Electro-Acoustic Orchestra

Editorial Reviews
Album Description
Orchestronics is the all-inclusive orchestra. Classic instruments mix with new sounds in a new electro-acoustic ensemble. The roots of our past and the seeds of our future grow into one hybrid blossom. This unique sound translates into any style, or genre. From classical, to jazz and new age, to dance, television and film music..., Orchestronics represents a truly modern orchestra for our time, making use of all available instruments: synthesizers, strings, piano, woodwinds, brass, percussion, and less traditional sounds.

Ever since Switched On Bach, (Wendy Carlos' landmark recording of Bach classics performed on an early Moog synthesizer), electronic instruments have proven themselves capable of handling orchestral challenges. For many years since, synthesizers and samplers have taken their place alongside guitars and drums, becoming staples of rock, pop, jazz, new age, and dance. Electronic music is coming of age.

"Breathing expression" into electronic musical instruments is extremely challenging. Instead of muscle control with a bow or breath, the musician uses very subtle moves of the instrument's controls, which is also physically challenging. The results can be just as emotional.

Tracks:

Wire Recorder Piece
Pi ectronique No. 3
Mutations
Demeures Aquatiques
Vox
Sediment
Pendulum Music
Marfa Mix
Ressac 4
Sea-Food
Unyoga
Funktion Grau

Tracks:

Broken Music Composition
Fucked Up and Naked
Weaving the Magic
River Blindness
Still and Moving Lines of Silence in Families of Hyperbolas: Voice
Circa 1901
Still Warm
It
Present Time Exercises
Air Attack Over Kabul Airfield [Part of the War/Noise Series]
Abruitisme Dynamique/Simultanenne
Oraison

Customer Reviews:

Legal Stuff Apart.......2007-04-21

Some of the music on this series is so weird and beautiful that the composers should be gratefull that it is released here. They should think of this series as a sampler which might atract us, the general public, into further investigation of their work, which we most probably would have never had the chance to hear it or become aware of its existence or of the compsers/artists. Don't be so greedy... for I believe you have been done a favor. The same goes for the other volumes of this series. TWO THUMBS UP!

Pieces you can't find anywhere else but the other reviews are right too.......2006-12-29

These are historic musical works some of which have never been made available to the public and are not available anywhere else. But the other reviews are correct, that the label is not doing right by the artists.

Sub Rosa Records was very friendly up until I sent them the master tape they had requested. When they said they wanted to use it I asked to be sent their license agreement. I never heard from them again. No license but they put my piece out on cd anyway. I asked a couple of times again but each time got no reply.

I doubt that anyone else with music in this cd series has received any royalties for the use of their work or will. We do, however, get to know that people are listening to our music, and that, not money, is what probably just about all of us created this music for. Someone without any legal right to do so is making money from this music, but the music itself can now be heard.

I'm marking this with 3 stars because that averages the good and bad of this cd set as described here.

- Laurie Spiegel (composer of the piece "Sediment" on this release)

The compiler of this series always makes great efforts to track down the copyright holders. Rather than leave off tracks for which he can't find the holder they are included in the "interests of art and music history". The text with the CD explains this, and invites that untraceable copyright holders make contact to fix any problems (or take legal action)

Please bear this in mind when considering buying this CD

Unauthorized release.......2006-05-27

This release contains a track by the Egyptian-born U.S. composer Halim El-Dabh which was used without his permission or consent, and for which he is obtaining no royalties. Please take this into consideration when choosing whether to purchase this recording.

Kaija Saariaho: Château de l'âme / Graal Théâtre / Amers

Average customer rating:

Two superb works along with one marking the end of her finest era
Music of shapeshifting beauty
How rich the Nordic realm!
A must have modern
Beautiful music from Kaija Saariaho

Kaija Saariaho: Château de l'âme / Graal Théâtre / Amers
Esa-Pekka Salonen , Gidon Kremer , and Dawn Upshaw
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Similar Items:

Kaija Saariaho: Du Cristal...À la Fumée; Sept Papillons, Nymphéa
Saariaho: Private Gardens / Dawn Upshaw
Tristan Murail: Gondwana; Désintégrations; Time and Again
Music of Magnus Lindberg
Kaija Saariaho: From the Grammar of Dreams

ASIN: B00005NNNX
Release Date: 2001-08-28

Tracks:

Graal Theatre: Delicato
Graal Theatre: Impetuoso
Chateau De L'Ame: La Liane
Chateau De L'Ame: A La Terre
Chateau De L'Ame: La Liane
Chateau De L'Ame: Pour Repousser L'Esprit
Chateau De L'Ame: Les Formules
Amers: Libero, Dolce, Misterioso
Amers: Sempre Molto Energico, Ma Espresivo

Amazon.com

Kaija Saariaho was born in Helsinki in 1952, one of numerous notable musicians to have come out of Finland recently, a distinction she shares with Salonen, one of her earliest and most steadfast supporters. She studied in Finland, Germany, and Paris, where she became acquainted with the composers of "spectral" music, who focus on music as sound and examine its constituent elements in microscopic detail. This influenced her own writing, which she describes as "more timbral than melodic, more focused on color than line."

Indeed, the two instrumental works on this disc seem created entirely from sound effects and color effects. Graal Theatre is a substantial violin concerto that exploits all imaginable, and many unimaginable, resources of the instrument and demands superhuman tonal and technical acrobatics of the soloist. Kremer, of course, clears all these hurdles with ease and aplomb; the beauty of his tone comes through at every opportunity. These are almost nonexistent in the cello concerto, Amers, in which the soloist is reduced to running, scratching, and squeaking. The five-song set Chateau de L'ame is the most accessible: sung beautifully, it is mainly lyrical, atmospheric, languid, and mournful, with big leaps in the vocal line and much lighter orchestration than in the concertos. The composer confirms that "vocal music written to strong texts seems more emotional," because the words enhance the music and because "the human voice touches us differently than any other instrument." It would have been helpful to know what the songs are about, but unfortunately, the booklet carries no texts, though it includes a long interview with the composer in three languages. --Edith Eisler

Customer Reviews:

Two superb works along with one marking the end of her finest era.......2005-12-10

Here we have 3 pieces by contemporary Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho performed by each work's dedicatee--Gidon Kremer, Dawn Upshaw, and Anssi Karttunen--and three excellent ensembles--the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Finnish Radio Chamber Choir & Symphony Orchestra, and the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra--all conducted by long-time associate Esa-Pekka Salonen. I've been unhappy with Saariaho's recent work, where she has seemingly abandoned electronics and concentrated increasingly on melody, but the music of the early 90s, with its focus on gorgeous timbre and frequent use of electronic possibilities, is a standout of contemporary music. Two works here show Saariaho at her best, but one is the harbinger of her lesser music of today.

All things considered, "Amers" for cello, orchestra, and electronics (1993) is for me Saariaho's masterpiece. With its prominent cello part written for Anssi Karttunen, the two-movement piece can be considered a cello concerto, but the relationship between soloist and orchestra that Saariaho aims for here is richer than any other concerto I've ever heard. While the orchestra bangs out gentle and ghostly ocean-like rhythms ("amers" is a French word for "navigation buoy"), the cello plays "as a sailor charting a course through a sea of sounds". The piece makes use of a special microphone specially developed by IRCAM that is capable of isolating each of the cello's four strings and amplifying or electronically altering each separately, which expands the cello's sound to new levels: furious bowing across the bridge gives bell-like chimes, a sound produced by pizzicato elastically reverbs. Over the course of the work, electronic alterations pull the cello "off-course"; in the first movement, only minor interference occurs, while in the powerful second movement the sound of the cello is violently shaken about. Karttunen and Avanti! give a moving performance that alone serves to make this a highly recommended disc.

I should mention that if you like "Amers" you should check out Saariaho's related "Pres" for solo cello, whose material is mainly taken from the solo part of "Amers" with some additions of even greater beauty, allowing one to concentrate on this particular element of the concerto separate from the orchestral elements.

"Graal Theatre" for violin and orchestra (1994) more closely approaches the concerto tradition than "Amers", but has its own twist: during the first movement instead of a dialogue between soloist and orchestra, the orchestra emulates the material displayed by the soloist. Saariaho puts it that the soloist "leaves tracks" that the ensemble follows. Only in the second movement, "Impetuoso", do we find confrontation. Gidon Kremer performs superbly here as always, and I was impressed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra. It is a pity that this performance, recorded in 1996, sat around for five years before being released. A version for chamber orchestra was later written that is featured on a recent Ondine disc and is worth hearing, although I find this original version for full orchestra works better due to its greater percussion.

"Chateau de L'ame" for solo soprano, 8 female voices and orchestra (1996) marks the end of Saariaho's overall concern with otherworldly timbre and the beginning of her disappointing turn to overt melody. The text of these five songs come from Vedic love poems and magical writings from Ancient Egypt. In spite of the divine voice of Dawn Upshaw, I find this music bland. One only has to look at "Lonh" for soprano and electronics of the same year, also written for Upshaw (and wonderfully performed by her on an Ondine disc) to see how limited this new music is. With the certain exception of "Sept Papillions" for solo cello and the cautious exception of her first opera "L'amour de loin", most of what I've heard from Saariaho recently is of considerably lesser quality than what she wrote before.

In spite of the weak "Chateau", however, the two earlier works on this disc are of great elegance and beauty. If you've never heard Saariaho's music before, I'd recommend first trying the discs "Du crystal ...a la fumee/Nymphea/Sept Papillions" or "Private Gardens", both on Ondine. Still, this disc is worth hearing once you've fallen in love with her writing.

Music of shapeshifting beauty.......2002-11-26

The music of Kaija Saariaho was almost too much for me to absorb at once, when I first listened to this disc. This isn't because it's busy or overblown, although there's plenty of detail and sumptuous orchestral beauty to her music. Rather, on the first piece in particular, it's almost as if different moods are overlayed, translucent and continuously shifting from foreground to background,with severe modernist abstraction (which I love, by the way) and lush neo-romanticism bleeding over into one another. Saariaho makes "Graal Theatre"'s continuous transformations work much more subtly than that grasping description makes it sound. The piece has an almost ritualistic quality to it, with the decisively rigorous violin moving with fluid angularity amongst a variegated landscape of orchestral color and occasional tension. "Chateau De L'Ame" is the most accesible piece, with Dawn Upshaw's lovely soprano supported by understated orchestrations that, while beautiful, carry an uncanny tinge. "Amers" closes out the disc with the most obscure music here, with incredible explorations of timbre within a bright sound haze. According to the liner notes, it has more in common with Saariaho's earlier work than the other pieces. After managing to let myself sink into this hauntingly beautiful music, I certainly plan on exploring more of what is available from this amazing composer.

How rich the Nordic realm!.......2002-09-21

Kaija Saariaho is well known to Los Angeles audiences as her fellow countryman and music spiritual partner Esa-Pekka Salonen has provided many performances of this gifted composer's output in the Los Angeles Philharmonic's seasons. It is well to hear these two collaborate on this recording as there is a special affinity obviously present. Saariaho's music is an acquired taste. Not that it is unapproachable on first hearing: she is after all an impressionist of wondrous colors and a titan of orchestration. The acquired taste in this instance is like a reference to drug addicition. Once the listener relaxes with the relative lack of meter and just bathes in the luxury of her created sound, the works beg for encores. Though all three works on this disc are very fine, for me the pinnacle is the song cycle 'Chateau de l'ame' which benefits from the impeccably beautiful art of soprano Dawn Upshaw. This is a song cycle that should stand with Ravel's "Sheherazade" and Berlioz' "Nuits d'ete". Finland remains a rich resource for some of the best music and musicians before us today. Highly recommended.

A must have modern.......2002-06-14

This is a VERY GOOD disc of modern music.

It has is similarities with Salonens own "LA variations" Salonens is in my opinion better) but this is, even if you compare with Salonen a very good disc. Gideon Kremer plays on this and he is fantastic even if I THINK his violin is a BIT too "loud" over orchestra but mayby Saariaho like it that way?

Salonen conducts modern music very good -as usual- and sound is excellent, music is stunning and Cello player Karttunen plays with bravura and Dawn Upshaw singing with grace.

Otherwise this booklet give us, what I think, some kvasi-intellectual nonsence about Saariahos works (Sony "forget" give us more vital info instead about this importent composer). If you could stand that Sony treat modern importent works like this in what I think is a bad manner and listen too this music instead this IS importent modern music and a must have.

Of course this is highly recommended disc but dont forget Salonens "LA Variations"

Beautiful music from Kaija Saariaho.......2002-03-19

Kaija Saariaho has one of the most colorful and expressive orchestral palates out there today. These pieces are amoung her best, especially the final piece Amers. The performances are, I assume, definative. A very important release by one of the most important composers out there.

Average customer rating:

Silence please!
Georgia Stone the best antiwar composition to date
unknown..but i'm real excited
What? 183 tracks? What for? There is a reason...

Chance Operation: The John Cage Tribute

Manufacturer: Koch Int'l Classics
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Live In New York
Glass: Heroes Symphony; The Light
Sangam
My Life in the Bush of Ghosts
Baraka

ASIN: B000001SH6
Release Date: 1993-11-18

Tracks:

Excerpts For Thirty Pieces For String Quartet
Excerpt From Thirty Pieces For String Quartet
Three Dances For Prepared Piano, Dance #1
Dance 2: Three Dances for Prepared Piano
Dance 3: Three Dances for Prepared Piano
First Four-Language Word Event in Memoriam John Cage
First Four-Language Word Event in Memoriam John Cage
First Four-Language Word Event in Memoriam John Cage
First Four-Language Word Event in Memoriam John Cage
First Four-Language Word Event in Memoriam John Cage
First Four-Language Word Event in Memoriam John Cage
First Four-Language Word Event in Memoriam John Cage
First Four-Language Word Event in Memoriam John Cage
First Four-Language Word Event in Memoriam John Cage
Six Melodies Variation for Solo Violin
Six Melodies Variation for Solo Violin
Six Melodies Variation for Solo Violin
Six Melodies Variation for Solo Violin
A Cage Went in Search of a Bird
A Cage Went in Search of a Bird
A Cage Went in Search of a Bird
A Cage Went in Search of a Bird
A Cage Went in Search of a Bird
A Cage Went in Search of a Bird
A Cage Went in Search of a Bird
A Cage Went in Search of a Bird
Concert for Piano and Orchestra: Three Solos for Trumpet
Concert for Piano and Orchestra: Three Solos for Trumpet
Concert for Piano and Orchestra: Three Solos for Trumpet
Concert for Piano and Orchestra: Three Solos for Trumpet
Concert for Piano and Orchestra: Three Solos for Trumpet
Concert for Piano and Orchestra: Three Solos for Trumpet
Concert for Piano and Orchestra: Three Solos for Trumpet
Concert for Piano and Orchestra: Three Solos for Trumpet
Concert for Piano and Orchestra: Three Solos for Trumpet
Concert for Piano and Orchestra: Three Solos for Trumpet
Concert for Piano and Orchestra: Three Solos for Trumpet
Concert for Piano and Orchestra: Three Solos for Trumpet
Concert for Piano and Orchestra: Three Solos for Trumpet
Concert for Piano and Orchestra: Three Solos for Trumpet
Cunningham Stories (At the Age of Twelve...)
Cunningham Stories (At the Age of Twelve...)
Cunningham Stories (At the Age of Twelve...)
Cunningham Stories (At the Age of Twelve...)
Cunningham Stories (At the Age of Twelve...)
Cunningham Stories (At the Age of Twelve...)
Cunningham Stories (At the Age of Twelve...)
Cunningham Stories (At the Age of Twelve...)
Haiku FM
Haiku FM
Haiku FM
Haiku FM
Art is self-alteration is Cage is...
Art is self-alteration is Cage is...
Art is self-alteration is Cage is...
Art is self-alteration is Cage is...
Art is self-alteration is Cage is...
Art is self-alteration is Cage is...
Art is self-alteration is Cage is...
Art is self-alteration is Cage is...
Art is self-alteration is Cage is...
Art is self-alteration is Cage is...
Art is self-alteration is Cage is...
Music for the Merce Cunningham dance Shards: Webwork
Music for the Merce Cunningham dance Shards: Webwork
Music for the Merce Cunningham dance Shards: Webwork
Music for the Merce Cunningham dance Shards: Webwork
Music for the Merce Cunningham dance Shards: Webwork
Music for the Merce Cunningham dance Shards: Webwork
Georgia Stone
Georgia Stone
Georgia Stone
Georgia Stone
Georgia Stone
Georgia Stone
Georgia Stone
Georgia Stone
Georgia Stone
Georgia Stone
Georgia Stone
Georgia Stone
Georgia Stone
Georgia Stone
Georgia Stone
Georgia Stone
Georgia Stone
Georgia Stone
Georgia Stone
Georgia Stone
Georgia Stone
Georgia Stone
Georgia Stone
Georgia Stone
Georgia Stone
Georgia Stone
Georgia Stone
Georgia Stone
Georgia Stone

Tracks:

Cunningham Stories (Merce Cunningham Phoned His Mother...)
Cunningham Stories (Merce Cunningham Phoned His Mother...)
Cunningham Stories (Merce Cunningham Phoned His Mother...)
Cunningham Stories (Merce Cunningham Phoned His Mother...)
Oregon: Chance/Choice
Oregon: Chance/Choice
Chance/Choice
Chance/Choice
Chance/Choice
Chance/Choice
Seventy-five Letters & Improvisation
Seventy-five Letters & Improvisation
Seventy-five Letters & Improvisation
Seventy-five Letters & Improvisation
Seventy-five Letters & Improvisation
Seventy-five Letters & Improvisation
Seventy-five Letters & Improvisation
Seventy-five Letters & Improvisation
Living Room Music
Living Room Music
Living Room Music
Living Room Music
Living Room Music
Living Room Music
Living Room Music
Living Room Music
Ergodos I for John Cage
Ergodos I for John Cage
Ergodos I for John Cage
Ergodos I for John Cage
Ergodos I for John Cage
Ergodos I for John Cage
Cunningham Stories (Every Morning...)
Cunningham Stories (Every Morning...)
Cunningham Stories (Every Morning...)
Cunningham Stories (Every Morning...)
Cunningham Stories (Every Morning...)
Cunningham Stories (Every Morning...)
Cunningham Stories (Every Morning...)
Factory Preset
Factory Preset
Factory Preset
Factory Preset
Factory Preset
Factory Preset
Factory Preset
Factory Preset
Factory Preset
Factory Preset
Factory Preset
4'33
4'33
4'33
4'33
4'33
In Memoriam John Cage
In Memoriam John Cage - Call Waiting
In Memoriam John Cage - Call Waiting
In Memoriam John Cage - Call Waiting
In Memoriam John Cage - Call Waiting
In Memoriam John Cage - Call Waiting
In Memoriam John Cage - Call Waiting
In Memoriam John Cage - Call Waiting
Aria
Aria
Aria
Aria
Aria
Aria
Aria
Aria
Aria
Aria
Aria
Aria
Aria
Aria
Aria
Cunningham Stories (The Cunningham Company...)
Cunningham Stories (The Cunningham Company...)
Cunningham Stories (The Cunningham Company...)
New York City
New York City
New York City
New York City

Customer Reviews:

Silence please!.......2006-08-30

My only reason for buying this CD is the track 4:33 by Frank Zappa. 4:33 minutes of total silence, well almost total silence because you can hear a little background noices in the control room of Frank. It is a very interesting cd. But if you are not a fan of Zappa or Cage, and you like to hear music I say: buy something else. If you are ready for an experiment: buy this one or the CD Roaratorio.

Georgia Stone the best antiwar composition to date.......2002-12-15

The whole collection is interesting. However, the great moment of this collection is the Ono contribution Georgia Stone. It's a fluxus symphony. Never have I heard a more poignant antiwar piece. It rates in power and beauty to Henryk Gorecki's Symphony #3 with soprano Dawn Upshaw. If anyone ever doubted the genius of Yoko Ono as being relevant and an artist of the highest calibre then listen to this masterpiece and you'll be jolted into her energy as an artist. Yoko, give us more of this kind of music.

unknown..but i'm real excited.......2001-06-05

Jspark wrote a review that totally grabbed my intrest..I did my senior art history project on John Cage..using random sheets of paper for the lecture. the idea of hitting the "random button" is a great idea..and the idea of running two disks at once is even neater..being a big fan of just about everybody on the cd..especially Laurie Anderson doesnt hurt either... I haven't heard it yet, but i think i'll be sticking with the 5 star rating.

What? 183 tracks? What for? There is a reason..........1999-08-03

It might be bewildering at first. The first disc has 98 tracks; the second, 85. If you listen straight through, you do not perceive any discontinuity. A collection of John Cage pieces performed by friends, collegues, and admirers. Frank Zappa (American composer [complete biographical blurb that he provided]) contributed 4'33". Laurie Anderson tells a few Merce Cunningham tales. Seems like a fun tribute from the git-go. But wait! (And this is where the fun begins!) Switch your CD player to the shuffle (random) mode. Now look what happens. It goes from, say, Yoko Ono's piece to the Kronos to the Moraz prepared piano performance to Ken Nordine's narration - all in the matter of seconds. It is a great to homage to Cage himself with the great use of the random chance operations that he might have enjoyed. Every performance of this disc becomes a unique experience (just like Cage). For even more fun, try playing both discs at the same time (provided, of course, you have the means; if not, improvise). Or add another sound source as well, like, say, the radio, or the television very low, or a tape of white noise. The possibilities are endless. I had the pleasure of trying this one day with FOUR players going on simulataneously: two with these discs, another with Miles Davis far in the background, the fourth with a disc of bird calls. It was quite a fun sound environment and I would not hesitate to try it again. But that was my experience. Your experience may be different.

Average customer rating:

Celestial Classics
Anugama
Manufacturer: Open Sky Music
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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The Lightness of Being
Healing
Morning Breeze
Environment 1
Silent Joy

ASIN: B00005TZOD
Release Date: 2002-04-30

Tracks:

Satie: Trois Gymnopedies
Beethoven: Mondscheinsonate, cis-moll, Op. 27/2
Vivaldi: Konzert fur Flote und Orchester, D-Dur, 2 Satz-solo cantabile
JS Bach: Konzert for Violine, Oboe und Orchester d-moll, 2 Satz-adagio
JS Bach: Italienisches Konzert, 2 Satz-andante
Telemann: Largo aus Konzert in D-Dur fur Flote und Streichorchester
JS Bach: Klavierkonzert in F-Moll
Vivaldi: Konnzert fur Falutino und Orchester in C-Dur, 2 Satz Largo in E-Moll
JS Bach: Siciliano, 2 Satz aus Sonate fur Flote und Cembalo in Es-Dur
Mozart: Trinklied
Pachelbel: Canon in D-Dur fur Streicher und Basso Contunoue
JS Bach: Air-Suite Nr. 2 in D-Dur
Mozart: Quartett fur Violine, Bratsche, Cello und Flote in D-Dur

Average customer rating:

Three works that hold a somewhat minor role in her oeuvre alongside stronger ones
Saariaho's Shimmering Sonic Blossoms
Saariaho's enchanting soundworld

Graal Theater / Solar / Lichtbogen
Saariaho , Storgards , Lintu , and Avanti Cham Orch
Manufacturer: Ondine
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

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Similar Items:

Portrait of Kaija Saariaho
Saariaho: Private Gardens / Dawn Upshaw
Kaija Saariaho: Château de l'âme / Graal Théâtre / Amers
Kaija Saariaho: From the Grammar of Dreams
Kaija Saariaho: Du Cristal...À la Fumée; Sept Papillons, Nymphéa

ASIN: B000069KMS
Release Date: 2002-09-24

Tracks:

I - John Storgards
II - John Storgards
Solar - Avanti! Chamber Orchestra
Lichtbogen - Avanti! Chamber Orchestra

Customer Reviews:

Three works that hold a somewhat minor role in her oeuvre alongside stronger ones.......2006-04-03

This 2002 Ondine disc contains three pieces by Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, whose falling in with the spectralist school in the early 1980s led to a long obsession with timbre as the ultimate component of music. Hannu Lintu leads the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, with a spotlight on violinist John Storgards.

"Graal Theatre", a violin concerto dedicated to Gidon Kremer, stands on the threshold of a new interest in somewhat more conventional writing. While the orchestral writing is concerned mainly with timbre, the soloist's material is often melodic. The work was originally written in 1994 for symphony orchestra, and a recording of this version with Kremer performing can be found on a Sony disc. The version here is a 1997 arrangement for chamber orchestra, which maintains the solo part unchanged but gives a more intimate feel to the work by reducing the remaining instrumentation. All in all, I like the version for full orchestra better, as it features more impressive use of percussion and it is the original version whose recording gives us the powerful work of Gidon Kremer. John Storgards just doesn't excite me as much here. However, when it comes to examining certain details of the original version, this pared-down chamber arrangement is a useful tool.

"Solar" (1993), a composition for a chamber ensemble of twelve players, takes its title from the "heliocentric" nature of its harmonies: the writing forces a harmonic progression towards a fixed point as if by gravitational attraction. This is a less dramatic work than "Graal Theatre", featuring fewer ups-and-downs and staying rather sunny and busy in the first half and restrained in the second. However, it better showcases the obsession with colour of spectralist composers like Saariaho. The work was originally written for the ensemble Champ d'Action, and a recording of their performance is available on a Mode disc, but this Avanti! performance is just as fine.

"Lichtbogen" (1986) comes from a fairly early stage of Saariaho's career and is typical of her output of this time in its use of live electronics and finding inspiration from a single sound. The cracking of a cello harmonic when pressure is applied to the bow was analysed with a computer, transposed to nine instrumentalists and live electronics, and then extended to a full-scale piece. This is a quiet piece where rare bright notes shine over a night sky of subdued ambience--the apt title of the piece comes from the Swedish for the Aurora Borealis. While not as immediately accessible as the first two works, it still offers pleasurable listening.

This disc is probably not the best introduction to Saariaho's oeuvre. The aforementioned Sony disc with the original arrangement of "Graal Theatre" also features "Amers", a real stunner of a cello concerto (with live electronics) that I think is her masterpiece. However, for established fans this disc is worth seeking out.

Saariaho's Shimmering Sonic Blossoms.......2003-11-25

Elegant and unorthodox, organic and uncanny, the music of Kaija Saariaho has an alien beauty that isn't compromised one iota by its resolute modernism. "Graal Theatre", for violin and chamber orchestra, is a luxuriously writhing soundscape, where the impassioned violin part has its great swoops punctuated by splashes of orchestral color. The violin here is much more up front than in the full orchestral version, which is available on Sony Classical's excellent "Chateau De L'Ame" disc of the composer's works (see my review). "Solar" inhabits a similar soundworld. Rather than complementing and dialectically engaging with a soloist, the orchestral layers and clusters of resosnant sound are free to blossom into a lush ambient hazes and florid tangles. Tempo and density vary unpredictably, but these shifts never seem random or arbitrary. These changes are written with subtelty and a balance that seems improbable, in this context. But Saariaho pulls it off. As with Debussy, her music can seem decorative and unrigorous at first. But like the impressionist master, whose lineage (in one of its tributaries) culminates in her Spectralist mentors, Saariaho lets the indistinct quality of much of her material influence the progression of its form. "Lichtbogen", the closing piece, is a compelling demonstration of this talent. Nine musicians, and their live electronic transformations of various sorts, weave a delicate study in tone and texture, with vibrating events rising from crystalline, sustained tones and electronic washes. As with all of Saariaho's work, this is highly original music.

Saariaho's enchanting soundworld.......2003-06-30

This is a fantastic collection of Kaija Saariaho. The featured work is a violin concerto, "Graal theatre," with John Storgards on violin. This is a chamber orchestra arrangement -- the piece was originally composed for full orchestra in 1994, a commission from the BBC, and was premiered at the Proms in London in 1995. The original version has been recorded by Gidon Kremer, with Salonen conducting. On this Ondine disc, the music is performed by the Finnish Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, with Hannu Lintu conducting.

"Graal theatre" is the most conventionally beautiful, lyrical piece I have yet heard by Saariaho. "Graal" means that which is innermost and holiest, while "theatre" indicates that which is extroverted and performing -- the enchanting, elusive quality of the music apparently expresses this contradiction. The other two pieces work backward in time, with "Solar" composed in 1993, and "Lichtbogen," featuring live electronics, composed in 1986, one of Saariaho's early works. They are both wondrous, lovely pieces. Working backwards, the music seems to become structurally simpler, more static, purer, as if dissolving into light. I use the metaphor advisedly, as "Lichtbogen" was inspired by the Northern lights, the aurora borealis.

Tracks:

A Dream Without Images-A Cross-Resonance Transform: Before Dawn, Inside
The CBCD Intro: Sunrise, Outside
Country Boy Country Dog: Midday, Inside & Out
X Marks The Spot (Daydream):-A Cross-Match Transform: Afternoon, Inside
The CBCD Variations: Twilight, Outside

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Electro-Acoustic Orchestra
Orchestronics
Manufacturer: Orchestronics
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | New Age | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Classical | Indie Music | Stores | Music
ASIN: B0000AZVK6
Release Date: 2003-07-24

Tracks:

An American Day
Public Transit
Distant Melody
Crunch the Numbers
Bruschetta
Falling
Repeat After Me
Send Me To London
Concerto No.1 for Synth and Orchestra: 1st Mov't
Concerto No.1 for Synth and Orchestra: 2nd Mov't
Concerto No.1 for Synth and Orchestra: 3rd Mov't

Product Description

The truly electronic classical orchestra, joining strings and synthesizers. The Synth Concerto #1 is a groundbreaking piece, with historical implications.

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Tu M' & the Magical Mystery Orchestra

Manufacturer: Aesova
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

Electronica | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music
ASIN: B0009DOBOY
Release Date: 2004-07-06

Product Description

BRILLIANT sonorities & gleaming tones, enchanting melodies, scratchy textures & grainy surfaces - all born from the Magical Mystery Orchestra, a "secret ensemble" of horns, strings, percussion, piano, and other traditional instrumentation. The compositions of Rossano Polidoro and Emiliano Romanelli, together known to the world as Tu m', were first played by the Magical Mystery Orchestra, then digitally reprocessed and edited by the composers. This approach is a departure from much of the previous Tu m' music, with the composers typically approaching laptops directly as the point of compostion, here drawing inspiration from the "colors of the acoustic instruments, in their simple and pure sound and in their melodic reiteration in space." Ten uncommonly beautiful electro-acoustic treasures.