Duet No.1: Chorale Pointing Downwards is a work by contemporary composer Nico Muhly for Viola and Cello. The piece received its premiere at the Tenri Cultural Institute in New York in February 2004. Muhly himself writes of the work that it's the first in a series of short string pieces that serve simultaneous purposes as harmonic and technical studies for both composer and performers. Duet No.1 is constructed around a cycle of fourteen chords repeated almost without cessation. This drone-like cycle is subject to a few rhythmic alterations as well as two interruptions keeping thingsdynamic and exciting. The middle of the piece becomes in Muhly's words 'a sort of fervent perpetual-motion perseverance' in an attempt to combine harmonic beauty with what sounds like a musical exercise.

Beethoven probably originally planned a complete string duo with four movements. Aside from the introductory movement a minuet has also survived that is likewise published here. This single edition taken from the establishedvolume 'String Trios and String Duos' (HN192) will certainly secure many new friends for this original work.