Nico Muhly Residency

Gramophone, January 2010 issue

NYC wunderkind Nico Muhly has a mercurial way with disparate influences. He tells Hannah Nepil about Glass, the Holocaust and Heathrow

‘I’d make the tones specific to liturgical hours. And I’d structure them around the religious holidays L ent, Advent, Ramadan, Diwali and Hanukkah.’ To fellow diners at our restaurant setting, it might sound as if New York composer Nico Muhly is describing his next big choral work. Infact, he is talking animatedly about his desire to revamp the chime tones that accpompany Tannoy announcements at Heathrow Terminal Three, which strikes him as so piercing and unbeautiful’.

This is not mere whimsy, but rather is typical of his ability to draw inspiration from seemingly unlikely sources - a trait that becomes increasingly apparent throughout our conversation.

Muhly speaks enthusiastically, like Graham Norton on speed. He is the man behind the haunting soundtrack for Oscar-winning film ‘The Reader’, and thus, at just 28(although he looks alot younger), has already shot to wide acclaim, having carved himself a unique niche, drawing upon such disparate sources as sacred Elizabethan choral music and twentieth-century minimalism.

Having penned his first composition on a napkin at the age of 11, the Vermont-born composer’s body of work now includes commissions for the Chicago SO and Carnegie Hall.

And it is not just in the States, he is currently workshopping a new opera ‘TwoBoys’, which is to be premiered at English National Opera next year. Before that, his ‘Motion’, for clarinet, piano and string quartet, is premiered at Wigmore Hall next Wednesday by Britten Sinfonia, alongside his arrangements of works by Jacobean composer Orlando Gibbons. Then, he’s back on February 8 with the ensemble at the Southbank for ‘Impossible Things’, for tenor, violin and string orchesha. In between, he is the star of a concert showcasing his work as part of the Reverb festival at the Roundhouse in Camden. Taking eclecticism as its credo, the series, which is clearly aiming at a younger, first-time audience, has chosen well with Muhly, whose work is presented alongside that of his latest collaborator, young roots singer Sam Amidon, Steve Reich and Philip Glass.

Indeed, for the last eight years Muhly has been mentored by minimalist guru
Glass, after striking up an immediate rapport with the world-renowned composer, whom he describes as ‘a totally peaced-out 72 -year-old Buddhist’.

But while acknowledging Glass’s influence, Muhly is reluctant to align his music with one particular genre. ‘I stopped thinking about style years ago; I don’t like to define it.’ This explains why he is as comfortable with his ‘classical’ credentials as he is in the capacity of arranger and conductor for artists such as Bjork and cult band Grizzly Bear. Infact, the only part of the process that seems to perturb him is watching videos of himself conducting ‘Because you’re forced to look at your actual body’, he laughs, ‘whereas when you’re composing, you get to hide how big your ass is.’

Despite his open-minded, any thing goes approach, the young American is still careful to observe emotional boundaries in his compositions ‘People are more likely to respond to music when they don’t think they’re being manipulated’, he explains, admitting to finding the compositional process for ‘The Reader’ a difficult one unsurprising, given the film’s controversial attempt to explain the psychology of a Nazi camp guard charged with mass murder. ‘It’s the kind of film where one wrong note can appear to condone the entire Holocaust’, he says.
But. As he maintains music that acknowledges the brutality of an event can be problematic in its own right. ‘For example, you’d never get modern church music sounding like, “Oh my God! It’s so horrible, it’s the Crucifixion!”’ Muhly waggles his hands dramatically before pausing for breath. ‘Anyway, blah, you try not to force the emotion’, h e finishes. ‘All these things are very complicated.’
Then, as inspiration strikes again, he suddenly points to a spot somewhere behind my head. ‘What are those?’ he demands. I turn around to see two white bundles hanging from the ceiling. ‘Some kind of lamb innards?’ he muses. ‘I’d love to see a video of someone tying those bundles. I’m sure you could spin that into some little piece for lute or something..  ‘. You heard it here first.

Nico Muhly’s ‘Motion’ is performed by Britten Sinfonia at Wigmore Hall on Wed Jan 20. He also directs the ensemble in a concert of his work at the Reverb festival at the Roundhouse on Sun Jan 24. www.roundhouse.org.uk