Nono's title Como una ola de fuerza y luz might be rendered into English as "Like a wave of strength and light." The piece was completed in 1972 and is scored for piano, soprano, orchestra, and tape. Like so many piano compositions of the twentieth century, its existence owes much to pianist Maurizio Pollini, who has worked hard to ensure that the piano repertory does not become a mere museum.

Pollini met Nono in September 1966, and the pianist suggested to Nono that he write for the piano, even though (like so many late twentieth century composers) Nono had shown almost no interest in the instrument.

Nono had created the work specifically for Pollini and conductor Claudio Abbado, but without the soprano part. In September 1971, Nono had received news that his young friend Luciano Cruz had suddenly died. Cruz was leader of the Movement of the Revolutionary Left in Chile. His death inspired Nono to introduce a solo soprano part, setting the text of a poem by Julio Huasi and changing the work into a sort of memorial for his friend. Pollini and Abbado premiered the work at La Scala on June 28, 1972.

Throughout much of the work there is an interplay between the live performers and the tape, which contains a recording of Pollini's piano playing and women's voices. Loudspeakers are specifically placed in the hall to create an effect that Nono described as "resembling the opening and closing of a space upon itself, like the extending and receding of a life—a programmatic metaphor meant to be understood freely."

The piece is in four sections, full of Nono's usual contrasts of violence, tenderness, unbearable loudness, and total silences.

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