Beethoven's Violin Concerto. "Because the

genre is so traditional, I was much more

aware of the generic tradition and its weight.

It felt especially difficult to write a concerto

for violin, because many violin concertos

have been so dear to me. ln this case, the per-

son of the soloist was more distant, more

abstract, and prompted me to study to a

greater extent already existing concertos

rather than to represent his personality. And

even if I was writing the concerto for Gidon

Kremer', John Storgdrds was more concretely

present when I was working on it, since I

scrutjnized the score with him; and in his

interpretation the concerto has deepened

into that kind of journey I wanted to create."

There was yet another impulse. Saariaho,

in another context, says ihat she had just set

about writing the concerto when

Lutoslawski died, and in a couple of days she

wrote a six-minute pjece for s0l0 violin,

Nocturne, "ln Memory of Witold Lutoslawski."

She sent it by fax to John Storgirds, who first

performed it on February 16,1994 in Helsinki.

'And it was that material which then began to

grow at the beginning of the concerto,"

Saariaho mentions.

Saariaho did not call her work just a violin

concerto. She was after something more

telling, more poeiic.'Graal thddtre'refers to a

series of texts by the French writers Florence

Delay and Jacques Roubaud, in which the leg-

ends of King Arthur and the Knights of the

Round Table and that of the Grail are com-

bined. The first two volumes of this substan-

tial collection of medieval poetry, rewritten

for our time using a variety of sources in

seven different languages, were published in

1977 and 1981, respectively. The whole cycle of

ten novels (or plays) was completed in 2005.

The cycle begins with the foundation of two

chivalries, one celestial by Joseph of

Arimathea, the other worldly by the

enchanter Merlin. This dichotomy is reflected

in the title of the concerto, where Graal

stands for the holy and spiritual and th46tre

for the profane and physical, and it also is

reflected in opposition between the two

movements, Delicato and lmpetuoso.

Dr. llkka lramo is Professor of Music Theory

at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki.

PERFORMANCES I'IAGATII{T 35