About this Piece

In her brief but illuminating note on Lumière et pesanteur, or Light and Gravity, composer Kaija Saariaho wrote that it “is a gift for Esa-Pekka Salonen, inspired by his performance of my La Passion de Simone in Los Angeles, January 2009. This piece is an arrangement based on the eighth station of the Passion, which I know that he especially likes.” La Passion de Simone, an oratorio in the lineage of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, is a sprawling piece inspired by the life, death, and works of 20th-century philosopher Simone Weil. Of the 15 stations, the eighth is the most orchestral and least defined, as perspectives and voices transform. It is no wonder why Salonen enjoyed conducting the movement; it’s like being the wind for a chime.

Lumière et pesanteur is a similar twinkling triumph, weightlessly, but precariously, suspended. In the beginning, a trumpet stands in for the eighth station’s vocal line, but melodies quickly begin to shift and tangle, creating a swell of apparitions. Though transformed from La Passion de Simone, Lumière et pesanteur is not weighed down by the mysterious life of Weil. Instead, it sounds more like a memoir: a lovely reminder of Saariaho’s generosity and curiosity, a timeless gift from one Finnish modernist to another. —Tess Carges