Saalme (Hymn)

About this piece

Saalme, subtitled 'Hymn' on the score, is a slow, song-like piece by the South Sámi composer and yoiker Frode Fjellheim, which he has issued in a version for cello and piano. Fjellheim recorded Saalme with his Frode Fjellheim Jazz Joik Ensemble (the group later renamed Transjoik) on the album Saajve Dans (1994). In the cello version the cello carries a long-breathed melody in half notes and dotted rhythms at half note = 50, marked pp and p, over sustained chords in the piano. Fjellheim publishes the score himself through his label Vuelie. The full score and a separate cello part are a free download for registered members of vuelie.no, and he asks that public performances be reported to the Norwegian rights society TONO.

Technical overview

A single movement of about 4–5 minutes (the 1994 band recording runs 4:26). On the first page (bars 1–21) the cello stays in first position on the D and A strings, from open D up to the ledger lines just above the bass staff, in one flat with B-natural inflections. The main challenge is bow control: sustaining legato slurs of two to six notes at pp and p, with smooth hairpins.

Technical focus

• Legato
• 2 Note Slurs
• 3 Note Slurs
• 4 Note Slurs
• Dotted Rhythms
• Dynamics
• Hairpin Dynamics
• D String Notes
• A String Notes