Saariaho- Petals for violoncello and live electronics

A-level music piece

When was the piece first written?

1988

Describe the structure of the piece

-Use of staves, but there are no bars

-There are two ‘types’ of sections:

Type A: Fragile colouristic passages

Type B: More energetic passages

There are 7 sections based on tempo

Describe the tonality

The piece is atonal

There are dyads, which often end sections

In the 6th section (bars 17-27), there are uses of repeated pitches

Describe the use of instrumentation

Cello, which uses 2 pedals:

-Reverb pedal

-Harmonizer pedal

The cello is also amplified

Many techniques are exploited, such as harmonics, glissandos, and sul ponitcello and sul tasto

Describe the harmony

There is no traditional harmony

There are harmonics which aren’t written in the score, but can be heard in the timbre

Describe the texture

Monophonic

2-part texture

No mel-dom-hom

Use of pedals and drone

Describe the rhythm and metre

The sections with notated tempo are slow

Lento sections are pulseless

Sense of free time

Dectuplets staves 4-7

Describe the melody

Use of micro-intervals - Quarter notes

Retrograde

Developed sequentially