Commissioned by the Båstad Kammarmusikfestival (artistic Director Karin Dornbusch) Musik i Syd and "Arcana Festival für Neue Musik”.

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  • 20 min
    • 4th May 2025, Snow Concert Hall, Canberra, Australia
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Programme Note

A string trio is a fascinating ensemble. Even if its instruments come from the same family it magnifies the individual characters of each. When writing the trio, I was surprised how different it was to writing for a string quartet.

In this piece, the three instruments all have different tasks and functions, they represent very different aspects of string playing. These tasks are sometimes very concrete: the violin tends to behave as an echo or reverberation, the viola creates new clouds next to the existing ones and the cello often has a function of a shadow to the upper instrumental lines.

My ideas for this piece are about common textures; how to create one coherent texture - still complex and detailed - with individual lines.

The four sections of the piece have their own colours and characters, and I leave it to the listener to imagine what kinds of clouds were their sources of inspiration.

Why Cloud Trio? When composing this piece in the French Alps (Les Arcs), watching the big sky above mountains I realized once again how rich a metaphor a natural element can be: its state or shape is so recognizable, and yet it is always varied and rich in detail.

Cloud Trio is written for and dedicated to the Zebra Trio.

Paris, May 14th, 2010

Media

Court-circuit trio: Greffin-Klein, Gendek, Descharmes

Scores

Sample Pages

Discography

Kaija Saariaho: 70 Years

Kaija Saariaho: 70 Years
  • Label
    Ondine
  • Catalogue Number
    ODE 1407-2
  • Conductor
    Marko Letonja / Christoph Eschenbach / Hannu Lintu / Sakari Oramo / Jukka-Pekka Saraste / Esa-Pekka Salonen
  • Ensemble
    Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg / Avanti! Chamber Orchestra / Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra / Meta4 / Orchestre de Paris
  • Soloist
    Wilhemina Smith, cello; Gerald Finley, bass-baritone; Camilla Hoitenga, flute; Anssi Karttunen, cello; Anu Komsi, soprano; Karita Mattila, soprano; John Storgårds, violin; Gabriel Suovanen, baritone; Dawn Upshaw, soprano; Karen Vourc'h, soprano
  • Released
    January 2023

Nordsending - Nordic String Trios

Nordsending - Nordic String Trios
  • Label
    BIS Records
  • Catalogue Number
    BIS-2269 CD
  • Ensemble
    Trio Aristos
  • Released
    February 2017

Trios

Trios
  • Label
    Ondine
  • Catalogue Number
    ODE 1189-2
  • Soloist
    Steven Dunn, Pia Freund, Tuija Hakkila, Mikael Helasvuo, Florent Jodelet, Anssi Karttunen, Ernst Kovacic
  • Released
    1st October 2012

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