Ordinary Time is split into five movements. Each one explores different ways of manipulating rhythms across the four instruments. The first movement has the players in near-canons, never perfect but seldom in unison. The second movement is a smudged hymn-tune, where the steady rhythm of the harmony is undermined by unstable glissandi. The third movement splits the ensemble into two duos playing primarily in unison, a conceit which gradually unravels with a sense of vague menace, whereas the fourth movement is almost all menace: a kind of joyful perpetual-motion machine. The piece ends with a movement in which all the previous techniques compete in ways designed to sound simultaneously highly organized and chaotic.

Ordinary Time refers to the seasons in the church year which fall outside the well-known seasons (i.e. Lent or Advent), and are periods of the year with their own small internal procedures and rituals.

– Nico Muhly (2026)