In the composer’s own words, ‘ Keep in Touch is a lament, a sort of chaconne divided up into sections by more freely-composed cadenzas for the Viola .’ The electronic CD supplied with the sheet music includes bluesy singing from Antony Hegarty among other sounds, and Muhly clearly relishes the ‘inbetweenness’ of the singing and the falsetto of the Viola. Muhly ’s music in this piece plays freely with time and key in a postmodernist way, making the ultimate solitude of the Viola touching. Contemporary American composer Nico Muhly is a prolific writer and arranger who, at 32, is the youngest composer ever to have been commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera in New York. His oeuvre includes two operas, and many solo pieces and works for small ensemble, Orchestra, and Chorus and he has collaborated widely.
