Part II

v. Spatial Movement and Panning.

Spatial movement and placement of sound do not have a large role to play in Verblendungen. Saariaho does not give special instructions for the layout of the orchestra in the score, nor does she make use of antiphonal or other spatial orchestral effects. The electroacoustic element is a stereo tape and as might be expected it does contain some spatial aspect in some (but not all) of its material. Despite the fact that this is not especially clear in the recordings of the piece used for this study, which do not give a particularly distinct spatial image of the tape material, this spatial aspect does have an important, if not central role to play, in the overall effect of the work. This should not be seen as a criticism of a work which is much concerned with images of monumentality, stasis and slow, almost imperceptible, change.
Within this first section of the piece, material types 2 and 5b on tape, both have clear spatial behaviour which reflects their basic sound qualities. Material 2, the low E attack-decay adopts different spatial positions (particularly the extreme left and right of the stereo field) when it is repeated. However it does not move or shift its position once the sound has started, giving it some spatial variety but still reflecting large, differently placed but rooted, immobile sounds. Its spatial position is sometimes difficult to identify, at its attack as this is often obscured by material 5b (which is always in an unchanging central position) and given that aurally positioning lower frequency sounds is generally more difficult. The patternings of this sound’s spatial position are shown in figure 16 and reveal a consistent alternation between left and right positions, until 2’10”, where the pattern is interrupted with two sounds on the left. This break coincides with the start of the level 5 continuant phase.
 Material type 5b is much more complex in its spatial identity, reflecting its changing timbre and dynamics.  Its spatial movement is much more important to its overall identity than was the case with the previous material. In attempting to classify the nature of this sound’s movement, which initially appear to be a highly mobile single sound, one becomes aware of two associated, but spatially separate, streams of sound, on the left and right. Small surging changes within this noise-based sound, in both timbre and dynamics, focus attention on left or right, and the connections between these two constantly varying streams of sound give the illusion of very rapid, unpredictable movement from left to right and vice versa. As this material develops, the timbral and dynamic surges gradually become more attack-like and the separateness of the two channels of sound becomes more evident. Instead of the rapid switches between left and right and the sense of motion between these extremes which we find at the opening, there are now individual attack-points within the noise-stream (after 1’ 40”). It is here that the similarities between this sound and material type 5a are most evident, the individual sound impulses in both sounds being almost identical. After this point, these individual attacks become more sparse and also soften their attack points, gradually becoming quieter and moving back towards the earlier sense of a continuous sound stream. Shortly after this point is reached, the sound fades away completely (by 3’35”). During this time, the spatial movement moves between three identifiable phases: the initial, clear sense of rapid motion between spatial extremes which is felt at the opening, to individual attack points, still on left or right but with no sense of motion between them, returning once again to a sense of movement, albeit more gentle as the attack points weaken. The unpredictable but reciprocal spatial oscillations of this sound type reflect its rapidly changing timbral and dynamic nature and add to its sense of energetic, volatile changeability.