Nico Muhly

On 20 July 1969, Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin left the Columbia command module, and just under three hours later became the first people to land on the moon. Michael Collins stayed on board Columbia and spent the next day alone orbiting the moon, waiting for his colleagues to return, losing visual and radio contact with the earth for 46:38 minutes of each orbit. One report of the time claimed that “not since Adam has any human known such solitude”, but when Collins was asked about that, he explained that his solo orbit of the moon, despite the fact of being alone, was characterized by the following states of mind: “awareness, anticipation, satisfaction, confidence, almost exultation.”

Back in 2014, the Brooklyn Youth Chorus performed a stage work as part of BAM’s Next Wave Festival, and they’ve recorded the piece in a studio for their debut album Black Mountain Songs. The project was co-curated by the National’s Bryce Dessner and Arcade Fire’s Richard Reed Parry, and the first track that’s being shared from it is its title track, which was composed by Dessner. The rest of the album features contributions from Parry, Caroline Shaw, Nico Muhly, and Tim Hecker.

The soundtrack for Mozart in the Jungle, Season 3 features both standard classical repertoire from Mozart and Beethoven as well as music written especially for the series by contemporary composers Nico Muhly and Missy Mazzoli. The soundtrack also includes Joshua Bell, who made an appearance in the second season, plus performances by Yo-Yo Ma, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and other superstars from the classical music world.