R.I.P. Kaija Saariaho 2023-06-05 by Winesburgohio STAFF | 4 Comments | The Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho has died following treatment for brain cancer in her home city of Paris. She was 70 years old.
Saariaho, though renowned primarily as a Finnish composer - and indeed who was the recipient of multiple grants from her home country - in fact moved to Paris at the age of 22, after lukewarm reception in her own country. Though she would take inspiration from Finland's geography and especially memories of visiting its lakes, remoter islands and the Lapland area, according to biographer Pirkko Moisala, she would continue to live in the French capital for the rest of her life.
She spoke often about the barriers to her success, predominantly that of being a woman in a scene dominated by men - according to her memoir, she was accused of "presumptuousness", when not being dismissed entirely. There were difficulties in being too melodic for the more extreme serialist vanguard while being too difficult, abstruse and mathematical for traditionalists.
Nonetheless her unique compositions would go on to earn plaudits and acclaim, beginning with the release of Verblendungen (1984), a severe, austere piece which uses dynamics to mimic the effect of a brush stroke of paint of a canvas, beginning with densely-packed loudness that eases into a sinister quiet. While that work emphatically belonged to the newly-forming tradition of Spectralism, Saariaho also worked in musique concrete, orchestral, operatic and the nascent "computer music" modes, seemingly excelling in all.
Two compilations -"A portrait of Kaija Saariaho" and "Meet the Composer" (the latter released on "Finlandia", a label focused on showcasing Finnish compositions) would give her an audience outside of the niche, but she lamented not being better known in Finland. Indeed she was a marginal figure, though almost universally beloved by those who'd heard her, until she gained mainstream attention for her operatic work "Innocence", a daring and "harrowing" (per The Observer) piece focused on a school shooting. Her last work, Hush, composed throughout her illness, was completed in March.
She leaves bereft a husband and two children. She will be remembered as a figure who broke barriers, as one of the foremost figures in modern classical, an iconoclastic experimenter and someone entirely herself until the end. R.I.P.
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Tagged: Kaija Saariaho
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Hard R.I.P. : (
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She was my favorite living composer, very sad news
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDbJhbEirfI&pp=ygUoa2FpamEgc2FhcmlhaG8gbm9jdHVybmUgZm9yIHNvbG8gdmlvbGluIA%3D%3D
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really enjoy her works, mainly the chamber ones. this just makes me sad.
very hard RIP
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIyLJM0VWkk
remains a favorite
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