Pulsations refers to the repeated-note figure that is present throughout the piece. The repeated-note figure is often tossed back and forth between the upper, middle, and lower voices. The repeated notes sometimes appear as single notes, sometimes as chords, at times repeating constantly, and in more sedate passages, more sporadically. Parts of the piece use the pentatonic scale (notably at the beginning of the piece) or move chromatically, but most of the piece uses the octatonic scale (alternating half-steps and whole-steps, C, C♯, D♯, E, etc.). It is noteworthy that many sections of the piece make quick shifts in the transposition of the octatonic scale, and others use chords from that scale that combine major and minor harmonies a minor third apart (such as G minor and B-flat major). Some of those chords are presented in close-spaced, strident, dissonant chords at climactic points. A slower, gentler middle section of the piece uses similar combinations of harmonies, but as gentler, spread-out arpeggios, creating sonorities somewhat reminiscent of some late piano music of Alexander Scriabin. A return of the more urgent opening music leads to a beguiling figuration that hints at the C and F♯ harmonies together – a beguiling, wispy conclusion to this virtuosic and often-dramatic piece.

—The GCNA