• 1.1.1.1/2.1.1.0/timp.2perc/Hpsch/Strings
  • Soprano
  • 25 min

Programme Note

Kaija Saariaho’s Emilie Suite was a joint commission by Carnegie Hall, New York City, Cité de la Musique, Paris, Luzerner Sinfonieorchester and Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg.

It was first performed on 30 November 2011 at Carnegie Hall by the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra and soprano Elizabeth Futral conducted by Hannu Lintu. The first performance in Paris took place on 23 April 2013 at Cité de la Musique by the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra and soprano Barbara Hannigan conducted by Ernest Martinez Izquierdo.

Media

Emilie suite: I. Pressentiments (Forebodings)
Emilie suite: II. Interlude I
Emilie suite: III. Principia
Emilie suite: IV. Interlude II
Emilie suite: V. Contre l'oubli (Against Oblivion)

Scores

Reviews

...the concert’s most moving piece, Kaija Saariaho’s Suite from Emilie, drawn from her monodrama celebrating the uncompromising passions and genius of the 18th-century French philosopher and mathematician Emilie du Châtelet. She would die at 42 from puerperal fever and the suite of five movements reflects her premonitions of her demise, desperate to complete her translation of Isaac Newton’s Principia – she did – and to counter the oblivion conferred by death. The finesse of Saaiaho’s writing was mesmerising....

Rian Evans, The Guardian
4th November 2023

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

Saariaho, K: Émilie Suite, Quatre Instants

Saariaho, K: Émilie Suite, Quatre Instants
  • Label
    Ondine
  • Catalogue Number
    ODE1255-2
  • Conductor
    Marko Letonja
  • Ensemble
    Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra
  • Soloist
    Karen Vourc'h
  • Released
    2015