Kaija Saariaho

Du Cristal is a work for large Orchestra and live Electronics which was commissioned in 1989 by the Helsinki Festival and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.

The Full Score of Saariaho's Verblendungen for Orchestra and Tape. The piece is dedicated to Esa-Pekka Salonen who conducted the premiere performance in Helsinki Finland with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra in April 1984. With both orchestra and tape working in opposite directions of the tonal spectrum this is a fantastic and expressive work that balances the contrast the two elements. Despite these tonal differences the tape and orchestra join together in an inseparable sound world and form a breath-taking orchestral piece that moves through jagged grainy sounds to smoother more reflective moods.

Orchestral Score. Instrumentation.     3 Flutes (3=Piccolo) 2 Oboes 2 Clarinets in B - 2 Bassoons(2=Contrabassoon) 4 Horns in F 2 Trumpets in C 2 Trombones Tuba Timpani (1 set) Percussion (3 players) TamtamCrotales Vibraphone Glass Chimes Bass Drum Tamtam Bass Drum Marimba 3 Gongs (G+ A B) Harp Celesta Strings The score is transposed.Crotales sound two octaves higher than writtenDuration: c. 6 minutesOrchestral parts areavailable on hire from the publisher

An opera written in 2006.Kaija Saariaho’s La Passion de Simone was commissioned jointly by the Vienna Festival Los Angeles Philharmonic the Barbican London and Lincoln Center New York. It was first performed on 26th November2006 in Vienna as part of the New Crowned Hope Festival.

Commissioned by the French Government and Musica Strasbourg.As the title suggests Trois rivières is divided into three separate sections. The first part introduces all the instrumental colours used in the piece. The rhythmicaspect is here nearly eliminated giving room for the timbral scales colours resonances attacks and textures to come to the fore. The instruments come from all members of the percussion family but unpitched instruments aregiven a primary role.The second part adds a rhythmic aspect to the nuances of colour and texture as an ostinato is developed in markedly varying directions.The last part is an epilogue recalling components of the twopreceding parts. Here earlier aspects of the material are reorganised and placed in different relationships to each other.The voices of the percussionists act together as an extension of the instruments being used to createeither rhythmically free textures or strictly notated rhythms. They are treated instrumentally combining to create rhythms and timbres. The poem 'La nuit de lune sur le fleuve' (Moonlit night on the river) by the Chinese poet LiPo (701-762) constitutes the material for the voices which are amplified and further enhanced throughout.