Saariaho Chamber Works for Strings, Vol. 1 Meta4 feat. Anna Laakso and Marko Myöhänen

• 1 Tocar 07:11
• 2 I. Sombres miroirs 08:10
• 3 II. Soupirs de l'obscur 06:15
• 4 Calices I 05:57
• 5 Calices II 04:32
• 6 Calices III 05:11
• 7 Spins and Spells 06:50
• 8 Nocturne 05:11
• 9 Nymphea, 'Jardin secret III' 21:35
• Total Runtime 01:10:52

Info zu Saariaho Chamber Works for Strings, Vol. 1

This is the first of two releases of Chamber Works for Strings by Kaija Saariaho. The second will be released in 2014.

Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho is a master of soundscapes. Her orchestral works weave tapestries of sound that are both earthy and other-worldly. And as this new collection shows, her nuanced approach to music is equally effective with the limited forces of chamber groups.

Although the string quartet META4 are the featured artists, they only perform together on one track -- Nymphéa. The rest of the selections are for a single string instrument with varying types of accompaniment: Tocar, and Calices for violin and piano; Vent nocturne for viola and electronics; Spins and Spells for cello solo, and Nocturne for violin solo.

Nymphéa is composed for string quartet plus electronics. And Saariaho applies said electronics with a very light touch. She uses them to enhance the sound of the acoustic instruments, almost like super-saturating the colors of a photograph. The electronics heighten the emotional intensity of the string quartet in this pensive work.

Meta4 Quartett:
Antti Tikkanen, violin
Minna Pensola, violin
Atte Kilpeläinen, viola
Tomas Djupsjöbacka, cello

Anna Laakso, piano
Marko Myöhänen, electronics

Kaija Saariaho
(b. 1952) is today one of the world's most significant contemporary composers. In 2008, she was named 'Composer of the Year' by Musical America. In addition, she has received several internationally distinguished awards, including the Grawemeyer Composition Award for her opera L'Amour de loin in 2003. In 1997, she was awarded one of France's highest cultural honours, the title 'Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'.

Kaija Saariaho has been commissioned by the BBC, Ircam, the New York Philharmonic, the Lincoln Center in New York, the Salzburg Music Festival, the Théâtre de Châtelet in Paris and the Finnish National Opera, among others.

Kaija Saariaho frequently draws inspiration from extra-musical sources, be they the night sky, the natural environment or literature. Saariaho studied music and fine arts in parallel before taking up composition, the latter at the graphic arts department of the University of Art and Design Helsinki. She studied composition with Paavo Heininen at the Sibelius Academy from 1976 to 1981 and continued with Brian Ferneyhough at the Freiburg Music Academy, completing her diploma in 1983.

Kaija Saariaho has been living mainly in Paris since 1982.

Meta4 Quartett
formed in 2001, is one of the most internationally successful Finnish string quartets. In 2004 it won the first prize in the International Shostakovich Quartet Competition in Moscow, and was also awarded a special prize for best Shostakovich interpretation. The quartet enjoyed continued success in 2007, when it won the first prize in the International Joseph Haydn Chamber Music Competition in Vienna. Later that year the Finnish Minister of Culture awarded Meta4 with the annual Finland Prize in recognition of an international breakthrough. Meta4 was selected as a BBC New Generation Artist for 2008–2010.

Meta4 performs regularly in key music capitals and concert halls around the world, for example in Vienna (Wiener Konzerthaus), London (Wigmore Hall and King’s Place), Madrid (Auditorio Nacional), Paris (Cité de la Musique), Stockholm (Stockholms Konserthus) and Shanghai. Furthermore, Meta4 served as the Artistic Director of Oulunsalo Music Festival between 2008 and 2011 and is a quartet-in-residence at the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival since 2008.

The quartet has studied in the European Chamber Music Academy (ECMA) under Hatto Beyerle and Johannes Meissl. They have previously released two recordings on Hänssler Classics: Haydn’s String Quartets op. 55 1–3 (2009), which was awarded with the esteemed Echo Klassik Award 2010, and Shostakovich’s String Quartets 3, 4 & 7 (2012), which received the Record of the Year 2012 award by the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE as well as was awarded with the Emma prize (the Finnish Grammy) in the category of the Classical Album of the Year.

The members of Meta4 play distinguished instruments, which include a Stradivarius, kindly on loan from the Finnish Cultural Foundation, as well as an Antonio & Hieronymus Amati violin from 1618 and a cello made by Lorenzo Storioni in Cremona in 1780.

Booklet für Saariaho Chamber Works for Strings, Vol. 1