Arches (2010) is a musical composition by Fred Lerdahl for solo cello and large chamber ensemble commissioned by the Fromm Music Foundation for the cellist Anssi Karttunen. A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2011, it was premiered on November 19, 2010, at Miller Theatre, Columbia University,[1] by Karttunen and the Argento Chamber Ensemble.[2]

A dialogue between soloist and ensemble rather than a traditional concerto, the piece is "informed by the structure of Gothic cathedrals"; "the entire piece consisted of arches within arches, tracing individual phrases and across the entire piece."[3] The piece is an example of Lerdahl's spiral form, "in which a simple and stable musical idea is expanded on,"[2] paired with Renaissance cantus firmus technique, the title "Arches" referring both to the characteristic rising and falling melodic contour and to "arcs of formal expansion and contraction."[4]

See also

Sources

  1. ^ "The 2011 Pulitzer Prize Winners Music", Pulitzer.org.
  2. ^ a b Schweitzer, Vivien (November 21, 2010). "Spiral Form and Other Compositional Modes of Fred Lerdahl", NYTimes.com.
  3. ^ Sabel, Claire (20 November 2010). Composer Portrait: Fred Lerdahl, Bwog.
  4. ^ "Program note for Arches", fred lerdahl:composer: compositions.
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