Saariaho, Kaija - Reconnaissance - Helsinki Chamber Choir

This album presents Kaija Saariaho's works for choir, a cappella, and electronic music, demonstrating her virtuosity in handling texts, to which she gives full verbal expression. At least one of these works is also a discographic premiere. Nuits, adieux, performed here in both a cappella and electronic versions, could be described as a lullaby, not so much for a sleeping child as for an elderly person who has passed away from our world. The amusing yet very serious Horloge, tais-toi was written for a children's choir. Echo! deals with the myth of Echo and Narcissus, the idea of echo, which is naturally expanded with electronics that process and echo the singers' voices. Based on poems by the German poet Friedrich Hölderlin, Tags des Jahrs presents an archaic choral arrangement, expanded by human voices, birds, wind, and other natural phenomena. Überzeugung deals with medieval music and explores the contrast between light and darkness as a trance-like interaction between the past and the present. Finally, Reconnaissance can be seen as a "science fiction madrigal." Nils Schweckendiek and the Helsinki Chamber Choir performed this program for the first time in concert in August 2022 as part of Saariaho's 70th birthday celebrations.