Papers

Kaija Saariaho at 50 - by Brian Bice

     October 14, 2002 saw the 50th birthday of composer Kaija Saariaho. Over the last 5-10 years Saariaho has been gaining prominence among American audiences. This Finnish-born composer has been living and working in Paris for about the last 20 twenty years. She began studying music composition at the Sibelius Academy with Paavo Heininen. Saariaho continued her compositional studies at Musikhochschule in Freiburg with Klaus Huber and Brian Ferneyhough.

     Saariaho has won many prizes and award for her works. Most notably she was awarded the Kranichsteiner Preis at Darmstadt in 1986 and the Prix Italia in 1988. Saariaho has been commissioned by the Kronos Quartet, for whom she wrote Nymphea (1987), and IRCAM, for which she composed Io (1987) for Ensemble Intercontemporain.

     Saariaho has always been interested in visual arts. Before becoming a composer, she studied visual arts. These studies shaped her concept of time and form to a more vertical structure rather than linear. Saariaho’s music is focused primarily around timbre and harmony. She likes to draw out beautiful acoustic landscapes that gradually transform over time. A prime example of this style can be heard in Du cristal (1990) for orchestra. Long waves of crescendos and decrescendos through a rich harmonic language, interspersed with lighter patches paint this acoustic landscape.

     After moving to Paris in 1982 Saariaho took courses in computer music at IRCAM. Since taking these classes the computer has become an integral element in her compositional technique. She will often use the computer to analyze the structure of a sound, creating harmonies out of the spectra. One of Saariaho’s first tape compositions Vers le blanc (1982) is a fifteen-minute process of a chord constructed from sung pitches sliding to another chord. The harmonies of Lichtbogen (1986) were created out of a computer analysis of cello harmonics fading into noise.

     Saariaho’s more recent works include Graal Theatre (1995), Chateau de l’ame (1995) and her first opera L’amour de loin (2000). Graal Theatre, a violin concerto, was written for and premiered by Gidon Kremer at the 1995 BBC Proms. Chateau de l’ame for soprano, eight female voices, and orchestra was commissioned by the Salzburg Festival for Dawn Upshaw, soprano. Upshaw was the inspiration for Lohn (1996) for soprano and electronics. Chateau de l’ame was premiered at the 1996 Salzberg Festival. Graal Theatre and Chateau de l’ame, along with Amers (1992), are included on the 2001 Sony Classical release of Kaija Saariaho’s orchestral music.

     Instrumentation is another aspect of Saariaho’s music that is very distinctive. She prefers mixed colors to pure instrumental timbres. She also looks to create various colors through the combination of synthetic (electronic modification) and acoustic sound. The two instruments that Saariaho is drawn to are the cello and the flute. The writing for these instruments goes beyond normal convention. Often when writing for the cello she will have the bow move in a vertical as well as a horizontal motion, and she will have the performer vary the bow pressure creating a vast palette of sounds. Her flute writing incorporates spoken words, whistle tones, hisses, and sung notes.

     Thanks to Jean Sibelius Finnish music has been put on the map of western music. Over the last 40 years Finnish music has gained prominence throughout the world. Composers like Einojuhani Rautavaara, Magnus Lindberg, and Kaija Saariaho are constantly being performed, published, and recorded. In the United States the Finnish-born conductor/composer Esa-Pekka Salonen has been a big champion of Saariaho and Lindberg’s music. In Finland music is a big part of the culture and it is exciting to see the music of this “small” country become more and more recognized.

Source for the biographical information comes from the Finnish Music Information Centre (FIMIC).

For more information about Kaija Saariaho please visit these sites: http://www.saariaho.org and http://www.fimic.fi/contemporary/composers/saariaho+kaija.