Spins and Spells
- Instrumentation
- Cello
- Composed
- 1997
- Duration
- 7'
- Publisher
- Chester Music
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About this piece
Saariaho wrote this seven-minute solo as the compulsory piece for the 6th Rostropovich Cello Competition in Paris, where it was first played in October 1997. The title names its two kinds of gesture: 'spinning tops' that whirl on one spot or gradually transform, and timeless moments built purely on colour and texture. The cello is retuned so that its open strings no longer sit a fifth apart but form major sixths and minor thirds. Saariaho said this personalises the harmony and gives the instrument the colour of an earlier era, filtered through her own style. A compact way into her cello writing alongside Sept Papillons. Published by Chester Music (CH61363).
Technical overview
Scordatura solo of about 7 minutes. The retuning changes where natural harmonics fall, and the piece makes much of harmonics (flageolet sounds), alternating whirling, spinning figures with still passages focused on colour and texture.