Petals -K Saariaho

• The poco impetuoso at stave 17 is characterised by agitated figures, initially semitonal
• Harmony in Petals

  • No sense of harmonic progression, though there are very brief moments when distinguishable pitches are heard
  • One traditional harmonic device is the lengthy pedal C at staves 15-28
  • Prominent high Fis at stave 23, seemingly forming a tritonal dominant with the pedal C
• Tonality in Petals

  • Scarcely relevant in Petals, partly because of the absence of functional harmonic progressions
  • Persistent use of the pedal C from stave 15 could be regarded as a tonal anchor, even though the work is primarily colouristic
• Set Works

  • Sibelius, Symphonies Nos 4 and 5, and the tone poem Tapiola
  • Rautavaara, Cantus Arcticus (scored for orchestra with pre-recorded birdsong)
  • Lutosławski's Cello Concerto
• Texture in Petals

  • Described as monophonic (e.g. stave 10)
  • Double stopping occurs in stave 11 and is used to create harmonics
  • Effective use of two-part writing in stave 17
  • Colouristic block-sounds result in scratchy bowing passages with harmoniser
• It would be useful to investigate works by other Finnish composers
• Structure of Petals

  • One continuous movement
  • Elements of short-term repetition of motifs
  • Depends on the alternation of 'fragile colouristic passages' with 'more energetic events with clear rhythmic and melodic character'
• Tritonal dominants


  • Can be found in Herrmann's music for the film Psycho. Briefly they arise from the replacing of the traditional dominant with one an augmented 4th or diminished 5th above the tonic
• Striking use of glissandos rising alternately to C# and F

  • Supported by 'pedal' low (open string) Cs
• Tempo, metre and rhythm in Petals

  • Tempo moves between lento sections and faster moving passages
  • Lento passages should move extremely slowly
  • Final section of the work is extremely slow
• Texture

  • Tempo moves between lento sections and faster moving passages
  • No discernable metre in terms of time signatures and bars
  • Written note-lengths in lento sections employ semibreves but are regarded as pulseless sounds of indeterminate length
  • Pulse cannot be detected in the passage beginning at stave 10 due to irregularity of groupings, ornaments, ties, glissando, and fermata
• Electronic


  • Live electronics involve digital reverb with variable reverb, harmoniser
  • Reverb time varies from 2.5 seconds to 30 seconds
  • The degree of reverb varies between 20% and 50%
  • The harmoniser shifts pitches by a quarter-tone and combines this transposed sound with the original
• Melody


  • Melodic content is typically found in the faster moving sections
  • In the energico section beginning at stave 4, a scurrying line can be heard, made up of quarter tones (microtones) and glissandos
  • The second section at stave 10 is more conventionally melodic with clearly defined intervallic content, often of an angular nature
  • Characteristics include repeated note figuration, short descending figures, and intervals of a major 7th and augmented 4th
• Tempo, Metre, and Rhythm

  • Tempo moves between lento sections and faster moving passages
  • No discernable metre in terms of time signatures and bars
  • Written note-lengths in lento sections employ semibreves but are regarded as pulseless sounds of indeterminate length
  • Pulse cannot be detected in the passage beginning at stave 10 due to irregularity of groupings, ornaments, ties, glissando, and fermata
• Sonority

  • The work blends traditional cello timbres with extended techniques and various degrees of electronic distortion
  • Traditional cello playing (bowed, pitched sound) can be heard in the music of staves 10-13
  • Articulation includes slurs and staccato
  • Extended techniques include lengthy trills and tremolos for colouristic effect, harmonics, glissandos, micro-intervals, scratchy tone produced by more bow pressure than usual
• Dynamics

  • The range is extreme from sounds pulled out of silence, through pppp to ffff
  • Saariaho requires a 'clear and rich, close sound' with microphones placed close to the instrument and the general level set rather loud but 'not painfully so'
• Saariaho's sound requirements

  • Requires a 'clear and rich, close sound', microphones should be placed close to the instrument, general level set rather loud but 'not painfully so'
• Melody


  • Melodic content in passages tends to
• Notation in the score is based on conventional staff notation
• Notation is expanded by the addition of various symbols indicating specific effects not covered by traditional notation
• Indications for the use of reverb and harmoniser are placed under each stave
• Dynamics

  • The range is extreme: from sounds pulled out of silence, through pppp to ffff
• At some points, the notation is indeterminate, i.e. aleatoric with regard to melodic and rhythmic elements
• Tempo indications

  • Lento passages
  • Sections should be extremely slow
  • No metric indication
  • Written note-lengths regarded as pulsing
  • The passage beginning regarding rhythmic groupings or intervals of a major second
• Context

  • Kaija Saariaho is a leading Finnish composer, born in Helsinki in 1952
  • She has produced a significant body of work in which electronics play an important role, e.g. the recent theatre piece Only the Sound Remains (2015)
  • In Petals, the cello is combined with ongoing live electronics, as opposed to pre-recorded electronic sounds
  • Petals was written for Anssi Karttunen, who first performed the work at a festival of contemporary music in Bremen in 1988
  • The title of the work refers to the petal of the waterlily, and is an off-shoot of Nymphéa [Waterlily], dating from 1987, scored for string quartet and electronics
  • According to the composer, Petals is concerned with the opposition of 'fragile colouristic passages' to 'more energetic events with clear rhythmic and melodic character', which in turn are subjected to a number of transformations
• There are no bars or bar numbers in the score, instead, each of the 30 lines is numbered and referred to as 'staves'