# Michael Nyman



## Sid James

*Michael Nyman *(born 1944) is a British composer. The following is an extract from _The Rough Guide to Classical Music_, Ed. J. Staines & D. Clark (4th Ed., 2005), p. 378.

"One of the most successful British composers of recent times, Michael Nyman has often courted controversy through the sheer eclecticism of his music. Initially he was part of a group of British experimental musicians who, influenced by Cage, wanted to escape the straightjacket of serialism and embrace a more pluralistic - even anarchic - approach. It has taken him nearly a quarter of a century to move from avant-garde film composer to somewhere near the mainstream, but although he is championed by major companies like Decca and EMI the more entrenched section of the British classical musical establishment still find him beyond the pale..."

I have been listening to Nyman's soundtrack to Jane Campion's film _The Piano _& it is indeed "eclectic." A kind of mixture of neo (post?) romanticism mixed with a good dose of minimalism, and even Scottish folk idioms (reflecting the Scottish background of the main character in the film, which incidentally I have not yet seen). The recording features members of the Munich Philharmonic, with regular collaborators like John Harle (saxophones) and Nyman directing from the piano. It's a pretty good way to spend an hour.

Nyman has also produced scores for films by Peter Greenaway (eg. _The Draughtsman's Contract), _some string quartets and _The Upside-Down Violin _(played by Moroccan musicians, of all things). He certainly seems to be a versatile composer.

For a start, here's an excerpt from the soundtrack of _The Piano_:


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## Sebastien Melmoth

Nyman's done a lot of good work; indeed, he's one of the finest living composers along with John Adams.


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## Aramis

The Piano soundtrack I do not like, but he wrote really nice music for _The Libertine_, movie with Johnny Depp. Not outstanding (what can you expect from minimalist?) but really nice, I even wanted to get his non-movie music until I've learned that he is minimalist and his other works won't be much diffrent from simple and flat soundtrack with couple of enjoyable moments.


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## Jigsawwizard

I find the music from' the piano' like a little guilty pleasure, it just so perfectly tugs on our musical heartstrings, I'll check out the Libertine.


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## Frasier

My first encounter with this composer was his "Think Slow Act Fast" played by the Andriessen Ensemble and broadcast (that also included Andriessen's Hoketus) so it needs good stereo to get the effect. But then I acquired a couple of CDs - Drowning by Numbers (the film soundtrack doesn't really do justice to the music), and the String Quartets. 

Best though was his concert at the Barbican, must've been 10 years ago.


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## Jeremy Marchant

Libertine number: www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_ga_3bzoDs
This is lovely, even if the fit of the words to the notes is terrible!

Given that Boulez, Birtwistle, Carter (even) and many others are still active, it is stretching it beyond breaking point to claim Nyman is "one of the finest living composers". But he undoubtedly writes strong, attractive music with catchy rhythmic motifs and decent harmonic progressions (nicked from other composers of course).

Eg, here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSQNP7f9N5Q
(I like that little, inappropriate, skip)

And, www.youtube.com/watch?v=26-migpeVJM

And, if this isn't by Nyman, I'll eat my hat:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfSoZ6_x7kk.

Personally, I can't stand _The piano_, but do recommend

_Water dances_, particularly the final movement, _Synchronising_, is as relentlessly upbeat and major as most of his music is dark and minor

_Out of the ruins_, 20 min a capella choral piece is very moving (and doesn't immediately sound like Nyman - more your Arvo Part)

_Where the bee dances_, delightful saxophone concerto.


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## Earthling

I seem to remember the soundtrack to *Gattaca* was not bad, a sort of neo-romantic soundtrack.

I think he did some music for the *Beckett on Film *series also, more minimalistic sort of music, but it's been a while since I've seen it...


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## Argus

Having thought I'd not heard any Nyman, I had root around on Youtube and found I'd actually heard quite a bit of Nyman. His music for the Draughtsman's Contract and The Piano are used all the time in TV programmes over here.

I listened to quite a few pieces and while I liked most of it, it did seem a bit too 'in your face' in a way. It's quite minimalist yet seems to strive for memorabilty and catchiness a bit too much. So while it's pretty good music maybe a bit more subtlety would be more to my liking.

On a related note, I've just ordered this:http://www.amazon.co.uk/Experimental-Music-Beyond-Twentieth-Century/dp/0521653835. Anybody read it?


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## Il Seraglio

Surprisingly, the Piano is a much better movie than the score would have you believe. Michael Nyman is an interesting one. I suppose he is not dissimilar to the likes of Gorecki in that he was a composer of avant-garde music in his early days (none of which I've heard), but I wouldn't say their later minimalist material were on the same level in quality. 

Nyman's music seems to pop up in the most unexpected places though. The soundtrack for the little known 1990's videogame Enemy Zero springs to mind.


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## Curiosity

That "The Piano" theme is probably the most annoying musical composition of ANY kind that I've heard.


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## Argus

Curiosity said:


> That "The Piano" theme is probably the most annoying musical composition of ANY kind that I've heard.


I take it you've never listened to any happy hardcore.

Since making that last comment in this thread over a year ago, I've still yet to hear anything by Nyman I don't like. He's far from being my favourite minimalist composer but he is very consistent in his ability to churn out decent music.



Jeremy Marchant said:


> Where the bee dances, delightful saxophone concerto.


I can vouch for that. I think he uses saxophones, as well as brass instruments, in a really agreeable way.


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## Jeremy Marchant

What I enjoy is that, if you know the music on which a Nyman work is based, it is often entertaining hearing how he uses his source material. For example, the use of Schumann Lieder in _The man who mistook his wife for a hat_


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## jurianbai

Only listen to his string quartets, especially no.3, which is I like. I dunno why he is labelled minimalist, but surely he is something like many times I will prefer over Glass' version of minimalist.


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## Argus

jurianbai said:


> Only listen to his string quartets, especially no.3, which is I like. I dunno why he is labelled minimalist, but surely he is something like many times I will prefer over Glass' version of minimalist.


He is credited as the first person to use the term 'minimalism' in regards to music, when he was working as a critic.

You don't like Glass? Have you tried his 3rd and 4th string quartets? His 1st is the only one I'm dissappointed by as it sounds like he's trying to imitate someone elses style.


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## jurianbai

'gus..... i only remember the no.2 "Company", it is like a short 2 minutes melody each movement, worsen that the melody is also repetitive until the end.


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## robert

jurianbai said:


> 'gus..... i only remember the no.2 "Company", it is like a short 2 minutes melody each movement, worsen that the melody is also repetitive until the end.


Sounds like minimalism to me. I happen to like his string quartets,Symphonies 2 & 3. Some Soundtracks namely "The Hours", Thin 
Blue Line, Mishima .....


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## Sid James

I recently got on CD two of Nyman's film scores, Carrington and The Claim. Similar to what Jeremy mentions above, the former is based around the theme from the _Adagio_ of Schubert's _String Quintet in C_, which is included as a bonus track on the disc. I hope to listen to these sometime soon & report my "findings" back here...


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## johnfkavanagh

Argus said:


> He is credited as the first person to use the term 'minimalism' in regards to music, when he was working as a critic.
> 
> You don't like Glass? Have you tried his 3rd and 4th string quartets? His 1st is the only one I'm dissappointed by as it sounds like he's trying to imitate someone elses style.


How could anybody not like Glass's String Quartets? I have recordings of most of the symphonies, several of the operas, DVD's of Kooyanisqatsi and Powaqqatsi and a lot of others besides and I still think the Quartets are his best work.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

This is one composer that really wowed me when I first heard his stuff. I first heard this guy's music in this documentary here:

*Trailer*





And I had never heard anything like it. I didn't even know such music existed. Michael Nyman's music has continued to amaze me to this very day.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

I've written 67 variations for solo violin on the chord progression used in this piece:


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## Sid James

I did an earlier thread on him below, which maybe now the mods can join to your new one. Agreed, he is a great composer, one of the first movers and shakers of minimalism. & a very prolific film composer as well...

http://www.talkclassical.com/9053-michael-nyman.html


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

I love the story behind this piece:

*In Re Don Giovanni*





(I love the footage in that film)

As told to Andrew Ford


> I found the first sixteen bars front he beginning of the 'catalogue' song from _Don Giovanni_-the chord changes had always fascinated me, they are quite unlike anything else Mozart ever wrote-and thought I'd use them in my piece. I wasn't thinking "I'm going to be a post-modernist, I'm going to recycle other people's music," it was just that I loved the thing and wanted to make something out of it.
> 
> So I looked at it and discovered the components of the texture: there were the repeated quavers in the strings; there was a step-like bass part; there was the first violins' imitation of the bass part at the distance of one bar. I thought, "This is an interesting texture, I'll take it apart and put it together again." So I started playing the repeated quaver chords on the piano, but instead if playing them as they're written, I played them like Jerry Lee Lewis. I'd never played the piano remotely like that before and I thought "****! I really like this." So, simultaneously, I discovered an approach to texture, an approach to piano playing, and a piano style which dictated the dynamic, articulation and texture of everything I've subsequently done. It was born in one complete package.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

@Sid James, There are a couple of other Michael Nyman threads down there


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