Kaija Saariaho
La Passion de Simone
Tapiola Chamber Choir
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor
Choral
Vocal
Finnish contemporary
Booklet with liner notes in English, French and Finnish and the lyrics in the original French and in English
SACD
Released:
March 2013
Catalogue No.:
ODE 1217-5
EAN/UPC Code:
0761195121757
The first-class performance does justice to this masterpiece.
Juha Torvinen, Finnish Music Quarterly, 2/2013
After its world première in 2006 Kaija Saariaho's La Passion de Simone, an oratorio about the life and thoughts of Simone Weil for soprano solo, choir, orchestra and electronics, is now released for the first time on CD (SACD).
Kaija Saariaho considers La Passion de Simone to be her most important work. For this SACD it is recorded by top performers, the soprano Dawn Upshaw and Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Tapiola Chamber Choir.
Dawn Upshaw has achieved worldwide celebrity as a singer of a broad opera and concert repertoire. She is a four-time Grammy Award winner featured on more than 50 recordings. Kaija Saariaho wrote her oratorio 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. He is a regular guest with many of the world's finest orchestras and a recipient of many major awards.
This release is also a tribute to Kaija Saariaho who turned 60 on 14th of October 2012. The live recorded concert performance was part of the birthday celebration in Helsinki.
"La Passion de Simone is a magical union of words, music and theatre: a creation of great beauty and drama..." - Anna Picard, The Independent on Sunday, July 2007
