Eclat was originally written for five free bass accordions and was commissioned for performance at the 1975 First International Accordion Symposium in Toronto, Canada organized by Joseph Macerollo. The world premiere performance took place in November 1975 at the Symposium and included the following performers:

Eclat is a French word meaning "outburst" and that concept is what pervades the piece from beginning to end. This work is very much an exploration into the coloristic possibilities of the free bass accordion, especially when grouped together with three or more performers. As the piece opens, there is a very soothing aural landscape that is developed (very much reminiscent of the coloristic "spectrum painting" style of Gyorgi Ligeti). As the work moves on however, quick musical insertions or "outbursts" begin to emerge from the structure from all five accordion parts. These outbursts threaten to take over the beginning soothing structure, but temporarily recede as the middle section of the piece is approached. 

The middle section then concentrates on the expressive bellows dynamics that are capable with the accordion, and its unique ability to create a backward envelope of a note or chord, much the same as if a tape recorder were playing a tape backwards. This continues to develop, but again the "outbursts" begin first as insertions and then begin to take over the structure until finally coming to a series of six large tutti climactic "outbursts", the last of which comes crashing down on a unison note shared by all 5 accordions. There is a moment of repose, and the whole piece rebuilds and is recapitulated in a much more compressed time format until growing again to one final climactic tutti "outburst" at the end of the work. Eclat covers the complete gamut of expressivity, colors, dynamics, and technical agility of which the free bass accordion is capable. Structurally, the piece tends to resemble a large crescendo which pervades the smallest to the largest elements of the work.

Although the piece was originally written for accordion quintet, it can actually be performed by any combination of three to five performers, since there is no score and since the players perform from their own individual parts. The piece is about 7-8 minutes long and each accordion part is written on 11"x17" sheets. At this point Eclat is not in CODA's Finale format, but rather the composer's own manuscript. However, since Joe Natoli was a professional music copyist for 20 years, this manuscript is very close to music publishing engraver's format.