SO TO SPEAK for Wind Ensemble by NICO MUHLY (USA, 1981)
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- 3 min read
[#353] April 27, 2026
USA | 2005 | Wind Ensemble | Grade 5 | 8’ | Tone poem
Premiered by Boston Conservatory Wind Ensemble
conducted by Eric Hewitt in Boston, USA
The music is on rental at St. Rose Music Publishing, distributed by Wise Classical Music
So to speak, by American composer Nico Muhly is our Composition of the Week.
So to speak was first written for orchestra and was dedicated to Amiel Melnick. The wind ensemble version was premiered by the Boston Conservatory Wind Ensemble, conducted by Eric Hewitt. The work has a duration of 8 minutes, and it is scored as follows:
3+2pic.2.2+bcl.2+cbsn/ssx.asx.tsx.bsx/4.3.2+btbn.2/vn.cb/hp.pf/timp.3perc
“So To Speak is an extended meditation on an anthem for Pentecost by Thomas Tallis entitled Loquebantur Variis Linguis (they spoke in many tongues). After organizing the material for the piece, I wrote a melody that works against, underneath, and above Tallis’s lines to create counterpoint made of old and new elements. Patterns of aggressive woodwind scales and ornaments evoke some of the hysteria inherent in glossolalia (ecstatic speaking in tongues). The central section of the piece gestures towards an insect-like musical and religious fervor.” Program Notes bt Nico Muhly
Nico Muhly is an American composer who writes orchestral music, works for the stage, choral music, chamber music and sacred music. He’s received commissions from The Metropolitan Opera: Two Boys (2011), and Marnie (2018), both co-productions with English National Opera; Carnegie Hall, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, and Wigmore Hall; his choral music, both sacred and secular, has been performed by The Tallis Scholars and the choirs of Westminster Abbey, Southwark Cathedral, King’s College Cambridge, Clare College, Cambridge, Christ Church Cathedral, Oxrord (where he is composer-in-residence) St John’s College Cambridge, Magdalen College, Oxford and Sidney Sussex College Cambridge, where he is also composer-in-residence. He has been featured at the Barbican, King’s Place and the Philharmonie de Paris as composer, conductor, pianist, and curator. An avid collaborator, he has worked with choreographers Benjamin Millepied at the Paris Opéra Ballet, Justin Peck and Kyle Abraham at New York City Ballet, and Mark Morris; artists Sufjan Stevens, The National, Teitur, Anohni, James Blake and Paul Simon. His work for screen includes scores for The Reader (2008) and Kill Your Darlings (2013), the BBC’s adaptation of Howards End (2017) and Pachinko for Apple TV+ (2022-2024).
Among his concerti are works for violin and strings, (Shrink, for Pekka Kuusisto), organ (Register, for James McVinnie), viola (for Nadia Sirota), two pianos (In Certain Circles, for Katia and Marielle Labèque), piano (for Alexandre Tharaud), violin (for Renaud Capuçon), a Concerto Grosso (flute, trombone, cello & percussion, for the Los Angeles Philharmonic), piano (Sounding, for Adam Tendler) and trumpet (Doom Painting for Tine Thing Helseth); his vocal collaborators include Iestyn Davies, Renée Fleming, Anthony Roth Costanzo and Nicholas Phan. Recent large-scale solo works include The Street, a collaboration with librettist Alice Goodman for harpist Parker Ramsay, and The Bell Études, for pianist Conor Hanick. He has worked with visual artists Maira Kalman, Yu Hong, and Oliver Beer, and has created site-reactive works for the National Gallery, London, the Guggenheim Museum’s Asian Art Initiative at the Venice Biennale, and the Art Institute of Chicago, and written articles for the Guardian, the New York Times, and the London Review of Books. Recordings of his works have been released by Decca and Nonesuch, and he is part of the artist-run record label Bedroom Community, which released his first two albums, Speaks Volumes (2006) and Mothertongue (2008). In 2026, both The Tallis Scholars and The Choir of Magdalen College, Oxford, released single-composer albums of his works.
Other works for winds include:
• Step team (2007)
• Doublespeak (2012)
• Reliable sources (2018) for Bassoon and Wind Ensemble.
More on Nico Muhly
