LUCA FRANCESCONI (b.1956): Rest for Cello and Orchestra (Enrico Dindo [cello], RAI National Symphony Orchestra; Roberto Abbado. rec. Sept. 27, 2004), IVAN FEDELE (b.1953): Duo en résonance for 2 Horns and Ensemble (Jens McManama, Jean-Christophe Vervoitte [horns], Ensemble Intercontemporain; Pierre Boulez. rec. June 22, 1994), GIOVANNI VERRANDO (b.1965): String Quartet No. 2 (Turin String Quartet. rec. Oct. 4, 1999).

Description: Rest is a cello concerto in memoriam Luciano Berio (and based on a musical monogram representing his name). utilising the resources of a large orchestra to suggest a kind of resonating chamber to amplify the solo material, and exploiting the extended range and tone-colors of the solo instrument, it builds from isolated scattered shards of sound through a succession of powerful climaxes, the whole tied together by an endless thread of cello virtuosity and energy. Fedele's piece even more explicitly explores the idea of resonance, the duo of horns placed either side of the ensemble resonating off each other, so to speak, and 'suggesting' material to the tutti ensemble, which 'returns' it acoustically and formally transformed. Verrando's quartet makes ample use of restless, agitated gestures, extending the sonorities of the instruments into high harmonics, trills and glissandi, suggesting the random patterning of teeming organic life.