OSVALDO COLUCCINO (b.1963): Attimo for String Quartet, Aion for String Quartet, Eco immobile for Piano Quartet, Talea for Violin and Cello.

Description: The string quartet works are characterized by a precise observance of subtle detail, observed, as it were, without regard to the element of time or duration. Thus, in Attimo, the work's various sections explore combinations of suspended intervals, chord progressions and small phrases, held up for examination before evaporating. Aion goes further in its exploration of unquantified time; slowly mutating progressions of dissonant intervals distributed between the instruments form an unchanging landscape in the first section, while the second part presents little isolated events against a background of silence. 'Motionless Echo' shares the static quality of Aion, with motionless chords from the strings forming resonant halo around sculptural gestures from the piano. The duet Talea consists of ethereal threads of sound, with unorthodox bowing techniques used to create wavering, insubstantial sonorities which ultimately coalesce into a single unbroken line. Quartetto d'Archi del Teatro La Fenice, Achille Gallo (piano).