Petals [for cello solo and optional electronics] (Jaija Saariaho)

when was the piece published

1988

what was the piece influenced by

Influenced by French composers Gerard Grisey and Tristan Murail

how does the piece relate to impressionism

The title refers to ‘the petals of the waterlily’. The name of a previous and related work nymphea (1987) means ‘waterlily’. Both works are a musical response to the celebrated paintings of waterlilies by Claude Monet

what are the two main features of the composition

Concerned with the opposition of ‘fragile colouristic passages’ to ‘more energetic events with clear rhythmic and melodic character’

how is the piece notated

Exist in staves, not bars, due to lack of metre

how is the notation expanded

Notation is expanded by the addition of various symbols indicating specific effects not covered by traditional notation

what does a horizontal arrow mean in this notation

Horizontal arrow- gradual change from one sound/ way of playing to another

what does a Diminuendo hairpin closing with a small zero mean in this notation

Diminuendo hairpin closing with a small zero- reduction in volume to absolute silence

what does a Crescendo hairpin closing with a small zero mean in this notation

Crescendo hairpin closing with a small zero- increase in volume, commencing from silence

what does an Arrow-head pointing upwards mean in this notation

Arrow-head pointing upwards- highest note possible

what does a Filled in black crescendo sign mean in this notation

Filled in black crescendo sign- add bow pressure to produce a scratching sound

where is the sonority vaguely regular

There is some traditional playing (eg. staves 10-13)

what are some extended acoustic techniques

There are extended acoustic techniques included, such as lengthy trills and tremolos, harmonics- often combined with ordinary notes (stave 14) and another harmonic (stave 15), glissandos (with varying degrees of vibrato/ harmonics), micro-intervals and scratchy tone produced by additional bow pressure

what is the reverb

Reverb time is set at 2.5, increasing to 15 seconds (stave 21) and 30 seconds (stave 30). The reverb never goes above 50%, varying between 20% and 50%

what is the harmoniser

Harmoniser shifts pitches by a quarter-tone (either above or below) and then combines this with the original, typically during scratchy bowing sections to maximise colouristic distortion effects

what are the dynamics like

Dynamic range is extreme- pppp-ffff. States that microphones should be placed as close as possible to the instrument. Dynamics are pretty steady and robust at some ‘fragile colouristic passages’, especially when noise replaces tone

what does the tempo move between

Moves between lento sections (colouristic sections) and faster moving passages (energetic sections)

what are the lento passages like

Lento passages are notated to always have the staves lasting at least 20 seconds. (The final section of the work is extremely slow, with the last stave taking 55 seconds to perform)

what is the metre

No discernable metre (in terms of time signatures and bars)

what are the rhythms like in the lento

Written note-lengths in the lento sections employ semibreves but are to be regarded as pulseless sounds of indeterminate length (no need to be 4 crotchets)

what are the rhythms like from stave 10

From stave 10- seemingly more precisely notated regarding rhythms, but pulse cannot be detected because of the irregularity of groupings, ornaments, ties, glissando and fermata

what are some extended rhythms used

Dectuplets (eg. staves 4-7), septuplets, quintuplets, triplets (lots of tuplets)

how does the melody appear

Melodic content is typically found in faster moving sections

what is the melody like in staves 4-7

Stave 4-7- energetic- scurrying line can be heard, made up of quarter tones (microtones) and glissandos

what is the melody like from stave 10

From stave 10- more conventionally melodic with clearly defined intervallic content, often of an angular nature (intervals of major 7ths and augmented 4ths)

what is the melody like at the beginning of stave 11

Repeated note figuration and short descending figures (beginning in stave 11).

what is the melody at stave 13

The starting note of each descent rises, with the high-point occurring in stave 13

what is the melody like at stave 17

The poco impetuoso at stave 17 is characterised by agitated figures (not sure what they mean by that), initially semitonal

what is the melody like from stave 23

From stave 23- striking use of glissandos rising alternately to C# and F# are supported by pedal low (open spring) Cs. This section culminates with a glissando to the highest pitch available (stave 27)

what is the harmony of this piece

No harmonic progression, though there are very brief moments when distinguishable pitches are heard (eg. stave 15)

what could on traditional harmonic device be that is being used

It could be said that one traditional harmonic device is the lengthy pedal C (15-28)

what is the harmony like from stave 15

From stave 15- Bottom C\# sustained for a while, then G\#, the C natural

what are dyads

Dyads- closest thing to chords- 2 note chords

what is the texture

Mainly monophonic

how is the texture edited at stave 11

Double stopping occurs at stave 11 and is used to create harmonics in staves 14-16 (although can’t really be described as homophony)

what are some vague textural features ued (eg. from stave 15)

Use of drones/ pedals (kinda) (eg. from stave 15- very low C pedal-like note)

what is the key thing about the relative density of sounds

Relative density of sounds- colouristic block-sounds result in the scratchy bowing passages with harmoniser, but this is not anything like traditional homophony

what is the issue with tonality

Tonality is scarcely relevant, partly because of the absence of functional harmony

what could be said about the tonality at stave 15

Persistent use of the pedal C from stave 15 could be regarded as a tonal anchor, although it’s probably colouristic, since from stave 17, there are a number of ascending figures rising to F\# and contradict any sense of C major/ minor

what is the structure highlighted by

Alternation between ‘fragile colouristic passages’ with ‘more energetic events with clear rhythmic and melodic character’

what is the structure of the piece

Lento (1-3), energetico (4-7), lento (8-9), expressivo (10-13), lento (13-16), poco impetuoso (17-27), dolcissimo (appears as lento in the original) (27-30)