Nico Muhly » Percussion

It’s About Time

Nico — Wed, 16 May 2007 03:52:51 +0000

It’s About Time has two sets of attendant notes, one by Sam, for whom it was written, and one by me.
Performer’s Note
It’s About Time was written for percussionist Sam Solomon. It’s about time, the piece is. It’s also about time Sam asked Nico to write a solo piece – the first time since some vibraphone solo Nico wrote in 1996 or 97 in high school. There was a timpani piece too, also in high school. After probably dozens of other collaborations of all shapes and sizes, the time came in the spring of 2004 for another Nico solo for Sam. Like much of the percussion repertoire, time (rhythm) takes center stage as the primary compositional element, namely though various additive procedures. These additive procedures, however, are clouded, or actually they’re “colored,” by Nico’s enormous and infectious personality, as is the pitch material, orchestration, and form. If you know Nico and/or his music, you know what I’m talking about. And that’s what it’s about. ““ Program Note by Sam Solomon (for use by Sam Solomon only)

Program Note:
It’s About Time was written for Sam Solomon, one of my oldest collaborators. Some of the first music I wrote, I wrote for Sam, so when he asked me to write a solo for him in 2004, I started thinking about the sort of thing you cook for your best friends – food from the pantry, not designed to impress: the company itself is the point of the encounter. It’s About Time is precisely that: staples, things I know that I do well, and things I know Sam (and, by hopeful extension, any percussionist) does well. It’s About Time lasts 9 minutes and is dedicated, with many thanks, to Sam Solomon.

Performance Note
It’s About Time was written for a setup detailed here as “Setup #1.” All setup notes should be scrupulously observed as outlined on the website.

Live Recording
Sam Solomon, percussion

Sam & Nico

Beaming Music

Nico — Wed, 16 May 2007 03:24:31 +0000

Beaming Music is, at its heart, about small rhythmic cells transforming themselves into large, open chords. While this is most evident in the section immediately following the marimba solo 2/3 of the way through, the idea of something small blossoming into a huge chord pervades the piece. The title refers not only to the various metric subdivisions of the main material, but also to Chris Thompson, the percussionist who commissioned it, whose his sunny disposition colored each stage of this piece’s conception, rehearsal, and performance.

Chris Thompson, marimba
Nico Muhly, organ

Pillaging Music

Nico — Wed, 16 May 2007 03:03:23 +0000

Muhly names Pierre Boulez as the inspiration for Pillaging Music, and it’s easy to hear the influence of pieces like Sur-incises and Répons on this metallic piano/percussion texture, with its wild, electronic antiphony. But where Boulez’s music wears, self-consciously, the sheen of the new, Pillaging Music has been painstakingly distressed. The percussion is complemented by a battery of found instruments, household objects chosen to approximate the pitches of the other instruments without matching them exactly. And the tape component was edited (by the composer and Valgeir Sigurðsson) with an ear-popping ruthlessness. More obviously, where Boulez’s convulsive rhythms and atonal harmonies reject the familiar, inhabitable spaces of classical music”””He takes the gargoyles,” composer Ned Rorem complained after hearing Répons, “and leaves the cathedral”””Muhly is willfully humane, pushing the drama of his tonal language across the threshold of camp. The aggression is ritualised, mitigated by an excess of style. A hushed, reverent interlude demonstrates that Muhly could never leave the cathedral too far behind, before the instruments literally race””Nancarrow-like””to the piece’s rhythmically virtuosic conclusion. – Notes Â© 2007 by Daniel Johnson

Pillaging Music is recorded on Bedroom Community Hvalur 001 (Nico Muhly Speaks Volumes).

Sam Solomon, percussion
Nico Muhly, keyboards

Nico & Sam during Pillaging Music rehearsal, Zankel Hall, 2007

Sam recording Pillaging Music in Brooklyn, 2006

Nico & Valgeir playing Pillaging Music in Rotterdam, April, 2007

Time After Time

Nico — Wed, 16 May 2007 02:12:33 +0000

Time After Time was written for the Yesaroun’ Duo (comprising multi-percussionist Sam Solomon & saxophonist Eric Hewitt) and marimbist Nancy Zeltsman. I set out to write a piece that was primarily energetic and rhythmically challenging enough for two percussionist and one honorary percussionist to play. The title refers to the fact that all the material recycles itself at different speeds. The marimba’s long, quasi-chorale lines proceed, initially, without noticing the rhythmic shifts and upheaval below. Halfway through the piece, a jagged marimba solo features the instrument’s precise, dance-like qualities, and after being joined by the saxophone and percussion, propels the whole ensemble towards the rhythmic and harmonic excesses of the final section.

Eric Hewitt, saxophone
Chris Thompson, marimba
Sam Solomon, percussion
recorded by Mario McNulty at the Looking Glass Studios

Ta & Clap

Nico — Tue, 15 May 2007 22:33:51 +0000

Ta-ing and Clapping is a method of teaching rhythms wherein all beats are accounted for, resulting in a fully-rendered moto perpetuo that only implies empty spaces naturally found in a rhythmic pattern. In Ta & Clap, scored for percussion quartet, I wrote dense marimba music and then subjected this music to several processes of subtraction, resulting in a rhythmic cycle that is sometimes presented in its entirety, sometimes filled with holes, and sometimes completely rendered out such that there are no holes at all. Although there is a lot of math at work, Ta & Clap is meant to be fun to play and challenging to learn. It is scored for 2 marimbas and any number of assorted percussion instruments at the discretion of the performers. Ta & Clap is dedicated to Line C-3 (comprising Chris Thompson, Haruka Fujii, John Ostrowski, and Sam Solomon), with gratitude for the patience and good rhythmic sportsmanship.

Performance Note
Ta and Clap was written for a flexible set of instruments to be drawn from the instrumentation of John Cage’s Third Construction, with the addition of a pair of marimbas. However, it will work on any combination of percussion instruments made from different materials. In the original performance, the Line C-3 Percussion Ensemble chose to render the notes in their parts onto like instruments ““ for instance, one figure would be played entirely on five tin cans, and then next entirely on tom-toms. It is crucial that each player vary the sounds after the repeats; this can be as simple as a technique change (using the butts of sticks) or incorporating a different style of stroke (dead stroke, on the node, on the rim). I have indicated in the score any passages that must be played on certain instruments ““ notably, the entirety of figure 1 for player 4 (as well as various other places throughout) must be played on bass drum. Aside from these specific notes, the instrumentation should be left up to the discretion of the performers. Ta and Clap should be, however, consistently energetic, forceful, and severe.

The first performance of Ta and Clap, in Tokyo in May 2004, consisted of the following setup:

Player 1
3 congas, large tom, opera gong, bass drum, suspended cymbal, china cymbal, hi-hat, 5 cans, 2 cowbells
Player 2
3 toms, 5 cans, shaker, log drum, clave
Player 3
3 snare drums, 5 temple blocks, 5 cans
Player 4
bass drum, 3 roto-toms, 5 cans

Additionally, it may be useful to note that the two marimbas are shared between players 1 & 3, and 2 & 4, respectively.

A recording is available via Third Coast Percussion Quartet.