Prelude for piano (Saariaho)

Movements

Notes

Kaija Saariaho was a Finnish composer (1952 – 2023). Prelude (2006) was composed for long-time collab­o­rator Tuija Hakkila as a devel­opment of the piano part of the song cycle Quatre instants (espe­cially its beginning, hence the title), which Tuija had premiered with soprano Karita Mattila in 2003. Much like the source work, Prelude explores the passionate obsession for a pulsating idee fixe that never gets a release or reso­lution. The work is a ‘prelude’ also in exposing ideas of sustained rhythmical flow, idiomatic to the instrument, that Kaija explored further in her ulterior piano writing in chamber music works, and beyond.

Performances