''Arches'' (2010) is a

musical composition Musical composition can refer to an original piece or work of music, either vocal or instrumental, the structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new piece of music. People who create new compositions are called ...

Fred Lerdahl Alfred Whitford (Fred) Lerdahl (born March 10, 1943, in Madison, Wisconsin) is the Fritz Reiner Professor Emeritus of Musical Composition at Columbia University, and a composer and music theorist best known for his work on musical grammar and cogn ...

for

solo Solo or SOLO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Comics * ''Solo'' (DC Comics), a DC comics series * Solo, a 1996 mini-series from Dark Horse Comics Characters * Han Solo, a ''Star Wars'' character * Jacen Solo, a Jedi in the non-canonical ''S ...

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

and large

chamber ensemble Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numbe ...

commissioned by the Fromm Music Foundation for the cellist

Anssi Karttunen Anssi Karttunen (born 1960) is a Finnish cellist. Karttunen's repertoire ranges from the early baroque to living composers and improvisation. He has performed with many orchestras in Europe, Asia, and the Americas, including the Philharmonia, BBC ...

. A finalist for the

Pulitzer Prize for Music The Pulitzer Prize for Music is one of seven Pulitzer Prizes awarded annually in Letters, Drama, and Music. It was first given in 1943. Joseph Pulitzer arranged for a music scholarship to be awarded each year, and this was eventually converted i ...

in 2011, it was premiered on November 19, 2010, at Miller Theatre, Columbia University,The 2011 Pulitzer Prize Winners Music
, ''Pulitzer.org''. by Karttunen and the Argento Chamber Ensemble.Schweitzer, Vivien (November 21, 2010).
Spiral Form and Other Compositional Modes of Fred Lerdahl
, ''NYTimes.com''. A dialogue between soloist and ensemble rather than a traditional

concerto A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The typi ...

, the piece is "informed by the structure of

Gothic cathedrals Gothic cathedrals and churches are religious buildings created in Europe between the mid-12th century and the beginning of the 16th century. The cathedrals are notable particularly for their great height and their extensive use of stained glass ...

"; "the entire piece consisted of

arch An arch is a vertical curved structure that spans an elevated space and may or may not support the weight above it, or in case of a horizontal arch like an arch dam, the hydrostatic pressure against it. Arches may be synonymous with vaul ...

es within arches, tracing individual

phrases In syntax and grammar, a phrase is a group of words or singular word acting as a grammatical unit. For instance, the English expression "the very happy squirrel" is a noun phrase which contains the adjective phrase "very happy". Phrases can consi ...

and across the entire piece."Sabel, Claire (20 November 2010)
Composer Portrait: Fred Lerdahl
''Bwog''. The piece is an example of Lerdahl's spiral form, "in which a simple and stable

musical idea In music, a motif IPA: ( /moʊˈtiːf/) (also motive) is a short musical phrase, a salient recurring figure, musical fragment or succession of notes that has some special importance in or is characteristic of a composition: "The motive ...

is expanded on," paired with Renaissance

cantus firmus In music, a ''cantus firmus'' ("fixed melody") is a pre-existing melody forming the basis of a polyphonic composition. The plural of this Latin term is , although the corrupt form ''canti firmi'' (resulting from the grammatically incorrect tr ...

technique, the title "Arches" referring both to the characteristic rising and falling

melodic contour Melodic motion is the quality of movement of a melody, including nearness or farness of successive pitches or notes in a melody. This may be described as conjunct or disjunct, stepwise, skipwise or no movement, respectively. See also contrapunta ...

and to "arcs of formal expansion and contraction."Program note for Arches
, ''fred lerdahl:composer: compositions''.

Sources

2010 compositions Cello concertos Commissioned music {{composition-stub