Kaija Saariaho: Notes on Light; Orion; Mirage

Soprano Karita Mattila and female composer Kaija Saariaho share not only popular star status in the classical musical world but also a fruitful musical collaboration and friendship. Their latest is Mirage, the setting of a tranceinduced incantation text by the Mexican healer María Sabína (1894-1985). This recording features the work's world premiere performance in Paris on March 13, 2008. The ecstatic 15-minute piece is written for the unique combination of soprano, cello and orchestra, featuring cellist Anssi Karttunen and the Orchestre de Paris under its music director Christoph Eschenbach. "Few singers other than Mattila will be able to hurl the voice into such high ecstasy, bend its tones and express the entire transformation in such racked yet exultant body language. (...) this is a small but important work in Saariaho's increasingly fruitful development."--The Times Anssi Karttunen performs also in Notes on Light, a cello concerto which Saariaho wrote for him in 2006. The CD also includes Orion, the largest orchestral work Saariaho has written to date.