All Perfections Keep

Muhly's gift for creating luminous, singable lines shines here without sacrificing harmonic depth. This work rewards careful attention to voice leading while remaining genuinely enjoyable to prepare and perform, a balance many contemporary composers struggle to achieve.

The piece unfolds with quiet intensity and reflective warmth. There's a sense of stillness underpinning the vocal writing, allowing text and melody to resonate with clarity and purpose.

This work suits choirs and vocal ensembles with some experience in contemporary music but who gravitate toward writing with lyrical appeal. It works equally well in concert settings or as part of a mixed program.

• Shape the phrases idiomatically for your voices; Muhly's melodies benefit from breath and phrasing that feel natural rather than metrically imposed.
• Balance clarity of text with musical line. The words matter, but they should emerge from the singing, not interrupt it.
• Explore the harmonic color by attending to the inner voices as much as the outer ones; the richness lives in how the chord voices interact.

Consider pairing this with other contemporary sacred or introspective works to create a focused concert segment, or use it as a centerpiece in a program exploring modern approaches to text setting.

• Voice leading in contemporary harmonic contexts
• Articulation and diction in lyrical singing
• Interpretive choices in minimally marked scores
• Sustaining musical line through longer phrases