Kaija Saariaho - Total Immersion day at The Barbican/Royal Opera House, London, 7 May 2023

In memoriam: Kaija Saariaho, 14 October 1952 - 2 June 2023, RIP

 

A wonderful deep dive into the soundworlds of Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, which in the days since these three broadcasts has turned into a career-summing memorial.  After a lifetime investigating the confluence of spectralist music and electronics, Saariaho leaves behind a stunning catalogue of innovative music in lots of different forms.  So here's the three broadcasts of music from the Total Immersion day that took place in London last month, plus a little bonus at the end from an earlier concert in Glasgow.

In the first broadcast, Sakari Oramo conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra in Du Cristal, Notes On Light, Saarikoski Songs and Circle Map.  Also included here are excerpts from the day's chamber music concert, performed by students of the Guildhall School, with Changing Light, Spins And Spells and Calices zooming in on the engrossing granularity of these smaller-scale works.

Kaija Saariaho's most recent opera Innocence is a multi-lingual narrative tying together a wedding and a school shooting, and this UK premiere took place over in Covent Garden and was tied in with the Total Immersion concert broadcasts.  Lasting nearly two hours, I'm afraid this one is all in one track as I had no recording timings to refer to for even attempting to break it up into sections.  But even without being able to follow the libretto, it's a weighty, moving work that's well worth a listen.

Lastly, we return to The Barbican to hear the BBC Singers perform another UK premiere, the ecological song cycle Reconnaissance (Rusty Mirror Madrigal).  This is paired with two of Saariaho's most famous vocal works, Nuits Adieux and Tag Des Jahrs, and the broadcast is completed with more chamber music.  The bonus I've added on at the end comes from a recent concert in Glasgow that was broadcast around the same time, with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra performing Saariaho's Laterna Magica.

Enjoy these recordings of a composer who leaves behind some truly spellbinding music.

Broadcast 1 link

Broadcast 2 link

Broadcast 3 link

pw for all: sgtg

Kaija Saariaho at SGTG:

Du Cristal...À la Fumée, Nymphéa

Lonh, Près, NoaNoa, Six Japanese Gardens

Graal Théâtre, Solar, Lichtbogen

Überzeugung, Nuits Adieux

Vista

BBC Singers - Concert For International Women's Day 2023 (orig. rec. on 19 Jan, broadcast 8 March)

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Couple of concert broadcasts this week, starting with acapella choral music performed by the BBC Singers and aired to conincide with International Women's Day earlier this month.  The programme highlights seven female contemporary composers from around the world, the vocal texts moving from just onomatopoeic sounds to poetry to liturgical settings.  Everything sounds fantastic in the capable hands of the BBC Singers.  I really hope this isn't the last post of them performing - latest news is that they're due to be axed by the BBC, which would be a great loss.  For now, please enjoy this post of an incredible choral ensemble and the previous posts below.

 

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BBC Singers at SGTG:

Boulez, Varèse & Stravinsky

On Christmas Night

Joby Talbot & Joanna Marsh

A Christmas Carol

BBC Singers - A Christmas Carol (Milton Court, London, 14th Dec 2022)

Have a wonderful Christmas weekend, everyone.  Here's a concert recording that gives a fresh setting to a classic seasonal tale that I've been enjoying since its broadcast a week ago.  The BBC Singers first give a spirited half-hour of Christmas arrangements and carols old and new, and are then joined by Mel Giedroyc to narrate the rest of the concert.  It's a musical arrangement of Dickens' A Christmas Carol by composer Benedict Sheehan, weaving well-known carols into Sheehan's own music to set the story in a delightful new context, here receiving its UK premiere. 

Merry Christmas!

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pw: sgtg

BBC Singers: Joby Talbot & Joanna Marsh (2022)

Two 21st century choral works made up this programme from Milton Court Concert Hall, London on 20th May.  The BBC Singers were first enhanced by the live electronic manipulations of Glen Scott, who was the original collaborator with the composer Joanna Marsh.  British-born Marsh (1970-) composed SEEN for the BBC Singers, and this is the work's world premiere with Glen Scott performing the extensive electronic tweaks on stage with them.  After the interval is Path Of Miracles, composed in 2005 by another British composer, Joby Talbot (1971-).  In four parts, marking the main posts on the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage trail, the hour-long work takes texts from several languages and across history to craft an engaging epic immersion in vocal sound.

link

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programme with libretto

Merry Christmas!

Have a great one tomorrow.  Here's a radio broadcast from Christmas night last year, featuring the BBC Singers and BBC Concert Orchestra.  First, the collaboration Hymn, originally a spoken-word release by writer Alan Bennett with string quartet backing composed by George Fenton, is re-arranged for choir, with Bennett reading about half of the original-length narrative on his formative musical experiences.  It's not a Christmas-focused story as such, but it is a moving insight into mid-20th century Britain.  The other work is an old Christmas classic, adapating Dickens for orchestra with narration read here by Stephen Fry.  The music was composed by Richard Allain.

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pw: sgtg

Boulez Conducts Boulez (and Varèse and Stravinsky) (BBC Proms 2002)

Dug out this great archive concert as Boulez and Varèse seemed liked a good follow-up to Zappa.  Re-broadcast as one of the "Past Proms" last summer, this performance from August 2002 saw Pierre Boulez (1925-2016) reunited with the BBC SO: he was their conductor at various points in the 60s and 70s.

Edgard Varèse's Intégrales is the concert's curtain-raiser, with its sharp bursts of orchestration and percussion; a full overview of Varèse's music can be found at a previous post here.  The next two works are a "Boulez conducts Boulez" immersion: both date back to the 1940s (with various revisions since, including for this concert), and both are cantatas that use verse by French poet René Char.  The longer of the two is the five-section Le Visage Nuptial, with the soloist backed by a shimmering choir and twinkling percussion.  Le Soleil Des Eaux contrasts the summery, anthropomorhic romance of its flowing introduction with a more strident Char poem later on about protesting fishermen.  To end the concert, Boulez conducts the original score to Stravinsky's Petrushka in fine style.

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pw: sgtg

Previously posted at SGTG:

Le Marteau Sans Maître (also uses Char's poetry)

Sonatine For Flute And Piano