On Saariaho’s Microsonology

This chapter demonstrates some of the motivating aesthetic interests that Kaija Saariaho articulates early in her career and specifically in the 1987 article “Timbre and Harmony: Interpolations of Timbral Structures.” It also shows how these concerns are manifest in two works of the twenty-first century: Terrestre (2002, for flute, harp, percussion, violin, and cello) and D'om le vrai sens (2010, concerto for clarinet). Through these analyses, the chapter develops a broader understanding of Saariaho's aesthetic through what can be called “microsonology.” More than simply attending to detail, Saariaho approaches overall form through microscopic details, or in other words, her microsonology enacts a formal design saturated by minute details. Finally, the chapter links Saariaho's microsonology to a concept of “intimate immensity” developed by the twentieth-century French philosopher Gaston Bachelard and then considers how the “intimate immensity” of Saariaho's microsonology intersects with Spectralism.