Ronda (1984) by Franco Donatoni
for violin, viola, cello, and piano
US premiere

Ronda was commissioned by the French Ministry of Culture and was first performed by the Ivaldi Quartet at the Festival de La Rochelle in 1984. The title Ronda refers to the structure of the piece, which is based on staccato and legato figures that return cyclically and are continually transformed and fragmented by all four instruments. Clearly shaped figures emerge from the motivic cells which have their own distinct shapes and unique identities, and whose characteristics persist throughout the course of the work. These clearly shaped figures are not intended to be understood in a baroque sense nor as a musical symbol for particular feelings, but rather as a work that attempts to create musical organisms in continued transformation.