Sunday - 7:30

Ciacona

for Solo Cello (1670) by Giuseppi Colombi (1635–1694)
~played without pause into~

Dreaming Chaccone after Colombi

for Solo Cello (2010)
Leighton Fong  |  Violoncello

“Dreaming Chaconne was written as one of thirty-one variations for solo cello on the famous Chiacona per basso solo by Giuseppe Colombi (1635–1694), each by a contemporary composer, to mark the fiftieth birthday of Finnish cellist Anssi Karttunen in 2010. The complete collection is published as Mystery Variations.

As my piece is a variation of Colombi's work, I would prefer it played immediately preceded by the Chiacona.”
Saariaho

Folia

for Contrabass and Electronics (1995)* West Coast Premiere
Dr. Matt Kline  |  Contrabass  ~  Bruce Bennett  |  Electronics

Folia was written soon after Graal théâtre, which is evident in the virtuoso string writing. Saariaho origi­nally intended to rescore her cello work Petalsfor double bass, but she abandoned this idea because of technical differences between the instru­ments. In writing Folia, Saariaho worked from the same basic approach as in Petals, but Folia already belongs to a new period, with textures closely related to those of Graal théâtre.

Risto Nieminen, 1996 – Music Finland

Près

for Cello and Electronics (1992)* West Coast Premiere
I. - II. - III.
Natalie Raney  |  Violoncello & Electronics

"Près for solo cello and electronics emerged at the same time as Amers for cello and chamber orchestra. The musical material in the two works is to a large extent the same, but it is used in very different ways, and in terms of form and dramatic structure the pieces are strikingly different. The only identical elements are certain passages for the solo instrument and a few of he electronic materials. Both works were produced at IRCAM, and a few of the electronic component is very important in each case; in Près the electronics continue and expand the musical gesture of the solo instrument in many different directions.

Près is in three movements. The first movement concentrates on a rather linear texture in which the cello part is sometimes fused with the synthetic sounds. This material is based on recordings which I made with Anssi Karttunen and have subsequently either analysed and used as the starting point for the work's harmony and sound synthesis, or transformed in various ways. The synthetic element is realised using resonant filters that also operate in real time in the later movements, where the cello sound is modified on a music workstation developed at IRCAM.

As a whole the electronic element consists of synthetic sounds, modified cello sounds stored in the computer, and real-time sound processing. This latter element has made use of resonating filters and different types of delay, space-filtering, and transposing techniques. The programming work was realised by Xavier Chabot and Jean-Baptiste Barrière at IRCAM.

The title of the work links to its sister-work (Amers, a nautical term for a leading marks or landmarks), and also to Paul Gaugin's painting By the Sea; and hence to the expe­rience of the sea itself and waves, their different rhythms and sounds, stormy weather and calms. In other words: material, wave shapes, rhythmic figures, timbres. The charging up of the music and the ultimate release of that charge.

Près is dedicated to Anssi Karttunen, with whose collab­o­ration I completed the piece, and who gave the first performance in Strasbourg on 11th November 1992."

Kaija Saariaho

—Intermission—

Nocturne

for Solo Violin (1994)
Anna Presler  |  Violin

Nocturne is a 6-minute miniature created by Kaija Saariaho as a tribute upon hearing of the passing of Witold Lutosławski. However, it does not refer to the Polish master's output, but instead utilizes material from the violin concerto Graal théâtre, on which she was working at the time. The first performance of Nocturne was by John Storgårds on 16 February 1994 in Helsinki.

Far from being a minor work, Nocturne is one of the most compact and intimate demonstrations of Saariaho's art of letting a singular voice emerge from the noise of the world in a lively ascending dance, until darkness engulfs it again.

Spins and Spells

for Solo Cello (1997)
Leighton Fong  |  Violoncello

"The title evokes the two gestures which are at the origin of the work: on the one hand the pattern which I call "spinning tops" turning around on the one spot or undergoing changes, and on the other, timeless moments, centred on the sound colour and texture.

The entire piece unfolds either around or between these two gestures. I chose to re-tune the instrument in order to person­alise the harmonic writing: the fifths are replaced by structures favouring major sixths and minor thirds.

Challenged by this scodatura, the sonority of Spins and Spells reminds me of the music and the instru­mental colours of another age, far older than those of the cello that we know, although seen and transformed again through my own universe."

Kaija Saariaho
26th June 1997

Arabesques et adages

for Solo Piano (2016)** US Premiere
Dr. Michael J. Smith  |  Piano

"Arabesques et Adages (2016) is my fourth work for solo piano. All my piano pieces are responses to requests or commissions, for much as I like composing chamber music for piano and combining it with other instru­ments, I find solo piano works challenging. The reason is no doubt simply that I tend to think of music as shifting continua of sound that are impos­sible to create on a piano.

This piece never­theless begins with an organ point held fast by the sostenuto pedal beneath a lively, animated line. The role of the pedals is for me in other respects, too, an important element of the piano texture; using them, it is possible to create illusions of different acoustics and to process the character of the sound.

In addition to this recurring organ-point gesture, the piece consists of two contrasting musical ideas and their devel­opment: mobile arabesques and fuller-bodied, slower, affective chord comments (adages).

The playful machines constructed by the sculptor Jean Tinguely often occurred to me while I was contem­plating this work – their persistent rhythms, sounds and movements – and while I was composing it, I had in mind the trajec­tories of the pianist’s hands, and the idea of the personal choreography involved in every inter­pre­tation.

The title alludes to these two contrasting materials, and both terms belong to not only the music but also the ballet lexicon."

Kaija Saariaho

Light and Matter

for Piano, Violin and Cello (2014)
Leighton Fong  |  Violoncello  ~  Anna Presler  |  Violin  ~  Dr. Michael J. Smith  |  Piano

"I have written many trios for different combi­nations, but have been hesitant to compose for a tradi­tional piano trio, maybe because of its long and weighty tradition.

When I finally decided to approach this instru­men­tation, my first musical ideas were of light and rapid nature, and I started to imagine a one movement perpetual motion piece. During the compo­sition, I developed the form into three contin­uous sections, including more varied tempi and textures.
The starting point for the music is light kinetic energy, which is then developed into more dramatic gestures and rapid exchanges among the three instru­ments.
The piece advances in spinning motion, moving from the original luminous fabric into more thematic patterns or towards the inertia of slow choral textures, before returning into the original weightlessness and starting a new flickering spin.
As a result, we hear three musical elements - kinetic texture, thematic motives and slowly moving choral material - in constantly changing combi­nations and orches­trations.

I wrote this piece in New York, while watching from my window the changing light and colors of Morningside Park. Besides providing me with the name for the piece, perhaps that contin­uous transfor­mation of light on the glinting leaves and the immobile trunks of the solid trees became the inspi­ration for the musical materials in this piece.

Light and Matter was commissioned by the Aeolian Chamber Players, the Library of Congress, Britten Sinfonia and Norrbotten NEO.

The world premiere took place at the Bowdoin Inter­na­tional Festival on July 30th, 2014, in honour of the festival's 50th anniversary, with Renee Jolles, violin, Nicholas Canellakis, cello, and Benjamin Hochman, piano."

Kaija Saariaho