ScoresOnDemand
Muhly, Nico Keep In Touch
Score for sale (North America): https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=14042103 Score for sale (UK, Europe and other territories): http://www.musicroom.com/se/id_no/00443507/details.html?kbid=1296 Information about the work and materials for hire: http://www.musicsalesclassical.com/composer/work/34807
Chester Music Limited Part of the Music Sales Group
COMPOSER’S NOTE Keep in Touch is a lament, a sort of chaconne divided up into sections by more freely composed cadenzas for the viola. But the chaconne, a musical form based around a repeated cycle of chords, is not only the domain of composers like Bach and Purcell—one is as likely to hear the form on a Nina Simone record, and Antony Hegarty, the bluesily androgynous vocalist we hear in the electronic component of this piece, is a performer from the Simone school. Every dimension of the piece accentuates what Muhly calls the “inbetweenness” of these two strange voices: Antony’s singing and the equally sweet falsetto of the viola. The solo part, with its bow-scrapes and awkward passagework, affectionately emphasises the instrument’s flaws, its unevennesses of tone, and its idiosyncratic character as the neglected middle child of the fiddle family. (Even the percussion on the electronic track is constructed from the little noises a violist usually makes only by accident.) And Antony’s voice, so stately on his own records, is here reduced to abrupt, extemporaneous gestures—mirroring, not alleviating, the viola’s isolation.
PERFORMANCE NOTE It is important that the viola be lightly amplified in order to achieve a good balance with the pre-recorded materials. Although the best results have been with a microphone clipped to the bridge, anything to subtly boost the viola’s volume is appropriate provided that both the viola and the pre-recorded elements come out of the same speakers. Because it is usually cumbersome for the violist to trigger the tape start in bar 46 herself, an assistant and/or engineer should be on hand. Nico Muhly 2007
Note: The complete title of this work is Keep in Touch (Three Missed Calls for Holy Week). The title should only be listed in a program as such if it is performed during Lent; during other times of the year, Keep in Touch is sufficient.
Duration: c. 12 minutes. Viola part edited in 2007 by Nadia Sirota. Keep in Touch is recorded on Bedroom Community Hvalur 001 (Nico Muhly Speaks Volumes).
for Nadia Sirota
Keep in Touch (Three Missed Calls for Holy Week)
Cadenza
Nico Muhly (2005)
Freely q = 96 poco port.
Viola p
sffpp
sffpp
p
pp
pochiss. sf
8
mp cantabile
poco sf
p
sffpp
mf
15
poco cresc.
mf
f
f espress.
mf (crunch)
23
4 4 mf
mp
4 2 p cresc.
mp floating, cantabile
(short) (tiny portamento, molto espress.) 29
3
mf
(q = 72)
4 4
mp
p
poco sul pont.
gradually move to ord. (follow cresc.)
35
5
mp
(on the beat) 38
5
5
3 8 ff
f
42
5
5
5
4 4
5
(cue assistant to start tape)
ff Copyright Š 2007 St Rose Music Publishing Co. and Chester Music Limited. International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved.
7 4
4
(poco sul pont.) 111
mf
p
pp
mf
continues
p
mf
p
p
gong
ord.
5
116
poco sf
mf
f, agitated, nervous
ratchet
D
121
3
3 4
mf
3
3
f
3 4
126
5
mf
133
3
3
3 cresc.
3
sf
mf
f
crunch
3
f
sff ratchet
8 248
always full bows, ecstatic
sfp
sempre sim.
3
258
3
sff
3
3
sempre ff
3
3
3
3
bass drum
264
3 3
3
268
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
5
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
272
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
275
sff
p
sff
mp
sf
3