Patterns is composed in four sections, each of which is sort of a rhythmic e?tude. The first (“Move Along”) is a perpetual motion machine with staggered and angular rhythms thrown between the pedals and the left hand. The second movement (“Palindromes”) is calmer and is centered around an ide?e fixe in the left hand while the right hand interjects and ornaments. The pedals, here, are a clumsy cousin, constantly upturning the sense of rhythmic stability. The third movement (“Similar”) is all to do with ways to divide up the bar: seven, eight, six, five, four — it’s all there. Then the finale (“Very Fast Music”) is a perpetual motion machine on its highest setting — manic and hyper, with hiccoughs offsetting the regularity of some of the rhythms.

O Sapientia, quae ex ore Altissimi prodiisti,
attingens a fine usque ad finem,
fortiter suaviterque disponens omnia:
veni ad docendum nos viam prudentiae.

O Adonai, et Dux domus Israel,
qui Moysi in igne flammae rubi apparuisti,
et ei in Sina legem dedisti:
veni ad redimendum nos in brachio extento.

O Radix Jesse, qui stas insignum populorum,
super quem continebunt reges os suum,
quem Gentes deprecabuntur:
veni ad liberandum nos, jam noli tardare.

O Clavis David, et sceptrum domus Israel;
qui aperis, et nemo claudit;
claudis, et nemo aperit:veni, et educ vinctum de domo carceris,
sedentem in tenebris, et umbra mortis.

O Oriens,
splendor lucis aeternae, et sol justitiae:
veni, et illumina sedentes in tenebris, et umbra mortis.

O Rex Gentium, et desideratus earum,
lapisque angularis, qui facis utraque unum:
veni, et salva hominem,
quem de limo formasti.

O Emmanuel, Rex et legifer noster,
exspectatio Gentium, et Salvator earum:
veni ad salvandum nos, Domine, Deus noster.

Performance Note:

The tempo is approximate. Do not worry about aligning perfectly with tape unless otherwise indicated. If you find yourself playing far ahead or behind the tape, simply expand or remove a rest. Keep all note durations relative. Not all tape events have been rendered for the purposes of simplicity. Additional cues should be pencilled in as necessary.

Given the strange makeup of the instrumental ensemble, subtle amplification will almost certainly be necessary for all players and singers.
The amateur percussion ensemble requires a bit of advanced planning. In practice, one of those players should be slightly more musically experienced and can be used as a sub-conductor.

Instrumental choice is absolutely left up to the group; score indications are simply an indication of how we did it at the premiere, and also as timbral suggestions. For instance, at bar 76, any small metal object will work, and any number of the players can participate in this gesture. If it’s a tiny spoon against a tiny teacup because you have those things in your house, use them. Similarly, bar 87 suggests a bit of a “round the room” game, where each player does something on each quarter-note. It doesn’t have to line up cyclically, just as long as each quarter-note is accounted for. There isn’t any way to do the amateur percussion wrong, as long as it is all planned and played carefully and seriously. The goal here is not a Prairie Home Companion wacky weekend afternoon, but instead, something ritualised but commonplace, like the rules of grammar.
—Nico Muhly

My viola concerto (2014) has a traditional structure: a fast movement, a slow movement, and a very fast third movement. The first movement begins with the solo viola at the centre of a crystalline structure of harp, piano, celeste, glockenspiel, vibraphone, and woodwinds all playing competing polyrhythms. Jagged unison brass interrupts these more delicate episodes, and the brass and crystalline material compete vigorously. Occasionally, the viola will play a quick duet with the timpani — a spatial displacement across the orchestra. About 4 minutes in, the viola and orchestra enter into a more traditional relationship between soloist and accompaniment, outlining a long series of descending chords. A trumpet solo emerges from this, and suddenly the whole thing breaks down into insect-like tuned percussion, and the solo violist playing in a quartet with the three frontmost orchestral violists.

The second movement is a long series of slowly-shifting drones in the strings, with a long, plaintive viola solo. The violist’s intervals expand and expand, culminating in a vertiginous tuba solo and a large orchestral explosion. Out of this, a dreamy landscape comes into view and fades away. The third movement is pulse-based, precise, and constantly plays with rhythms existing in three, four, or six cycles — the result should be a seemingly friendly surface with a slightly menacing undercurrent. Eventually, all the friendly material vanishes and we are left with two different kinds of “panic” music — bright flashes of polyrhythms from the percussion (here, the crystalline structures have become razor-like) and giant vertical chords from the brass. The viola’s cadenza here is quiet, tense, and fragile, and gives way into an extended passage during which the convivial instrumental pairings from the first movement become volatile and extreme. The piece ends in a state of frozen panic: all the material we’ve heard before is antagonised, snarled at, and damaged.

The concerto is dedicated to the extraordinary violist Nadia Sirota, for whom it was written and by whom it was premiered.

Nico Muhly

The pre-recorded material for these e?tudes should be mixed in such a way that the viola rides in the middle of the texture. Etude 2, however, should favor the solo viola. While we have had successful performances with the tape coming from a PA and the viola unamplified, the ideal scenario has the viola closely amplified with a clip-on microphone, such as the DPA 4099V, or similar.

E?tudes 1 and 1a require a metronomic relationship to the pulse, whereas Etude 2 requires a more flexible approach.
These Etudes were written for my friend Nadia Sirota. They are designed as performance pieces as well as practice e?tudes for dealing with the messy fifth-based string crossings my harmonic language sometimes outlines. Etudes 1 and 1A also concern themselves with the messy business of grand pause rests, or silences, in the context of highly rhythmic music.

The pre-recorded material was engineered and produced by Dan Bora, and is available through St Rose Music Publishers or Chester-Novello. Recordings of Etudes 1 and 1a are available on Nadia Sirota’s First Things First (New Amsterdam), E?tude 2 is recorded under the alternate title Varied Titles (Bedroom Community/ Decca) and E?tude 3 is available on Nadia Sirota’s Baroque (Bedroom Community).