Voces Intimae

In Voces Intimae, the Ragazze Quartet interweaves three musical voices from the north: the timeless power of Scandinavian folk music, the abstract, almost physical poetry of the recently deceased Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, and the introspective lyricism of Jean Sibelius. Folk melodies, passed down through memory and tradition, form the roots of the programme.

Jean Sibelius’ string quartet Voces Intimae is an intimate conversation between voices from the past and present. The title refers both to the intimacy of the string quartet and to the inner voice of Sibelius. A work full of melancholy, reflection and inner peace, with many references to the folk music tradition.

Where Sibelius’ Voces Intimae refers to an intimate conversation between voices from the past and present, Saariaho’s string quartet Terra Memoria explores how memory lives on in sound: changeable, tangible, sometimes painfully clear. She describes how we continue to hear the voices of those who are no longer with us: their lives are complete, but they live on in our memories and our feelings about them continue to change.