Je sens un deuxième coeur

by Kaija Saariaho

Another heart beats, Another heart beats

Description

My original idea was to write musical portraits of the four characters in the opera, but when I began reworking the material in the context of chamber music, concentrating on developing the ideas to fit the three instruments of my trio, the piece grew further from the opera.

Compositionally, I started from concrete, high profile ideas and advanced towards abstract, purely musical concerns. So, for example, the title of the first section, Je dévoile ma peau, became a metaphor: the musical material introduced was orchestrated to reveal the individual characters of the three instruments and their interrelations. The second and fourth parts both start from ideas of physical violence. In the context of this trio the violence has turned into two studies on instrumental energy. Part three is a colour study in which the three identities are melded into one complex sound object.

The last section brings us to the thematic starting point of my opera, again very physical: the two hearts beating in a pregnant woman’s body. I am fascinated by the idea of the secret relationship between a mother and an unborn child. Musically, the two heartbeats and their constantly changing rhythmic polyphony have already served as an inspiration in my music; now the connections between the the two minds added another layer of communication.

These ideas guided the musical development how to share the intense dually-constructed material among the three trio instruments and to let it grow within their specific characters. Finally the title became also a metaphor for music making: isn’t it with the ‘other’ we want to communicate through our music? As written over the last movement, Doloroso, sempre con amore.

© Kaija Saariaho 2004, Chester Music Ltd

Instrumentation

vln, vlc, pno

Category

Chamber Works

Premiere

Emanuel Ax, piano, Paul Neubauer, viola, Fred Sherry, cello, New York, April 12, 2004.

Movements

1. Je dévoile ma peau (I unveil my body); 2. Ouvre-moi, vite (Open up to me!); 3. Dans le rêve, elle l'attendait (In her dream, she was waiting); 4. Il faut que j'entre (Let me in); Je sens un deuxième coeur qui bat tout près du mein (I feel a second heart)

Commisioned by / dedications

Commissioned by The Carnegie Hall Corporation.

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