Due Stagioni

Due Stagioni (Two Seasons)
These two movements for string quartet – L’Autunno and L’Estate – were composed during their respective seasons in 1981. The idea was to complete the cycle and present the work as a suite, each season of the year reflecting a specific mood. L’Autunno (Autumn) is relatively slow-paced and fairly somber in mood, with frequent use of ricochets (rapid, bounced bowings) and tremolos in an attempt to capture the colors and flavors of nature in decay and retreat into hibernation.
L’Estate (Summer), in a sprightly ¾ meter, is boisterous and festive, celebrating the rich sunlight playing on the exuberant foliage of that time of year. The other two movements are still in gestation, so, for the sake of musical logistics the chronology of the seasons is reversed – slow Autumn comes before fast Summer.