Kaija Saariaho (1952-2023)
Touches: Complete works for piano and harpsichord
Tuija Hakkila (piano and harpsichord)
Anssi Karttunen (cello, Im Traum only)
rec. 2024, Helsinki Music Centre
Ondine ODE1469-2 [56]

The Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho is remembered for her orchestral music and operas. She wrote very little for the piano: only four works, all of which are here. The disc is filled out with two works for harpsichord, an arrangement and a curiosity.

She explained her reason for writing so little for the piano: ‘I tend to think of music as a shifting continuum of sound that is impossible to create on a piano.’ Such piano music as she did write involves plentiful use of the pedal and a free sense of rhythm. There is some similarity with the sound world of Scriabin’s late music, though her sensibility is quite different.

The Prélude displays these characteristics. It opens very quietly with sounds in the high treble and deep bass. A wandering chromatic line arrives and hovers over a bell-like bass with an obsessive two note figure in the middle register.

Arabesques et adages was inspired by the Jean Tinguely’s kinetic art sculptures. The arabesques suggest the ways a pianist’s arms and fingers dance over the keys. The adages are slower passages, and there is also a pulsating figure and various decorative features.

Fall is for harpsichord and electronics. After a twittering, buzzing start, fragments of motifs float in a hazy background. A rhythmic pattern is gradually established. The electronic effects provide instant repetitions or reverberation or a spatial element.

Delicato is an arrangement made by Hakkila of one movement of a piano trio. There is a decorative fragment moving around a central C sharp.  This is the shortest piece here.

Im Traume is a curiosity, a very early and rather dull piece of post-Webernian pointillism which long outstays its welcome. It is written for cello and prepared piano and numerous extended techniques are used.

Ballade is a proper piano piece and is the most traditional work here. There is a theme, which struggles against distractions in both cello and bass. There is a repeating figure of a falling semitone, which put me in mind of Scriabin’s Vers la flamme.

Monkey Fingers, Velvet Hands was inspired by the songs of the Beatles, which Saariaho had enjoyed in her youth. The title comes from the lyrics of Come Together and Happiness is a Warm Gun. The tune from the second of these comes over a thumping bass.

Finally, Jardin secret II is one part of a triptych and is written for harpsichord and tape. (The first part, Jardin secret I is for tape only, and the third work is Nymphéa for string quartet and electronics.) The harpsichord writing is full of ornamental figures, while the tape, among other things, features the sounds of breathing, contributed by Saariaho herself.

Tuija Hakkila is an accomplished pianist who was also a friend of Saariaho for forty years. Her playing is obviously authoritative. The recording is up to Ondine’s high standards and Hakkila wrote the sleevenote, full of useful information on which I have drawn. However, I think the composer was right to say that her shimmering sound world does not really work on the piano. I think this is one for Saariaho completists only.

Stephen Barber

Buying this recording via a link below generates revenue for MWI, which helps the site remain free

Contents
Prélude (2006)
Arabesques et adages (2016)
Fall for harpsichord and electronics (1991/1995)
Delicato arr. Hakkila (2007/2015)
Im Traume for cello and prepared piano (1980)
Ballade (2005)
Monkey Fingers, Velvet Hands (1991)
Jardin secret II for harpsichord and tape (1984-6)