• Kaija Saariaho
  • Château de l'âme (1996)
    (Chateau de l'ame)

  • Chester Music Ltd (World)

Commissioned by Betty Freeman and Gérard Mortier for the 1996 Salzburg Festival

Dedicated to the composer's daughter Aliisa and Dawn Upshaw

  • 2(pic).2.2.2/4.2.2.1/timp.3perc/hp.pf/str
  • SA
  • soprano
  • 22 min

Programme Note

Château de l'Âme sets texts from the Hinduism and Ancient Egyptian traditions. The first three sections come from Artharva Veda, one of the books of Veden, fundamental to the spiritualistic tradition of Hinduism. La liane (with reversed verse order in section 3) concerns the love between a man and a woman - its birth, continuation and constant renewal. A la terre, a collage of texts by Saariaho, is named after a Vedic prayer of the same title. The last two sections are based on Egyptian magic spells: Pour repousser l'esprit is a spell "to push back a spirit", and Les formules are extracts from spells used to heal children. The title Château de l'Âme comes from Saint Theresa of Avila's work of the same title.

The relationship between words and music in Château de l'Âme is a uniquely complex one. At one level, certain immanent structures in the poems are reflected in the music, such as the refrain "et ne t'écarte pas de moi!", which in La liane is sung always with the same melody by the solo soprano. Further to this, the ever-changing polyphony between soloist and chorus (with the notable exception of the central section, where the chorus is silent) shapes the work structurally and musically. At the opening of the work, for example, the chorus introduces the text by speaking certain parts of it prior to the entry of the solo soprano, a texture which is mirrored in Les formules where they shout brief extracts of the first verse whilst the soloist sings and recites the second verse. The very sound of the words shape the work: phonemes sung by the solo soprano and female voices merge into the orchestral texture and are developed in a similar fashion.

Media

Château de l'âme: I. La Liane
Château de l'âme: III. La Liane
Château de l'âme: IV. Pour repousser l'esprit
Château de l'âme: II. A La Terre
Château de l'âme: V. Les formules

Scores

Preview the score

Features

  • Kaija Saariaho’s Poetic Montages
    • Kaija Saariaho’s Poetic Montages
    • From the very beginning of her career as a composer, Kaija Saariaho has turned to poetry as a material and inspiration for her music. The forms and logics of poetry have played a defining role in her output since then.

Reviews

The extraordinary and the magical are…something quite apart. They are moments that rest in the memory for a very long time. What is surprising is that one of those moments should have happened during a world premiere. Kaija Saariaho (born in 1952) is a Finnish composer whose Château de l'âme (title inspired by St Teresa of Avila) forms a serene and intimate unity of imperishable music. The five songs last almost 30 minutes, and the soprano (Dawn Upshaw), eight female voices (the impeccable intonation of the Arnold Schoenberg Choir), and orchestra gave a performance that passed like a sigh, evidence of a profound communication, all supported by melody from our time and with a measured, sensitive and knowledgeable orchestration: Saariaho acknowledges the influences of Tarkovski or Canetti. Not bad company. Her marvellous Salzburg piece was received with amazement and gratitude by an enraptured audience.
Juan Angel Vela del Campo, El Pais
1st August 1996
"The basic thematic materials are as sparse and elegant as an ascending or descending scale. The orchestration, shot through with trills, gives the music an ecstatic shimmer. The soprano is backed up not only by the orchestra but by an ensemble of eight female voices that extend the range of effects in clusters of sound that hover around the vocal line like a cloud. There is a New Age dimension to the piece, but there is far more texture, density, intelligence, and emotion in this music than in some of its popular counterparts."
Richard Dyer, Boston Globe

Discography

Saariaho Salonen

Saariaho Salonen
  • Label
    Sony Music
  • Catalogue Number
    SK 60817
  • Conductor
    Esa-Pekka Salonen
  • Ensemble
    Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra / Avanti! Orchestra / BBC Symphony Orchestra
  • Soloist
    Anssi Kattunen, cello / Dawn Upshaw, sorprano / Gidon Kremer, violin
  • Released
    2001

More Info