European Premiere of Saariaho's Terra Memoria

29th June 2007

“No rough sounds for Kaija Saariaho’s Terra Memoria commissioned by Carnegie Hall and having its first performance here. Ms. Saariaho’s elegant music begins and ends in whispery near-silence. Her care for the sound properties of instruments is a double gift to listeners. The overlapping conversations between voices are received as counterpoint, and yet the assembled sounds create a single cloudlike sonority. Most of the piece sings in a pervasive tenor-to-treble range reminiscent of Ravel or Fauré. The more Ms. Saariaho engages the past, the more original her music becomes.” June 19 2007, New York Times.

After a successful world premiere at Carnegie Hall, New York the Emerson Quartet will continue performing the piece extensively. The European Premiere takes place at the Salzburg Festival on August 29 2007 (www.salzburgfestival.at) and the German Premiere at Cologne Philharmonie on September 7 2007 followed by a performance in Stockholm on September 8 2007. Many more performances will take place in the USA, London, Vienna and Paris. Please see the website’s calendar for more details.