Commissioned by the Rudolf Steiner Foundation

  • Cello
  • 10 min

Programme Note

Sept papillons was the first piece Saariaho wrote after her opera L'Amour de loin and it was partly written during the rehearsals of the opera in Salzburg. One can sense the desire to find a new world, which has nothing to do with the opera neither in style nor in language. From the metaphors of the opera which all have an eternal quality - love, yearning and death - she moved now to a metaphor of the ephemeral: butterfly.
Also, from the long time-spans of the opera she moved to these seven miniatures, which each seem to be studies on a different aspect of fragile and ephemeral movement that has no beginning nor end.

Sept papillons was commissioned by the Rudolf Steiner Foundation and was first performed by Anssi Karttunen in Helsinki in September 2000.

Media

EIC, Couturier

Discography

Kaija Saariaho: Cello Works

Kaija Saariaho: Cello Works
  • Label
    DUX
  • Catalogue Number
    DUX1686
  • Soloist
    Joanna Gutowska, cello
  • Released
    19th August 2022

Kaija Saariaho Complete Cello Works

Kaija Saariaho Complete Cello Works
  • Label
    Aeon
  • Catalogue Number
    AECD 0636
  • Soloist
    Alexis Descharmes, cello; Jérémie Fèvre, flute; Nicolas Baldeyrou, Bass Clarinete
  • Released
    1st March 2006

Kaija Saariaho

Kaija Saariaho
  • Label
    Ondine
  • Catalogue Number
    ODE 1047-2
  • Conductor
    Esa-Pekka Salonen
  • Ensemble
    Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra / Kronos Quartet
  • Soloist
    Petri Alanko, flute / Anssi Karttunen, cello