Influenced by the great minimalists, early English choral music and the latest electronic fusions, Nico Muhly has been called the poster boy of contemporary classical music. Decca’s third album of music by Muhly is a collection of his orchestral works including the concerto for six-string electric violin Seeing Is Believing with soloist Thomas Gould. Seeing Is Believing was written for the Aurora Orchestra − a relatively new, young British ensemble who recorded it under contemporary music specialist Nicholas Collon, in a recording produced by John Rutter.
“Nico Muhly, the brilliant composer whose string and choral arrangements inhabit the open spaces between contemporary classical and art-rock.” The Independent
Seeing Is Believing
Miserere Mei, Deus
Motion
This Is The Record Of John
By All Means
Bow Thine Ear, O Lord
Step Team
8th May 2011
“his music [is] stylishly and wilfully obdurate when it comes to classification. Seeing is Believing, which features the Aurora Orchestra and is graced by the exquisite solo playing of Thomas Gould on electric six-string violin, gives a taste of Muhly in what might be called his "English music mode", with his own delicate arrangements of Byrd and Gibbons alongside beguiling original compositions.”
3rd June 2011
***
“I love [Muhly's] open mind — the way his music fuses minimalist chatter, adventurous rock and the cadences of Tudor church music...Thomas Gould, the soloist in the title concerto for six-string electric guitar, ferrets out some amazing sounds, from a dirty bass buzz to a celestial shimmer...And the CD is a wonderful calling card for Collon’s Aurora Orchestra. The CD lasts 73 minutes and 23 seconds, and they dazzle in every one of them.”
3rd June 2011
****
“Brittle percussion and isolated woodwing "insect music" alternates with passages of pulsing minimalist figures akin to Reich and Adams, with other phrases bringing to mind the entire history of 20th-century American composition, from Ives and Copland through Bernstein.”
2nd June 2011
***
“Like so much of Muhly's music, [Seeing is Believing] is immediately engaging and fresh, with some delicious sounds and striking moments...[Step Team] propels itself on the dislocated motor rhythms of neoclassical Stravinsky...Motion is built out of fragments of a Gibbons anthem, while By All Means attempts a teasing reconciliation between a Weelkes motet and Webern's Op 24 Concerto.”
The Independent on Sunday
19th June 2011
“Nico Muhly's music is all-American, all now. So why do I keep hearing Vaughan Williams? "Seeing is Believing", the title track of the AO's all-Muhly disc, opens like a 21st-century "Lark Ascending", with violinist Thomas Gould soaring in ecstatic innocence..."Step Team", the least nostalgic work, is the most convincing, with a phenomenal bass trombone solo.”
Charlotte Gardner
6th June 2011
“If Muhly is a new name to you, then this beautifully performed disc is the one to get hold of. His music is clever, young, complex and multi-faceted. It's also capable of beguiling listeners of all ages, classical ‘experts’ and newcomers alike. You can't ask for more than that.”
19th June 2011
***
“His idiom is rooted in minimalism, but wildly inclusive. He roves back sensitively through styles, arriving at the unlikely bedrock of Tudor church music...The title piece, a 24-minute concerto for six-string electric violin, brilliantly handled by Gould, is powerfully inventive.”
30th June 2011
***
“This recording of Muhly’s violin concerto is shrewdly timed, given the controversy around the composer’s opera Two Boys. Thomas Gould handles his six-string electric violin with panache, and the Aurora Orchestra makes a lovely sound.”
September 2011
“[Gould] evinces undoubted empathy with the instrument”
October 2011
*****
“You can hear Stravinsky here - not so much as a direct influence on Muhly, but more as a kindred spirit who drew from the past in order to create a unique contemporary style...It is hard to imagine performances more assured and expressive than these by Nicholas Collon and the Aurora Orchestra. One of the most ear-catching discs to come my way in a long time.”
Seeing Is Believing
