Perspectives on Saariaho

Kaija Saariaho in her Helsinki studio (Photo © Maarit Kytoharju)

The Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho (1952-2023) lived in a world of sound. In this blog let’s take a perspective on her final composition, HUSH, from 2023.

Throughout her career, Saariaho combined intellect and heart. Fascinated by sound and timbre, she integrated the study of these areas into her compositional thinking, allied with a voracious inter-disciplinary curiosity and a persistent move towards uncharted waters.

In the example below, the trumpet concerto, HUSH, and in many other pieces, Saariaho engaged with the music and sounds she heard around her - distilling their timbral and gestural fingerprints and developing them through a Spectralist lens, while magnifying and intensifying the emotional dimension.

Written, as were all her concertos, in close collaboration with the soloist, HUSH picks up on the role of breath in playing the trumpet, and plays with this idea across the whole orchestra creating sounds which are at once nebulous and ethereal, and tangible and corporeal. Whisps of the sounds of earlier trumpet players such as Miles Davis may be discerned, as well as influences from more physically real experiences such as hearing how sound transforms upon descending into a deep well.

Saariaho viewed her concertos as portraits of the solosit, and in turn, we might hear HUSH as one of a collection of portraits of her.

There is much more to discover in Saaraho’s music - if you’re interested in learning more sign up for my composition coaching where we can explore the music in depth, and here’s a video produced in memory of Saariaho by the American Scandinavian Association: