Album Review: Kaija Saariaho’s Iridescent Visions Captured on New Recording

Vista, Saarikoski Songs, Three Preludes album review – Saariaho’s iridescent visions evocatively rendered

Komsi/Nyman/BBC Symphony Orchestra/Oramo (Ondine) Three works by the idiosyncratic Finnish composer who died in 2023 are recorded for the first time Kaija Saariaho died in 2023, leaving behind a significant body of unrecorded music. The three works here, all premiere recordings, span 40 years, yet each bears the Finnish composer’s idiosyncratic fingerprints. The most substantial is Vista (2019), a tone poem inspired by a drive along the scenic Interstate 5 highway to San Diego. The first part...

By Clive Paget