Kaija Saariaho is among the most successful contemporary composers. And rightly so.
She has developed her own style, connecting the tonal with the atonal. Without concessions, but also without losing touch with her listeners.
Once a student of Brian Ferneyhough and Klaus Huber, she very quickly abandoned serialism. Saariaho uses a lot of electronics that she interweaves with polyphony. This creates a very exciting mix of styles: very modern and abstract, yet with easy-to-follow melodies.
Her music is serene, sometimes quietly rippling along (I don’t mean that in a negative way!) and very meditative, often reminding me of Messiaen. And of paintings, as her music is all about colour and colour nuances, which is not surprising when you know that she first studied at art school. I like this a lot.
L’amour de loin (Love from afar), for me her most beautiful opera, is based on a poem by an unknown 12th-century Provençal troubadour, Jaufré Rudel. In it, he sings of an imaginary distant lover, not knowing that she actually exists. A pilgrim returning from the “fairyland” (Lebanon) has seen her: she is called Clémence, she is a countess and she lives in Tripoli.
Our troubadour will have none of it; after all, love is supposed to be pure, abstract and especially distant. Still, he cannot resist the temptation and travels after his faraway lover.
It doesn’t end well. Or does it? He dies, but blissfully. And in her arms.
Basia con fuoco 