The music is an advanced contemporary style and playable by experienced students or professionals.
Its musical structure is essentially cyclic, drawing upon a small number of recurring motivic ideas—some melodic, others harmonic.
The work is intended to be performed attacca, with no extended pauses between movements.

The five movements alternate between reflective and vigorous moods (slow–fast–slow–fast–slow). At the heart of the work, the third movement centres on an inverted canon, first shared by Violin I and Cello before passing to Violin II and Viola. Here the principal motivic material is distilled into its most concentrated and expressive form.

Originally composed in 1982, this edition has been revised and newly engraved in 2026.

Mutes are required for all instruments.

Duration: approximately 13 minutes.