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- Kaija Saariaho
Horloge, Tais-Toi! (2007)
- Chester Music Ltd (World)
- SA; pf
- SA
- 3 min 30 s
- Aleksi Barrière
- French
Programme Note
The birth of this piece is a family story: after having often heard the concerts of the Polyphonic Choir of Didier Seutin in the Conservatoire du Centre in Paris, in which my daughter Aliisa also sung as a child, I promised to write them a piece for the Spring concert of 2006.
For the text, I asked my son Aleksi, 15 years old at the time, to write me something suitable for a children’s choir, with the idea of including some onomatopoeia in the libretto. Soon, Aleksi gave me
the text, funny and very serious at the same time, and quite impossible to translate because of the word games connected to the ticking of the clock. I composed the original version of the piece for choir and piano, in 2005.
Later, a version for choir and a small orchestra was realized, and premiered at the Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, in 2007.
KS
For the text, I asked my son Aleksi, 15 years old at the time, to write me something suitable for a children’s choir, with the idea of including some onomatopoeia in the libretto. Soon, Aleksi gave me
the text, funny and very serious at the same time, and quite impossible to translate because of the word games connected to the ticking of the clock. I composed the original version of the piece for choir and piano, in 2005.
Later, a version for choir and a small orchestra was realized, and premiered at the Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, in 2007.
KS
Scores
Sample pages for perusal
Features
- Mini Operas: the choral works of Kaija Saariaho and Aleksi Barrière
- Kaija Saariaho and writer-director Aleksi Barrière had a multifaceted collaborative relationship that resulted in many new works and stage productions. Their main arena as a composer/librettist tandem was in choral repertoire.
Reviews
... a rather madrigalistic setting of a text written by Barrière at age fifteen. The words express irritation at the sound of a loud clock and, indeed, the bewilderingly fast passage of time itself. Here we see Saariaho at perhaps her most playful, albeit with a hint of existential urgency, employing a wide range of imitative textures and onomatopoeic techniques that include wordplay and vocal percussion. In service to the text, her rhythm is uncharacteristically metronomic, fixed at a tempo that is - appropriately - slightly faster than the ticking of a normal clock.
17th June 2023
Discography
Saariaho: Reconnaissance
- LabelBIS
- Catalogue NumberBIS2662
- ConductorNils Schweckendiek
- EnsembleHelsinki Chamber Choir / Uusinta Ensemble
- Released30th June 2023