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Fall

for Harp and Electronics (1991)* West Coast Premiere
Kaitlin Miller | Harp ~ Bruce Bennett | Electronics

Fall is the sixth and penultimate movement of the ballet Maa. It was published separately as a concert piece for harp and electronics.

The Ballet Maa, choreographed by Carolyn Carlson with music composed by Kaija Saariaho, was the response to a commission from the ballet of the Finnish National Opera. Mixing and manip­u­lation of sounds was carried out in the Finnish Radio Exper­i­mental Studio. The work's first performance took place on the 31st October 1991 in Helsinki.

[…]
Looking at Saariaho's music in terms of its indi­vidual contributive para­meters, it is probably timbre which stands out as the most important dimension of her music. But in actual fact her language attempts precisely to break down the type of cerebral compart­men­talism caused by parametri­sation. As with the French composers of 'spectral music', the boundaries between harmony and timbre and between pitch and noise are tested to breaking point. Indeed, the most typical feature of the way her music progresses is to manoeuvre along the continua stretched out between these extremes.

Two important new elements made their appearance in Saariaho's music in the later 1980s. On the one hand there is repeated, deco­rative motivic material in which a subtle and gradual transfor­mation of the melodic and rhythmic substance is brought about by the appli­cation of computer inter­po­lation; on the other one finds even rhythmic pulsations which may be considered one extremity on that scale of rhythmic figu­rations produced by computer-controlled transfor­mation. These two elements, in their many guises, can be heard in their fullest clarity in Maa.

[…]

In working a weave of textures which progress and change at a leisurely and gradual, almost mini­mal­istic pace, she has clearly been attentive to finding a balance for the whole work which takes the listener into account. Saariaho's compo­sitions are laid out in such a way that they encourage us to imbibe and dwell in the timbral detail. The sensous calm which perveates the music for Maa inevitably affects our mood and senses, turning them to higher levels of sensi­tivity and awareness.

(Note on the title. The word "maa" in Finnish language can mean "earth", "land" or "country", possibly even "world".)

Juhani Nuorval

Laconisme de l’aile

for Solo Flute (1982)* West Coast Premiere
Dr. Michael Matsuno | Flute

"Flute has always been to me an important instrument. Laconisme de l'aile, my second piece for a solo flute was started in Freiburg and finished in Paris in 1982.

As starting points I had ideas about blending the rhythms of speech and timbres of breathing into more tradi­tional flute expression.

The text fragments are borrowed from Saint-John Perse's Oiseaux (Birds).

I had in my mind, despite of bird song, above all the different ways birds fly, winning the gravity, crossing the sky. The solo flute draws these lines into acoustic space."

Kaija Saariaho

Couleurs du vent

for Alto Flute (1998)* West Coast Premiere
Dr. Michael Matsuno | Alto Flute

"Couleurs du vent is an impro­vi­sation over the material of Cendres for alto flute, cello and piano (1998). For years I listened to the solo part of my double concerto ...à la fumée for alto flute and cello, always planning to explore it again. I partic­u­larly wanted to focus on the flute's palette of flat and noisy colours. The material of Cendres – which was still vivid in my mind since I had just finished the piece – was the starting point for a feverish writing process. The piece arose within a few days as I went through great emotions during my first days in France after one year spent in Finland. In the face of a fatal disease in my family, the blowing of the wind became the symbol of life to me, and the piece became a story of breathing…"

Kaija Saariaho

—Intermission—

…de la terre

for Violin and Electronics (1991)* West Coast Premiere
Kate Hatmaker | Violin ~ Dr. Joe Cantrell | Electronics

... de la Terre is the third movement of the ballet Maa, and is based on fragments of text from Jacques Roubaud's Échanges de la lumière. It was published separately as a concert piece for violin and electronics.

See the notes on Fall, above

New Gates

for Flute, Harp and Cello (1996)* West Coast Premiere
Dr. Michael Matsuno | Flute ~ Kaitlin Miller | Harp ~ Eric Moore | Violoncello

New Gates is an adaptation of Gates, a movement from the ballet Maa (the harp taking over the ornate cembalo part), and can be understood as a synthesis of Kaija Saariaho's musical thinking in the 1990s, in which the interplay of sound para­meters has moved from a stricter focus on timbre and harmony to a full use of all para­meters. The three instru­ments, each unfolding very different lines idiomatic of Saariaho's writing for them, move closer and away from each other, and in the overlaps and interstices new wide landscapes seem to open out of sparse means.

See the notes on Fall, above

Six Japanese Gardens

for Percussion and Electronics (1994)

I. Tenju-an Garden of Nanzen-ji Temple
II. Many Pleasures (Garden of the Kinkaku-ji)
III. Dry Mountain Stream
IV. Rock Garden of Ryoan-ji
V. Moss Garden of the Saiho-ji
VI. Stone Bridges
Dr. James Beauton | Percussion ~ Bruce Bennett | Electronics

"Six Japanese Gardens is a collection of impressions of the gardens I saw in Kyoto during my stay in Japan in the summer of 1993 and my reflection on rhythm at that time.

As the title indicates, the piece is divided into six parts. All these parts give specific look at a rhythmic material, starting from the simplistic first part, in which the main instru­men­tation is introduced, going to complex polyrhythmic or ostinato figures, or alter­nation of rhythmic and purely coloristic material.

The selection of instru­ments played by the percus­sionist is volun­tarily reduced to give space for the perception of rhythmic evolutions. Also, the reduced colours are extended with the addition of an electronics part, in which we hear nature's sounds, ritual singing, and percussion instru­ments recorded in the Kuntachi College of Music with Shinti Ueno. The ready-mixed sections are triggered by the percus­sionist during the piece, from a Macintosh computer.

All the work for processing and mixing the pre-recorded material was done with a Macintosh computer in my home studio. Some transfor­mations are made with the resonant filters in the CHANT program, and with the SVP Phaser Vocoder. This work was made with Jean-Baptiste Barrière. The final mixing was made with the Protools program with the assistance of Hans Peter Stubbe Teglbjaerg.

The piece is commissioned by the Kunitachi College of Music and written for Shinti Ueno."

Kaija Saariaho