Four Pieces

The work was written in 1990 on commission from the Eugène Ysaÿe Ensemble (later the Spiegel String Quartet). In 2007, it was orchestrated for the Charlemagne Orchestra, for clarinet and string orchestra. This version was recorded on CD in 2019 by Roeland Hendrikx & Boho Strings. It is based on a free application of the 12-tone technique (total chromaticism). The first movement - “FURIOSO” - has an almost obsessive rhythm, in which melodic phrases gradually develop. After the slow second movement - “MISTERIOSO” - “COMODO” starts with a mechanical “pizzicato” from the two violins. This is followed by several melodic “arabesques” for the clarinet. The movement ends with a cadenza for the clarinet, which evolves into the low register and gradually fades away. The final movement – ‘DECISO’ – reaches a grand climax, built up from unison passages, and ends abruptly in a mysterious coda, in which percussion effects for the strings and multifonics for the clarinet create a very strange ending.