CAL PERFORMANCES PRESENTS Saturday, February 11, 2012, 8pm Hertz Hall Eco Ensemble David Milnes, conductor PROGRAM Kaija Saariaho (b. 1952) Trois Rivières Delta (2001) percussion Loren Mach, Chris Froh, Daniel Kennedy, Stan Muncy Magnus Lindberg (b. 1952) Corrente (China Version) (2000) flute, alto flute Stacey Pelinka violin 1 Hrabba Atladottir oboe, English horn Andrienne Malley violin 2 Dan Flanagan bass clarinet Peter Josheff viola Ellen Ruth Rose trombone Brendan Lai-Tong cello Leighton Fong percussion Loren Mach double bass Richard Worn piano Ann Yi INTERMISSION Saariaho Ballade (2005) Prelude (2007) piano Gloria Cheng Franck Bedrossian (b. 1971) Swing (2009) flute, alto flute Stacey Pelinka guitar Travis Andrews bass clarinet Peter Josheff violin 1 Hrabba Atladottir baritone saxophone, violin 2 Dan Flanagan soprano saxophone David Wegehaupt viola Ellen Ruth Rose percussion Loren Mach cello Leighton Fong piano Ann Yi double bass Richard Worn Electronics by Jay Cloidt, Yotam Mann (Trois Rivières Delta) and Tom Craft (Swing). Cal Performances’ 2011–2012 season is sponsored by Wells Fargo. CAL PERFORMANCES 19 PROGRAM NOTES PROGRAM NOTES Kaija Saariaho (b. 1952) listening experience her pieces offer audiences, appearance is more forceful, driven emotionally sections are recalled and rethought in a different Trois Rivières Delta (2001), Prelude (2007), engaging their intellect as well as their senses. in gestures reminiscent of Liszt and Chopin. context. Their reorganization does not render Ballade (2005) In 2000 Saariaho solidified her reputation as Although the solo-piano ballade has no set form unfamiliar the various previously heard compo- one of the most important composers of her gen- (apart from a loose connection to the French po- nents, but rather changes their perception and Kaija Sarriaho’s diverse training and experience eration with her opera L’Amour de loin (“Love etic form involving three stanzas), or any expect- perceived meaning. has shaped her unique compositional approach. from Afar”) premiered at the Salzburg Festival ed overall feeling, what connects all the pieces Saariaho uses the human voices of the per- Having grown up in Laakkonen, Finland, be- under the baton of Esa-Pekka Salonen and di- written under this title by numerous composers cussionists in this piece to add to its diverse fore her family eventually moved to Helsinki, rected by Peter Sellars. Here Saariaho combined since the early Romantic period is the idea of a sonic world. As source material for their spoken Sarriaho often highlights her love of nature, its her wish to express nature with the overall struc- narrative being expressed musically. recitation, Saariaho uses the poem La nuit de colors, textures and sonic world in her composi- ture of the opera. The sea in L’Amour de loin is Saariaho’s Ballade draws upon stylistic attri- lune sur le fleuve (“Moonlit Night on the River”) tions. Throughout her formative years, Sarriaho as much a dramatic force, creating a natural butes of the Romantic period namely in terms by the Chinese poet Li Po (701–762). Echoes was trained to think about music from a myr- barrier between two lovers, as a compositional of gesture, and the articulation of musical mate- of this poem are amplified, electronically en- iad of perspectives. She simultaneous pursued one, serving as a mirror through which Saariaho rial rather than the material itself. She also uses hanced, and combined creating various textures graphics at the Industrial School of Arts and explores musical symmetry. The opera won her the form as narration, not to express a specific and colors that sometimes adhere to strictly Crafts, piano, organ, theory and composition at much public acclaim, as well as the prestigious story in her music, but rather to guide the piece notated rhythms, while at other moments, re- the Helsinki Conservatory, as well as musicol- Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition along through an unfolding of musical mate- call the rhythmically free atmosphere from the ogy, art history and literature at the University in 2003. rial in various contexts. This material expresses first section. of Helsinki. Prelude (2007) exhibits Saariaho’s inti- itself lyrically and is driven forward by under- Ultimately, Saariaho turned to musical cre- mate connection with the physical aspects of lying dense, cloudlike harmonies, whose elusive ation as her preferred mode of artistic expres- the piano. Its rich opening texture draws from pitches are constantly in flux. These harmonies Magnus Lindberg (b. 1952) sion, and she entered Paavo Heininen’s com- both extremes of the instrument’s register, as if provide a rich sensual background for Saariaho’s Corrente (China Version) (2000) position class at the Sibelius academy in 1976. to outline the limits of its physical boundaries. melodic material, whose beauty and purpose of There, inspired in part by her teacher’s atonal Saariaho then pushes forward into the interior motion speak to her sophistication as well as her Magnus Lindberg has shown himself capable counterpoint classes, she embraced a post-seri- of the opening texture, exploring the various innate ability to convincingly convey emotion. of reaching wide audiences in a number of alist language as a response to the nationalist, colorful harmonies found within. A slow osti- Trois Rivières Delta (2001) is a piece for per- different styles throughout his compositional neo-romantic mainstream present in Finland nato (repeated figure) emerges near the center of cussion and electronics divided into three sec- career and has become one of the most widely during the 1960s and 1970s. During her time this texture issuing a paradox over the sensory tions. As the title suggests, these sections flow heard composers of his generation. A native of at the Sibelius academy, Saariaho, along with aspects of this piece. The constant repetition of into one another and ultimately join together Finland, Lindberg studied piano and composi- her classmate the composer and conductor Esa- the ostinato creates a static feeling, one out of to form a diverse but somewhat unified whole. tion at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki with Pekka Salonen, formed the Ears Open! (Korvat sync with time, all the while suggesting forward These three sections can be thought of as dif- Paavo Heininen. Along with Kaija Saariaho auki!) society, which was devoted to promoting motion at a walking pace. Saariaho’s use of this ferent aspects or approaches to a single type of and Esa-Pekka Salonen, he was instrumental in the performance and study of post-serial music ostinato and her loosely following the form of a saturated matter. In the opening section, the the founding of the Ears Open! (Korvat auki!) in Finland. piano prelude bring to mind Debussy’s prelude diverse sound world of the piece is presented in society, which provides one of many examples After studying composition with Brian …des pas sur la niège. concretely distinguishable instrumental colors. of Lindberg’s actions as a contemporary music Ferneyhough at the Freiburg Musikhochshule, The serene atmosphere created by the lush Without a clear rhythmic aspect, the focus is advocate. In the early 1980s, Lindberg traveled Saariaho enrolled in an electronic composition textures of this piece are accented by intense centered on colors, resonances, attacks and tex- throughout Europe, attending summer courses class at IRCAM, Paris’s state-funded electro- gestures enunciated using the whole range of tures. Here unpitched instruments are given a in Siena with Franco Donatoni, with Brian acoustic studio, in 1982. There Saariaho was the piano’s keyboard. These bursts of energy are primary role. Ferneyhough at Darmstadt, and studying pri- drawn toward different stimuli for composition- highly personal, and highlight the physical re- In the second section, rhythm comes to vately with Gérard Grisey in Paris. al expression, namely the nature of sound itself. sponse soloists have with the piano. Often their the fore, providing the previously stated colors Also having spent time in Berlin, Lindberg This approach, often referred to as Spectralism, delayed decay creates other textures and colors and textures another framework in which to developed an interest in punk rock, which served which used computer technology to study the from which, in turn, more pianistic gestures be experienced. As in a number of other pieces as an inspiration for Kraft (1985), a work whose various spectra of acoustic sounds as an impetus emerge. Prelude highlights Saariaho’s interest heard during this concert, an ostinato is devel- rhythmic punch and abrasive sonorities broke for musical composition was pioneered in the late in allowing musical material to present itself oped in this section, which marks the passage with his earlier styles of composition and propelled 1970s by the French composers Gérard Grisey in various ways throughout a piece being ever of time as well as moves the piece forward in him onto the international stage. At one point in and Tristan Murail, among others. Creating changed by its surroundings. varying directions. the piece, the score calls for a 70-note harmony, “music for the ears, and not for the eyes,” as she Ballade (2005) also showcases intense pia- Finally, in the third part of this piece, as- made up of acoustic instruments, as well as the once put it, Saariaho is ever conscious of the nistic passagework, although in this case, their pects of the material from the two preceding ensemble’s playing of various household objects. 20 CAL