Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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17 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing music, July 25, 2007
Nico Muhly's music reminds me of a combination of chamber music, Bjoerk's Medulla CD (Muhly actually played the piano on one of the pieces), and Philip Glass / Steve Reich / John Adams (in that order?) influence. The music is exciting, because there are many things happening, and often you wouldn't reall expect them. What's also imortant in this context is the producer, Valgeir Sigurdsson - who is not simply a producer in the classical sense, but who actively influences the music in his very own way.
Do I recommend this? Certainly yes! A very good start - and my personal favorite - is the last song on the CD, "Keep in touch".
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6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Headphone Commute Review, April 1, 2008
Somewhere on the outskirts of Reykjavik lies an Icelandic label formed in 2006 by Valgeir Sigurðsson. Bedroom Community is a collective of artists from around the globe focusing on high quality aesthetic music. Its roster at the moment includes above mentioned Sigurðsson, Sam Amidon, worldwide hailed Ben Frost for his experimental noise album, Theory of Machines (my personal Best of 2007 selection), and our current subject, Nico Muhly. Muhly is a Vermont born NYC resident with a Masters in Music from the Juilliard School. Born in 1981, his biography is already full of collaborations with recognized modern composers like Philip Glass. My brief biographical note will not do Muhly justice, and The New Yorker has done a much better job of it in its article, Eerily Composed (google for it). As for Muhly's music... well it Speaks Volumes itself (pun intended). The first label release is breaks through with gorgeous modern classical chamber composition. With Muhly on the piano, and with an exquisite touch of cello, harp, clarinet, trombone, and yes, some electronic treatment, we get a glimpse into composer's soul through his emotion filled debut. Muhly begins a new chapter of postminimalist sound, overshadowing the stuffy halls of contemporary classical, struggling to keep its aging neck above the flood of modern ideas. Muhly's forthcoming release, Mothertongue, a composition in four movements, is due out in May '08, on Bedroom Community. Recommended for the likes of Arvo Pärt, Steve Reich, Max Richter, Sylvain Chauveau and Ryan Teague. Favorite track: Keep In Touch.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Speaks eventually, November 3, 2008
I bought this cd some months ago now and have held off reviewing it until I'd lived with it for a while. It is a more disparate album than 'Mothertongue', a work that immediately opened itself to me, consisting as it does of complementary suites. 'speaks volumes' contains seven compositions, each of which should be judged alone. There is a variety of styles in evidence here and at first listen one is tempted to think that they are not all successful but that is a trap the casual listener can often fall into. Like all good music, these pieces take time to reveal their depths and their subtleties. Give this one spin, perhaps even just two or three and you may be tempted, as others have been here, to write it off as mere noise or sound-making but that would be a big mistake. 'Clear Music' becomes more beautiful every time I hear it; 'It Goes Without Saying' exhibits a growing brashness, like a kid growing in confidence; 'Honest Music', 'Quiet Music' and 'Pillaging Music' are the closest thing to a suite here, even though they are discrete pieces. They edge the listener through searching sounds played on violin, harp and then piano until discovery is made and consolidated on percussion, piano and celeste. 'A Hudson Cycle' is a wedding gift I wish I'd received and 'Keep In Touch' exhibits an at times nervous surety in it's mixture of viola accompanying recorded trombone and voice, the latter supplied by Antony from Antony and The Johnsons as short, nervous gestures of sound.
This is a cd that marks Mr. Muhly out as a young composer to watch, a confident modern voice that is not afraid to acknowledge his influences nor so arrogant as to dismiss them. No, it's not party music. But it is music and that music is challenging, approachable, enjoyable and always intriguing.
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by Nico Muhly 
