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Kaija Saariaho’s (b. 1952) music has been a subject of much research, but her piano works have received less attention. The subject of this research is an analysis of Kaija Saariaho’s (b. 1952) piano composition Ballade (2005). Ballade’s character is dramatic and it bases on Douleur, which deals with guilt, from Saariaho Quatre Instants (2002). This motivated Ballade’s analysis as a narrative of guilt and trauma. Parakilas’s (1992) narrative model named the ballad process, the topic of ombra and trauma theory are applied in the analysis. To consider Ballade’s narrative as a contemporary composition, Vincent Meelberg’s (2006) narrat save this ive model of contemporary music is applied. The research is semiotic and psychoanalytical and contributes to the study of Saariaho’s smaller compositions and the narrative analysis of contemporary music. The analysis used Douleur’s and Ballade’s recordings and scores as material. Following Meelberg’s model, the analysis focused on Ballade’s major changes and repeated gestures. Douleur’s lyrics and music were applied to Ballade’s analysis as intertextual pre-texts. Ballade’s narrative is shaped by its melodicity, repeated gestures and shifts between polyphonic or homophonic events. From the perspective of the ballad process, Ballade’s repeated gestures represent guilt as a recurring memory and its homophonic passages depicher a dreamlike reminiscing of a memory. The heartbeat rhythms, repetitions, glissandi and tremolandi typical of ombra represent guilt and fear. They can also represent erotic desire, reflecting the save This ambivalence apparent in Douleur's lyrics. Ballade's sudden moments and repeated gestures can also represent the fright and repetition compulsion typical of trauma, and the way Ballade’s narrativity increases over time the narrativizing process as an attempt to overcome it. The analysis demonstrates Douleur’s and Ballade’s close connection. Douleur’s inclusion to Ballade’s analysis supports Ballade’s reading as a narrative of guilt and trauma. Guilt and trauma are represented in ballade from the meaning of its singular gestures to its overall form. While being contemporary, Ballade communicates with the listener through historically established musical conventions.