After her successful first opera
L'Amour de loin (2000), Kaija Saariaho ventured into a second opera in 2006: Adriana Mater. Understandably, expectations were high. Although the world premiere in Paris garnered appreciation, there was also criticism. The large orchestra regularly drowned out the singers. Moreover, there were doubts as to whether Saariaho's colorful, hypnotic music lent itself to an
… opera with such violent undertones. Indeed, Adriana Mater is set in the aftermath of an unspecified civil war. Adriana turns out to be pregnant with a son after being raped by a soldier from her village. Although her sister Refka tries to prevent her from keeping the child, Adriana decides to give birth to her son anyway. New questions arise: will Yonas, as he is called, become as violent as his father, or gentle like his mother? Both objections from early criticism are convincingly refuted in this recording by the San Francisco Symphony & Chorus conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen. If Adriana Mater demonstrates anything, it is how Saariaho constantly balances her musical language with the subject matter. The chilling beauty remains, but is complemented by passages of biting ferocity, such as the rape scene of the second tableau. These are elements that appear more often in Saariaho's later music. Esa-Pekka Salonen knows her work like few others. He delivers an at times oppressive interpretation. Thus, nearly twenty years after its premiere, Adriana Mater finally gets the performance the work deserves. (JWvR)more
