Saariaho • Salonen
Colombi: Ciaccona a basso solo; Salonen: Yta III; Knock, Breathe, Shine; Sarabande per un coyote; Saariaho: Dreaming Chaconne; Sept papillons; Spins and Spells; Petals Wilhelmina Smith (cello)
Ondine ODE 1294-2 59:02 mins American cellist Wilhelmina Smith is a notable champion of contemporary composers and has worked previously with Finnish modernists Kaija Saariaho and, especially, Esa-pekka Salonen. Here she performs a stunning recital of two halves, featuring solo music by each spanning the mid-1980s to 2010: three pieces by Salonen and four by Saariaho are divided by Italian Baroque composer Giuseppe Colombi’s short Ciaccona.
The placing is not happenstance. Either side of Ciaccona lie the Finns’ rich contributions to cellist Anssi Karttunen’s 2010 Mystery Variations project of 30 commissions based on this seminal early work. Where Salonen’s Sarabande per un coyote pushes Colombi to and from dissonant, strummed chords into jagged peaks and troughs, Saariaho’s Dreaming Chaconne deconstructs him through a shimmering spectral gauze. It’s a compelling contrast, and one which encapsulates the composers’ differing yet not unrelated soundworlds. Salonen’s opening Yta III (1986) announces an extrovert – even brash – presence that relaunches with even greater intensity in the ensuing knock, breathe, shine. Written in 2010, this dramatic work draws on an astonishing array of colours and textures through three movements traversing realms of melancholic yearning and discursive, swelling and subsiding polyphony.
Smith exudes seemingly effortless control through its virtuoso demands, as through Saariaho’s equally challenging, equally nuanced Petals (1988), Spins and Spells (1997) and the exceptional Sept papillons (2000). Rustling, scraping, tapping, singing; bow and fingers sinuously tease apart and refashion the very stuff of sound into tapestries in which delicate refinement and sonorous depth are tempered by sudden, tautly abrasive outbursts.
Steph Power PERFORMANCE ★★★★★
RECORDING ★★★★★