Orion (composition)


Orion is an orchestral composition by the Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho. The work was written in 2002 on a commission from the Cleveland Orchestra. Its world premiere was performed by the Cleveland Orchestra led by conductor Franz Welser-Möst in Cleveland, Ohio, on 23 January 2003. The piece is dedicated to Welser-Möst and the Cleveland Orchestra.

Composition

Orion has a duration of roughly 22 minutes and is cast in three movements:
  1. Memento mori
  2. Winter Sky
  3. Hunter

    Instrumentation

The work is scored for a large orchestra comprising four flutes, four oboes, four clarinets, four bassoons, six horns, four trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, four percussionists, two harps, piano, organ, and strings.

Reception

David Fanning of Gramophone highly praised the piece, declaring that it "deserves to figure on any short list for orchestral masterpiece of the new millennium." In a more lukewarm review, Tim Ashley of The Guardian compared the piece to the composer's cello concerto Notes on Light, remarking that "both are soft-centred works that throb and thrum appealingly, but lack the underlying toughness of Saariaho's best music."