Study for Life (1980)

In the version heard this evening, actor Thomas Kellner entered the stage reciting the first four verses of Eliot’s poem, and thus began Saariaho’s work, involving lights, tape, electronics and the soprano Tuuli Lindeberg, who stepped out from behind one of the three screens placed on stage to reflect the light projections. Together with the tape, the suggestive photographic and lighting material created a dark, dystopian atmosphere, and the musical–theatrical interaction between Lindeberg and Kellner created a sense of two protagonists, both of whom wanted to break free of their own hollowness, without success. After a quarter of an hour or so in pitch-black darkness, Lindeberg again disappeared behind the screens and the music died away, as Kellner hastily recited the famous closing lines of the poem: “This is the way the world ends / This is the way the world ends / This is the way the world ends / Not with a bang but with a whimper”.