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Kaija Saariaho

for perusal only

HUSH

Concerto for trumpet and orchestra

(2022–23)

Chester Music

Kaija Saariaho’s HUSH was commissioned by Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Festival, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Asko|Schönberg, Muziekgebouw, BBC Symphony Orchestra and Lahti Symphony Orchestra.

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The first performance took place on 24 August 2023 at Helsinki Music Centre, Helsinki, Finland, given by Verneri Pohjola (trumpet) with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Susanna Mälkki.

Duration: c. 20 minutes

Orchestral parts are available on hire from the publisher

CH88323 EAN 5020679007914

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HUSH

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HUSH is written for the trumpet player Verneri Pohjola, whose rich musical background and taste for extended techniques, experimentation, and improvisation have inspired me. During the writing of this piece, we have met on a regular basis, and Verneri has enlightened me as to the technical possibilities of the trumpet. Each concerto is in a way a portrait of the soloist for whom it was written, and so this one is his.

As the solo trumpet played an important part in my violin concerto Graal Théâtre (1994), which was my first concerto, I was drawn to revisiting that material in what is to be my last concerto. I was also inspired by another kind of revisitation: Aleksi Barrière’s text Not a Knight, written in 2018 to be spoken around and inside Graal Théâtre as a form of illuminated marginalia to the music. The titles of HUSH and of its four movements come from this text, where the Grail legends resonate as a personal and collective quest of making music, and leaving an imprint into the silence.

The first movement, “Make the thin air sing”, is an exposition that presents most of the material, including the title word ‘hush’. Starting from a low A-flat, it moves upwards to the higher register.

The second movement, “Dream of falling” explores glissandi of the solo trumpet, alone and in association with various sections of the orchestra, from the piccolos to the double basses, ending with a low B growl that is one of the trumpet’s lowest sounds. (This was workshopped with Verneri improvising on the idea of a sound falling down the sides of a well.)

The third movement, “What ails you?”, is dramatic but cold, insofar that I refrained from using any accelerandi and rallentandi, and the rhythm stays strictly mechanical. This maddening rhythm was inspired by the monthly scans I underwent in MRI machines during my illness.

The last movement “Ink the silence” is an accompanied trumpet solo moving forward through an orchestral landscape. When the movement stops, we understand that it was the landscape that was moving and not the traveller, and we peek beyond the façade of illusions, into a silence that we have loaded with memories.

I am indebted to the assistance I have received from Nastaran Yazdani and Anssi Karttunen in notating music when my illness impaired my motor skills. The support of many people has been instrumental to the making of this piece, and I have dedicated individual movements to them: Verneri Pohjola, my husband Jean-Baptiste Barrière, and my doctors Dimitri Psimaras and Myriam Kirstetter. The piece in its entirety is dedicated to the family I leave behind on my own journey to silence.

Kaija Saariaho March 2023

Instrumentation

2 Flutes (2. doubling Alto Flute and Piccolo)

2 Oboes

Cor Anglais

2 Clarinets in B -

Bass Clarinet

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2 Bassoons (2. doubling Contrabassoon)

4 Horns in F

Timpani + shells & tambourine

Percussion (3 players)

Crotales

Xylophone

Tubular Bells

3 Suspended Cymbals (small, medium, large)

Sizzle Cymbal

Metal Chimes

Wood Chimes

2 Woodblocks

2 Large Log Drums

2 Tom-toms

Triangle (small)

Snare Drum

Tam-tam

Vibraphone

Glockenspiel

Metal Chimes

Woodblock (small)

Guiro

Snare Drum

Tam-tam

Celesta

Solo Trumpet in B -

Strings (maximum 14.12.10.8.6)

The score is transposed

III

Marimba

Long Rain Stick

Sizzle Cymbal

3 Suspended Cymbals (small, medium, large)

Metal Chimes

Glass Chimes

Wood Chimes

Maracas

Triangle

Bass Drum

Crotales sound two octaves higher than written

Notation

General

Accidentals apply throughout the bar to notes in the same octave and the same stave

Trills should always be played up a semitone, unless otherwise specified

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Tremolo should always be as dense as possible.

change very gradually from one sound or one way of playing (etc.) to another.

>o diminuendo al niente

o< crescendo dal niente

When vibrato markings are not specified, players can use their usual vibrato.

slow vibrato: very slow and wide oscillation

“Molto vibrato” always means a rapid and quite narrow vibrato, unless otherwise specified.

l.v. laissez vibrer (allow to sound as long as possible)

All glissandi should start immediately at the beginning of the note value. the final note of a glissando is not to be played separately

Woodwind

 breath tone: use the fingering needed to produce the marked pitch, however, do not produce the normal tone but just blow air through the instrument.

 normal tone

Strings

S.P. always estremamente sul ponticello

S.T. sul tasto

N. normal (used with S.P. and S.T., otherwise ord.)

a trill produced by alternating the finger pressure between normal ( w ) and light (harmonic, O ), (or vice versa, depending on whether the main note is normal or harmonic); the result should be alternating normal and harmonic sounds. This trill can be played slightly slower than normal trills, to allow both pitches to be heard.

a trill between two harmonics: alternate between the two harmonics by lifting the fingers in turn to allow the individual harmonics to be heard; this trill can be played slightly slower than normal trills. increase bow pressure into scratch tone

When playing long sustained notes, the bow changes should always be imperceptible and made independently of the other players. During long slurs which include several long sustained notes a change of note should preferably not coincide with a change of bow.

Brass

Straight mutes should be used unless otherwise specified.

Percussion

The choice of sticks is left to the musicians. Whether hard or soft, always choose sticks giving as much resonance as possible.

Celesta

If pedalling is not specified, use the pedal lightly according to the nature of the textures.

Solo Trumpet

Growl: sing a note into the instrument as you play it.

Open/Half-valve: varying how deep the valve is pushed down.

Valve tremolo: rapid fingering of either all three valves, or just the first and second valve.

Tongue tremolo: wiggle the tongue from left to right to create a tremolo.

Doit: (onomatopoetic) fast upward glissando with half-valve.

Valve tremolo glissando: play a glissando while doing the valve tremolo. Use half-valve technique on the third valve to make glissandi easier, while making the tremolo with the first and second valves.

Well glissando: varying textures with accents and half-valve glissando to obtain a falling and bouncing effect. glissando with resonating octaves: maximum resonance obtained from half-open third valve.

wave glissando: half-valve glissando with broad vibrato, or use third valve fingering with slide vibrato where applicable.

slow vibrato: very slow and wide oscillation; half-valve can be used to further widen the vibrato.

On playing HUSH:

version for perusal only

There should be a sense of freedom and presence in interpreting this solo trumpet part – the soloist should sound like they are improvising. As Kaija Saariaho said to me, ‘Remember, in music everything is possible.’

Regarding dynamics: my own feeling is that in general, the forte and fortissimo of HUSH are lighter than in jazz literature. I personally would not play fortissimo in the high register on the trumpet in this piece, since the sound becomes very strident.

The exception is in the cadenza!!! Here the soloist should sound as raging and as deperate as possible, by whatever means necessary.

Verneri Pohjola

October 2024

Transposed score

Kaija Saariaho

ISSUU version for perusal only

Dolce ma

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Misterioso, sempre espressivo