Saariaho, Beethoven & Sibelius at the National Concert Hall

And so it came to pass that yesterday evening I took the train into Dublin and back to see what, for me, will be the penultimate concert by National Symphony Orchestra Ireland at the National Concert Hall. The conductor for this occasion was Colombian born Lina Gonzalez-Granados. There was a good crowd at the NCH, although it wasn’t quite full. By way of a starter we heard Ciel d’hiver by Kaija Saariaho, a Finnish composer who spent her later life living in Paris; she passed away in 2023. This piece is an intriguing evocation of the winter sky, with dense blocks of harmonies suggesting the broad expanse of the heavens punctuated by drifting clusters of fragmented patterns until it reaches the zenith expressed by an intense climax before fading away again. This piece was new to me – it was in fact the Irish premier – and I enjoyed it greatly. I like it when there are unfamiliar items on the menu! The rest of the first half of the concert consisted of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1…