D'om Le Vrai Sens, etc : Kriikku(Cl)Komsi(S)Oramo / Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra

Kaija Saariaho:
Clarinet Concerto "D'OM LE VRAI SENS" (2010)
Laterna Magica (2008)
Leino Songs (2007)

Kari Kriikku, clarinet
Anu Komsi, soprano
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra / Sakari Oramo, conductor

Recorded: 2010, 2011
Booklet with liner notes and song texts in the original Finnish and in English and French translation

This new CD release combines three recent works by Kaija Saariaho and brings together some of Finland's finest ambassadors of music. Kaija Saariaho is one of the internationally leading composers of today, and the 2011-12 Composer-in-Residence at the Carnegie Hall in New York.

Star clarinetist Kari Kriikku ("a physically flamboyant player of Olympian virtuosity" - The New York Times) is featured on the much awaited premiere recording of Kaija Saariaho's first clarinet concerto D'OM LE VRAI SENS. In the composer's words, "the general idea of this piece is based on the famous medieval tapestries called La Dame a la Licorne [displayed at the Musee de Cluny in Paris]. The subject matter is the five senses and the 'sixth sense.'" The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, here led by its chief conductor Sakari Oramo, performed the acclaimed world premiere performance in September 2010.

Kari Kriikku has inspired many other native composers to write concertos for him, subsequently recorded for Ondine: Magnus Lindberg (2006 BBC Music Magazine Award & Classic FM Gramophone Award), Uljas Pulkkis, Jukka Tiensuu, Kimmo Hakola, and Jouni Kaipainen.

Also included are the 20-minute orchestral piece Laterna Magica, co-commissioned by Stiftung Berliner Philharmoniker and Lucerne Festival, and a cycle of four Leino Songs (on poems by Eino Leino), written for the acclaimed Finnish soprano Anu Komsi. ( Ondine )