Nico Muhly

Dealing with classical musicians, I take it as far as I can, and then I bring Nico to the rescue. He’s a young composer, very clever and snappy. The first time we worked together I’d done a version of Oceania, the song for the Olympics, and it was almost slapstick, like two grand pianos having a fight. I had a fantasy of Richard Clayderman and Liberace on stage, playing like Tom and Jerry. I wrote this impossible-to-play thing and Nico had the ability to play it.

The Guardian, 27 April 2007