Angels and Visitations contains internal dichotomies that are based on binary oppositions. The subsequent compositions concerning angels extend this idea through conflict between two instrumental planes (disturbance technique), expressionless musical passages (musica automata), contrasted instrumental color, the manipulation of musical “brightness,” and the use of symmetry. The distinctive characteristics of Rautavaara's instrumental works referring to angels thus account for three of the five musical mythologems listed by Adamenko (binary opposition, repetitiveness, variability, symmetry, numerical organization).

The “Disturbance” Technique

The “disturbance” technique occurs in all but the first of the compositions referring to angels, “Archangel Michael Fighting the Antichrist.” Sometimes this technique is applied throughout a whole work, as in Angels and Visitations and Angel of Dusk; elsewhere it is limited to certain movements or sections, as in the second movement of Angel of Light and in Playgrounds for Angels. As various examples analyzed in the preceding chapter have shown, the technique is based on the notion of conflict between two instrumental planes: one plane interrupts or disturbs the musical processes of the second. In such instances, the melodic line of the second plane is suspended and its ability to narrate is thwarted until it disappears altogether. In Angels and Visitations, the dissonant outbursts of the brass disturb the passage of the main diatonic theme. In Angel of Dusk, whenever the soloist's line is interrupted, it “freezes” on a long sustained note. Once the outbursts cease, the solo line continues or, ultimately, stops entirely (see Ex. 26). In Playgrounds for Angels, trumpet, trombone, and tuba attempt to disrupt the free, open melody of the horn (see Ex. 59).

The “disturbance” technique contrasts two groups of instruments in Angels and Visitations, but one group with a solo instrument in Angel of Dusk and in Playgrounds for Angels; the latter case is remotely reminiscent of concerto passages. Anna Nowak distinguishes a variety of such conflicts, noting that dramaturgical tensions resulting from the interactions between the soloist and the group are much more intense here and very often are produced as a consequence of collision, i.e., the violent interruption of the leading narration by a musical adversary. Nowak uses a passage from Witold Lutos»awski's Cello Concerto (1968-70) as an example, in which the action of the solo cellist is interrupted mostly by the brass.