{"id":34,"date":"2007-05-15T09:30:56","date_gmt":"2007-05-15T14:30:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nicomuhly.com\/projects\/2007\/clear-music\/"},"modified":"2007-05-16T00:55:50","modified_gmt":"2007-05-16T05:55:50","slug":"clear-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nicomuhly.com\/projects\/2007\/clear-music\/","title":{"rendered":"Clear Music"},"content":{"rendered":"

Muhly writes, “Clear Music is an extended exploration of a single measure in John Taverner’s (1490-1545) motet Mater Christi Sanctissima<\/em>. I have structured the piece into a series of peaks featuring the highest registers of the treble voice “\u201c here, the cello. I remember very vividly performing this piece and being struck by how distant the treble was from the other voices “\u201c sometimes, there are spaces of over an octave between the treble and the alto “\u201c and I attempted to recreate the somewhat terrifying and exposed contours of these lines. The end result is, I hope, a prolonged and transparent recollection of the Taverner which exposes not only my appreciation for the music itself but also my response to performing it.”\u009d<\/p>\n

The unaccompanied cello solo opening the piece quotes an expressive passage, near the end of Taverner’s antiphon, in which the trebles soar to a pitch two octaves higher than the next part down, the modal melody. Quoting such a high passage on such a low instrument, Muhly evokes not only the deeply stratified sonorities of Mater Christi<\/em> but also the physical exertion of vocal performance.<\/p>\n

The semiquaver syncopations that join the cello owe less to the backbeats of a rock song or a Beethoven symphony than to the rhythms of composers like Taverner, whose music antedates the use of barlines”\u201dhere creating a smooth and constant motion that gently pulls the cello forward and bears it aloft. – Program Notes \u00c2\u00a9 2007 Daniel Johnson<\/a><\/p>\n

Performance Notes<\/strong>
\nThe cello should be placed in the center of the stage, flanked closely by the harp and celeste. If amplification is used (which is not necessary but can help solve certain balance issues), it is recommended that there be one microphone on the back of the celeste as well as one microphone on the pedals, to amplify the clicking and shuffling of the feet. Similarly, both the harp body as well as its pedals should be amplified in this circumstance.<\/p>\n

Clear Music<\/em> is recorded on Bedroom Community Hvalur 001<\/a> (Nico Muhly Speaks Volumes<\/em>).<\/p>\n

[audio:01 Clear Music Excerpt.mp3]
\nClarice Jensen, cello
\nMonika Abendroth, harp
\nNico Muhly, celeste<\/p>\n

clear-mix-1.jpg<\/a>
\nNico & Valgeir mixing Clear Music<\/em>, Greenhouse Studios<\/a>, Reykjav\u00edk <\/small><\/p>\n

Clear Music<\/a>
\nClarice Jensen, Bridget Kibbey, Nico Muhly rehearsing Clear Music<\/em> in Zankel Hall <\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Muhly writes, “Clear Music is an extended exploration of a single measure in John Taverner’s (1490-1545) motet Mater Christi Sanctissima. I have structured the piece into a series of peaks featuring the highest registers of the treble voice “\u201c here, the cello. I remember very vividly performing this piece and being struck by how distant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nicomuhly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nicomuhly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nicomuhly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nicomuhly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nicomuhly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nicomuhly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nicomuhly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nicomuhly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nicomuhly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}