This album was recorded in Karjaa Church, Finland, in May and December 2015, with Matti Heinonen of Pro Audile Oy handling recording, editing, and mastering.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Kaija Saariaho's music, a Finnish composer born in 1952, equally balances extensive forms and soaring arcs with intense miniature moments.
Performer Biography
Meta4, a Finnish string quartet, won first prize in the International Shostakovich Quartet Competition in Moscow in 2004 and the International Joseph Haydn Chamber Music Competition in Vienna in 2007.
Instruments
The members of Meta4 perform on distinguished instruments, including a Stradivarius violin on loan from the Finnish Cultural Foundation, a Carlo Bergonzi violin, and a cello made by Lorenzo Storioni in Cremona in 1780.
Compositional Technique
Saariaho's instrumental style for strings uses a wide variety of playing techniques, including bowing sul tasto (over the fingerboard) or sul ponticello (close to the bridge), harmonics, trills, tremolos, arpeggios, and precise vibrato control.
Performer Biography
Soprano Pia Freund is particularly known as an interpreter of Kaija Saariaho's vocal music, having performed in recitals, with orchestras, and in opera, including the title role in Saariaho's oratorio La Passion de Simone at its premiere.
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