Nothing is more important to the state of classical music than the introduction of a fine new work.
I heard many this year, but the one that keeps coming back to me is Kaija Saariaho's affecting opera L'amour de loin . L'amour de loin , the most important offering of this summer's ambitious Salzburg Festival, is an often transfixing and utterly distinguished work. The ovations were prolonged and deserved. Though it was not intended as such, L'amour de loin provides a jolt of sanity amid the political conflicts that of late have been rattling the world, Austria in particular, over issues of nationality, immigration, the sanctity of borders and the cultural gulf between the West and the East. Mr. Maalouf treats these themes in his effortlessly poetic text, one of the strongest librettos in some time.