Nico Muhly » Piano

Nico Muhly » Piano http://nicomuhly.com The official website of the New York-based composer Nico Muhly. Wed, 29 Sep 2010 00:30:56 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Pillaging Music http://nicomuhly.com/projects/2007/pillaging-music/ http://nicomuhly.com/projects/2007/pillaging-music/#comments Wed, 16 May 2007 03:03:23 +0000 Nico http://nicomuhly.com/projects/2007/pillaging-music/ Pillaging Music, and it's easy to hear the influence of pieces like Sur-incises and RÃ©pons 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 RÃ©pons, "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). [audio:05 Pillaging Music Excerpt.mp3] Sam Solomon, percussion Nico Muhly, keyboards

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

Sam recording Pillaging Music in Brooklyn, 2006

Nico & Valgeir, Pillaging Music, Rotterdam

Nico & Valgeir playing Pillaging Music in Rotterdam, April, 2007]]> http://nicomuhly.com/projects/2007/pillaging-music/feed/ 0 Three Études for Piano http://nicomuhly.com/projects/2007/three-etudes-for-piano/ http://nicomuhly.com/projects/2007/three-etudes-for-piano/#comments Wed, 16 May 2007 02:29:14 +0000 Nico http://nicomuhly.com/projects/2007/three-etudes-for-piano/

1. Ostinati 2. Quiet Music 3. Running In preparation for writing a large (uncompleted) work for piano, I decided to write three short pieces to get certain musical tics out of my system. Each of these three eÌtudes addresses a specific rhythmic and harmonic gesture: the first, Ostinati, focuses on a gently lilting left hand contrasted with angular outbursts in the right hand, usually in octaves. The second eÌtude, "Quiet Music," concerns itself with drones and chant-like music, and the third, "Running," explores slowly shifting harmonies pitted against very fast cross-hand playing. These three eÌtudes were written from January "” March 2003 and were composed partially for performance in the VisionIntoArt / RockHotelPianoFest in New York City.

These three eÌtudes were written from January "” March 2003 and were composed partially for performance in the VisionIntoArt RockHotelPianoFest in New York City. EÌtude #3 ("Running") These three eÌtudes were written from January "” March 2003 and were composed partially for was premiered by Eric Huebner and is dedicated to him. Quiet Music is recorded on Bedroom Community Hvalur 001 (Nico Muhly Speaks Volumes).]]> http://nicomuhly.com/projects/2007/three-etudes-for-piano/feed/ 2 A Hudson Cycle http://nicomuhly.com The official website of the New York-based composer Nico Muhly. Wed, 29 Sep 2010 00:30:56 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Nico Muhly » Piano http://nicomuhly.com The official website of the New York-based composer Nico Muhly. Wed, 29 Sep 2010 00:30:56 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Pillaging Music http://nicomuhly.com/projects/2007/pillaging-music/ http://nicomuhly.com/projects/2007/pillaging-music/#comments Wed, 16 May 2007 03:03:23 +0000 Nico http://nicomuhly.com/projects/2007/pillaging-music/ Pillaging Music, and it's easy to hear the influence of pieces like Sur-incises and RÃ©pons 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 RÃ©pons, "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). [audio:05 Pillaging Music Excerpt.mp3] Sam Solomon, percussion Nico Muhly, keyboards

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

Sam recording Pillaging Music in Brooklyn, 2006

These three eÌtudes were written from January "” March 2003 and were composed partially for performance in the VisionIntoArt RockHotelPianoFest in New York City. EÌtude #3 ("Running") These three eÌtudes were written from January "” March 2003 and were composed partially for was premiered by Eric Huebner and is dedicated to him. Quiet Music is recorded on Bedroom Community Hvalur 001 (Nico Muhly Speaks Volumes).]]> http://nicomuhly.com/projects/2007/three-etudes-for-piano/feed/ 2 A Hudson Cycle http://nicomuhly.com/projects/2007/pillaging-music/ http://nicomuhly.com/projects/2007/pillaging-music/#comments Wed, 16 May 2007 03:03:23 +0000 Nico http://nicomuhly.com/projects/2007/pillaging-music/ Pillaging Music, and it's easy to hear the influence of pieces like Sur-incises and RÃ©pons 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 RÃ©pons, "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). [audio:05 Pillaging Music Excerpt.mp3] 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]]> http://nicomuhly.com/projects/2007/pillaging-music/feed/ 0 Nico Muhly » Piano http://nicomuhly.com The official website of the New York-based composer Nico Muhly. Wed, 29 Sep 2010 00:30:56 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Pillaging Music http://nicomuhly.com/projects/2007/pillaging-music/ http://nicomuhly.com/projects/2007/pillaging-music/#comments Wed, 16 May 2007 03:03:23 +0000 Nico http://nicomuhly.com/projects/2007/pillaging-music/ Pillaging Music, and it's easy to hear the influence of pieces like Sur-incises and RÃ©pons 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 RÃ©pons, "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). [audio:05 Pillaging Music Excerpt.mp3] Sam Solomon, percussion Nico Muhly, keyboards

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

Sam recording Pillaging Music in Brooklyn, 2006

These three eÌtudes were written from January "” March 2003 and were composed partially for performance in the VisionIntoArt RockHotelPianoFest in New York City. EÌtude #3 ("Running") These three eÌtudes were written from January "” March 2003 and were composed partially for was premiered by Eric Huebner and is dedicated to him. Quiet Music is recorded on Bedroom Community Hvalur 001 (Nico Muhly Speaks Volumes).]]> http://nicomuhly.com/projects/2007/three-etudes-for-piano/feed/ 2 Nico Muhly » Piano http://nicomuhly.com The official website of the New York-based composer Nico Muhly. Wed, 29 Sep 2010 00:30:56 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Pillaging Music http://nicomuhly.com/projects/2007/pillaging-music/ http://nicomuhly.com/projects/2007/pillaging-music/#comments Wed, 16 May 2007 03:03:23 +0000 Nico http://nicomuhly.com/projects/2007/pillaging-music/ Pillaging Music, and it's easy to hear the influence of pieces like Sur-incises and RÃ©pons 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 RÃ©pons, "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). [audio:05 Pillaging Music Excerpt.mp3] Sam Solomon, percussion Nico Muhly, keyboards

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

Sam recording Pillaging Music in Brooklyn, 2006

Nico tracking A Hudson Cycle in Salurinn, KÃ³pavogur]]> http://nicomuhly.com/projects/2007/a-hudson-cycle/feed/ 7