Saariaho: La Passion de Simone
Dominique Blanc (narrator), Dawn Upshaw (soprano)
Tapiola Chamber Choir, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Esa-Pekka Salonen
Upshaw's always seems the perfect voice and sensibility for Saariaho's music; and Esa-Pekka Salonen, Saariaho's colleague from their student days, is an intensely engaged and sympathetic director...
Saariaho: La Passion de Simone
Dominique Blanc (narrator), Dawn Upshaw (soprano)
Tapiola Chamber Choir, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Esa-Pekka Salonen
Purchase product
Upshaw's always seems the perfect voice and sensibility for Saariaho's music; and Esa-Pekka Salonen, Saariaho's colleague from their student days, is an intensely engaged and sympathetic director...
About
Following its successful world première in 2006, Ondine is proud to present Kaija Saariaho’s La Passion de Simone, for soprano solo, choir, orchestra and electronics for the first time on SACD.
Kaija Saariaho considers La Passion de Simone - an oratorio about the life and thoughts of Simone Weil - to be her most important work. This SACD features world class performers including Dawn Upshaw and Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Tapiola Chamber Choir.
Dawn Upshaw has achieved worldwide acclaim for her wide-ranging operatic and concert repertoire. Kaija Saariaho wrote the soprano part in La Passion de Simone and the opera L’Amour de loin for her.
One of the most important artists in contemporary classical music, Esa-Pekka Salonen has become established both as a celebrated conductor and composer.
This release is also a tribute to Kaija Saariaho who turned 60 on 14th of October 2012.
Contents and tracklist
- Dawn Upshaw, Dominique Blanc
- Tapiola Chamber Choir, The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tapiolan Kamarikuoro, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra
- Esa-Pekka Salonen
Awards and reviews
July 2013
Upshaw's always seems the perfect voice and sensibility for Saariaho's music; and Esa-Pekka Salonen, Saariaho's colleague from their student days, is an intensely engaged and sympathetic director of his forces and of the score.
July 2013
A guiding idea for the work is the polarity of light and gravity...Upshaw does as much with the demanding vocal lines as anyone could expect of her, and Salonen and his forces keep everything in sharp focus.
June 2013
That the soprano part is tailor-made for Upshaw ensures a smooth elegance in the middle register...The Tapiola Chamber Choir is in command of the diaphanous and often Messiaenic choral writing, with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra no less responsive under the guidance of Esa-Pekka Salonen. As a present for Saariaho's 60th birthday, this could hardly have been improved upon.
9th May 2013
The playing is formidable.
