No. 2: "Sad Birds" (Oiseaux tristes)

Dedicated to Ricardo Viñes, who premiered the piece, this is the shortest of the five pieces, yet a work where tonal shifts are clearly suggested. It is in E-flat minor.The repeated B-flat notes that begin the piece transform in the next measure into a melancholic motif that clearly presents E-flat minor. In the following measure, the tonic E-flat is repeated, followed by the leading tone D-natural. However, this D-natural does not resolve to the tonic but instead combines with the dominant B-flat to form a motif, creating an unsettling atmosphere. Simultaneously, in the inner voices, a chromatic figure emerges, moving in units of three beats, defying the 4/4 time signature presented at the beginning (note that while the upper staff of the score begins in 4/4, the lower staff begins in 12/8), further stagnating the musical flow. In the uppermost voice, the repeated B-flat and E-flat notes continue to alternate, but in measure 10, E-flat transforms into its enharmonic equivalent, D-sharp, and the piece modulates to E major. In measure 13, the inner voices, which had been moving in eighth notes, double their speed to sixteenth notes, and the music suddenly bursts into motion. The music, which converges back to its original stagnant flow in measure 20, modulates to D minor via the C-sharp note contained within E major. Although it accelerates again in measure 25, there is no further significant increase in volume; instead, the music moves towards the coda, repeating the opening motif in the high register and at a soft dynamic.