[3] The work is scored for a large orchestra consisting of two flutes, piccolo (doubling alto flute), two oboes, cor anglais, three clarinets (3rd doubling E-flat clarinet), bass clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, four trumpets, four trombones, tuba, three percussionists, piano (doubling celesta), harp, and strings.
The primitive implications are at the beginning, with prominent high bassoons that bring The Rite of Spring to mind.
But the music is too full for that to seem particularly striking on first hearing.Swed continued, "Instead it is the play of light and dark, of colors and textures, that commands attention.
Immensely powerful structures are sustained like a massive bridge, with periodic moments of crisis, allowing the tension (but never the interest) to dip before once more building to a climax.
"[4] Gramophone contrasted the piece with Lindberg's Cantigas , writing, "Fresco [...] ends on a unison but doesn't 'resolve' its argument in quite the same way; it may prove a tougher nut to crack.