I Drink The Air Before Me - Nico Muhly (2010)

Modern classical composers: not something I feature much here, but very important to me. I love what a lot of modern composers are doing. For most of the 20th century, “serious art” music has had the bad habit of trying to keep the riff raff out by making things ever more complex and dissonant, and ever less hummable. It’s easy for people to think “modern classical” and think “oh, that’s just a bunch of noise and nonsense.”

But People like Muhly have really made strides to bring that concert hall music into step with what the part of the world that didn’t study composition at Yale wants to hear. The music of the last 20 years is often more open, more tuneful, and more playful, and it really shows here.

This was written for a dance recital. While I don’t know much about dance, I can hear the space and movement built into this. The program notes mention “spirals” of notes, which is a great way to describe it.