The three works here come from composer
Kaija Saariaho
's later career; the soprano-orchestra-and-chorus work
Château de l'âme
is from 1996, and
Maan varjot
("
Earth's Shadows
"), for organ and orchestra, and the orchestral song cycle
True Fire, for baritone and orchestra
, date from the last decade of
Saariaho
's life. The concluding
Offrande
uses material directly from the "Dôme" second movement of
, arranged for cello and organ. Earlier in her career,
pursued spectralist mixtures of electronics and live instrumentation, but as she grew to be regarded, at least by some, as the most distinguished living composer and received commissions from major orchestras, she wrote some works without electronics, like the pieces here. Particularly interesting is
, of which
has written, "The organ and orchestra are side-by-side as two rich and powerful "instruments" with several common factors which make it easy to create connections between them. But more than the common features, I am interested in the aspects which separate the instruments and give them their own particular identity." The relationship has many absorbing shades and benefits from the collaboration with organist
Olivier Latry
in a 2017 live performance; he premiered the work in 2014. All of the performances are live, with various orchestras and conductors (for
True Fire
, it is
Gustavo Dudamel
at the Festival Présences in France, from which the album takes its name), and despite the difficulty of the scores, the performances benefit in each case from the live ambiance. There is an electricity in the ways the music and the performers connect. This release won the Gramophone Contemporary Music Award in 2024. ~ James Manheim