Melodráme was composed between December 1988 and August 1989 for contrabassist Michael Hartt. The work is in six movements that form a completely symmetrical arch-structure resulting from the superimposition of equal divisions of the whole by 3, 4, and 5 units (the resulting proportions of the individual movements themselves being 6:5:4:4:5:6). This 3/4/5 superstructure is repeated at successively deeper levels, and is thus reflected within each movement as well as in the basic rhythmic and pitch materials of the entire piece. In spite of the ostensibly rigorous structure, there has been a conscious effort to conceal this rigid framework, achieved in some instances by subtle degrees of structural delineation and in others by outright gestural blatancies (often occurring between those strictly calculated subdivisions), thus creating a cognitive ambiguity between the work’s construction and its perception.