A multi-movement form in Western classical music in which one or more featured soloists are accompanied by an orchestra.
One of the concerto’s movements often concludes with a cadenza, a free-rhythmic solo passage showcasing the soloist. In the concerto-kriti, the harp plays a cadenza at the end of Movement II.
Archives: Glossary
Common practice period
Refers to the era from roughly 1650-1900, during which tonal harmony became the dominant harmonic system of Western classical (art) music.
The 20th century saw the development of several alternate harmonic systems to tonal harmony.
Baroque counterpoint
A style of rigorous counterpoint developed during the Baroque era of Western classical music (17th-18th centuries).
J.S. Bach is its most renowned exponent, and this style is generally considered the pinnacle of contrapuntal writing.
Augmentation (and Canonic Augmentation)
In augmentation, a voice or instrument plays the theme at a slower pace — that is, the note values of the theme are augmented.
An example (in the video below) occurs in the Fugue-Kriti’s Pallavi (Movement I). Here, the veena and solo cello play the fugue subject at half the original tempo.
They are preceded by the violin, which enters 1½ beats earlier with a variation of the subject at the original tempo. This creates a canon — a structure made of staggered, overlapping layers of the same melody.
The combination is referred to as canonic augmentation.
Example: Canonic Augmentation
Tambura
A long-necked lute with 4 strings tuned to the tonic, upper tonic, and dominant (or subdominant, if the dominant is not present in the raga).
The strings are plucked in succession, providing a continuous tonal reference and foundation for the music, while creating a resonant, immersive atmosphere.
Tala
The rhythm cycle that governs a kriti, swarams or other Carnatic musical form.
Both pieces on this album use Adi tala, an 8-beat rhythm cycle, which is the most commonly used tala in Carnatic music.
Swarams
Improvisatory sections that conclude at the theme statement, aligning with the correct point in the tala (rhythm cycle).
The concerto-kriti’s Movement IV features swarams that conclude at the theme statement of the Anupallavi reprise.
Sangathi
Within each section of a kriti, a sangathi is the name given to the melodic theme of that section, as well as to each of its variations.
Raga
A raga is outlined by a scale, typically consisting of 5-7 notes in Carnatic music. However, the scale is just the skeleton; the appropriate gamakas are also crucial. Typical phrasing is also important in delineating a raga.
There are 72 parent ragas in the Carnatic melakarta system, each with a full set of 7 notes, and many more ragas with fewer notes that are derived from these.
Pallavi
The first section of a kriti, consisting of a theme and its variations (sangathis).
A short reprise of the theme appears at the end of each of the other sections.