Michael Nyman

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Biography

Michael Laurence Nyman , Order of the British Empire|CBE (born 23 March 1944 in Stratford, London ) is a British composer of minimalist music , pianist, libretto|librettist and musicologist , known for the many film soundtrack|scores he wrote during his lengthy collaboration with the film director|filmmaker Peter Greenaway , and his multi-platinum The Piano (soundtrack)|soundtrack album to Jane Campion 's The Piano . His operas include The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (opera)|The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat , Letters, Riddles and Writs , Noises, Sounds & Sweet Airs , Facing Goya , Man and Boy: Dada , Love Counts , and Sparkie#Opera|Sparkie: Cage and Beyond , and he has written six concerti , four string quartet s, and many other chamber music|chamber works, many for his Michael Nyman Band , with and without whom he tours as a performing pianist. Nyman stated that he prefers to write opera rather than other sorts of music.

Biography

Nyman was born in Stratford, London . He was educated at the Sir George Monoux College|Sir George Monoux Grammar School, Walthamstow . He studied at King's College, London under Alan Bush ., and was accepted at the Royal Academy of Music in September, 1961, and studied with Bush and Thurston Dart , focusing on piano and seventeenth-century baroque music . He won the Howard Carr Memorial Prize for composition in July 1964.Siôn, 18

In 1969, he provided the libretto of Harrison Birtwistle 's opera Down by the Greenwood Side (opera)|Down by the Greenwood Side and directed the short film Love Love Love (based on, and identical length to, the Beatles ' " All You Need Is Love "Pwyll ap Siôn The Music of Michael Nyman . Burlington, Vermont : Ashgate Publishing, 2007. p. 83) before settling into music criticism, where he is generally acknowledged to have been the first to apply the term " minimalism " to music (in a 1968 article in The Spectator magazine about the English composer Cornelius Cardew ). He wrote introductions for George Frideric Handel 's Concerto Grosso|Concerti Grossi, Op. 6 and conducted the most important interview with George Brecht in 1976.

Nyman drew frequently on early music sources in his scores for Greenaway's films: Henry Purcell in '' The Draughtsman's Contract and The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (which included Memorial (composition)|Memorial and Miserere Paraphrase ), Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber in A Zed and Two Noughts , Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Drowning by Numbers , and John Dowland in Prospero's Books , largely at the request of the director.

Nyman says he discovered his aesthetic playing the aria , " Madamina, il catalogo è questo " from Mozart's Don Giovanni on his piano in the style of Jerry Lee Lewis , which "dictated the dynamic, articulation and texture of everything I've subsequently done." Andrew Ford . "Jerry Lee Lewis Plays Mozart." Composer to Composer London: Quartet Books , 1993. pp 192–195, p 194
He has scored numerous films, the majority of them European art films, including several of those directed by Peter Greenaway . His few forays into Hollywood have been Gattaca , Ravenous (with musician Damon Albarn ), and The End of the Affair (1999 film)|The End of the Affair . He wrote settings to various texts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart for " Letters, Riddles and Writs ", part of Not Mozart . He has also produced a soundtrack for the silent film Man with the Movie Camera . Nyman's popularity increased after he wrote the score to Jane Campion 's award-winning 1993 film The Piano . The album became a classical music best-seller. He was nominated for both a British Academy Award and a Golden Globe .

Among Nyman's other works are the opera Noises, Sounds & Sweet Airs (1987), for soprano , alto (voice)|alto , tenor and instrumental ensemble (based on Nyman's score for the ballet La Princesse de Milan ); Ariel Songs (1990) for soprano and band; MGV (composition)|MGV (Musique à Grande Vitesse) (1993) for band and orchestra; concertos for saxophone, piano (based on The Piano score), violin, harpsichord , trombone , and saxophone & cello recorded by John Harle and Julian Lloyd Webber ; the opera The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (opera)|The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (1986), based on a case-study by Oliver Sacks ; and four string quartet s. In 2000, he produced a new opera on the subject of cloning on a libretto by Victoria Hardie titled Facing Goya , an expansion of their one-act opera Vital Statistics (opera)|Vital Statistics . The lead, a widowed art banker, is written for contralto and the role was first created by Hilary Summers. His newest operas are Man and Boy: Dada (2003) and Love Counts (2005), both on libretti by Michael Hastings (playwright)|Michael Hastings .

He has also composed the music for the children's television series Titch (TV series)|Titch which is based on the books written and illustrated by Pat Hutchins .

Many of Nyman's works are written for his own ensemble, the Michael Nyman Band , a group formed for a 1976 production of Carlo Goldoni 's Il Campiello . Originally made up of old instruments such as rebec s and shawm s alongside more modern instruments like the saxophone in order to produce as loud a sound as possible without amplification, it later switched to a fully amplified line-up of string quartet, three saxophones, trumpet, horn (instrument)|horn , bass trombone , bass guitar and piano. This line up has been variously altered and augmented for some works.

Nyman also published an influential book in 1974 on experimental music called (, and translations), which explored the influence of John Cage on european classical music|classical composers.

In the 1970s, Nyman was a member of the Portsmouth Sinfonia – the self-described World's Worst Orchestra – playing on their recordings and in their concerts. He was the featured pianist on the orchestra's recording of Bridge Over Troubled Water on the Martin Lewis (humorist)|Martin Lewis -produced 20 Classic Rock Classics album on which the Sinfonia gave their unique interpretations of the pop and rock repertoire of the 1950s–1970s. Nyman created a similar group called Foster's Social Orchestra , which specialised in the work of Stephen Foster . One of their pieces appeared in the film Ravenous and an additional work, not used in the film, appeared on the soundtrack album.

He has also recorded pop music with the Flying Lizards ; a version of his Bird List from the soundtrack to Peter Greenaway's The Falls (1980) appears on their album Fourth Wall as "Hands 2 Take."

On 7 July 2007 Nyman performed at Live Earth in Live Earth concert, Kyoto|Japan . On 2008 Nyman realised, in collaboration with the cultural association Volumina, Sublime, an artist's book that unified his music with his passion for photography.

In a collaboration with friends Max Pugh and Marc Silver, Nyman is now beginning to exhibit his films and photography. Nyman’s video works are filmed with a hand-held camera, often before and after concerts and as part of his international travels, featuring everyday moments. Some works are left relatively unedited whilst others undergo split screens and visual repetition. Soundtracks to some of the video works use location sounds, whilst others recycle existing scores from his archive or a combination of both.

In October 2009, Nyman released The Glare , a collaborative collection of songs with David McAlmont, which cast his work in a new light. The album – recorded with the Michael Nyman Band – finds McAlmont putting lyrics based on contemporary news stories to 11 pieces of Nyman music drawn from different phases of his career.

"David did the research and chose most of the musical pieces," Nyman explains. "I suggested a few pieces,too but I really didn't do very much, although I think it's a true collaboration. You can identify who was responsible for what, but both aspects create a perfect synergy in which neither element can exist without the other."
Although the album was recorded in just two days, there was a huge amount of preparation and rewriting before they entered the studio. "They're third generation songs and when you listen to them, you ask 'Is it Nyman? ' 'Is it soul? ' 'Is it rock'n'roll? ' It's all and none of them," the composer says. "I think we've created a new musical language. I'm no good at writing pop cliché – when I try, it invariably comes out sounding quite different."
The project has a long gestation for the pair first met in 2004 at a exhibition opening and talked about working together. Nothing came of it for almost five years until they got together again via Facebook, met up for lunch – and the idea for The Glare was born.

"I was surprised and delighted by what we've came up with," Nyman says. "So much so, that when I now play these pieces solo, it sounds like something's missing and the music needs David's voice and approach. That's a remarkable thing, because I've been playing these pieces for years. Of all the many collaborations I've been involved in, none has ever given me more pleasure and I'm desperate to take it on the road and play these."

Personal life

He was married to Aet Nyman and has two daughters, Molly and Martha. His first string quartet quotes " Unchained Melody " in homage to Aet, who appears in Greenaway's The Falls , for which he also composed music. Molly Nyman|Molly is a composer in her own right; in collaboration with Harry Escott she has written several film scores including for The Road to Guantanamo by her father's frequent collaborator, Michael Winterbottom . Martha is a development researcher for the BBC .

Career highlights

1961–67 – Studies at the Royal Academy of Music and King's College London .

1968–78 – Works as music critic (becoming first person to apply the word "minimalist" to music).

1976 – Founds the Campiello Band (now the Michael Nyman Band ) and embarks on eleven-film collaboration with Peter Greenaway.

1981 – Releases first Michael Nyman Band album.

1993 – Soundtrack for The Piano wins an Ivor Novello Award , Golden Globe , BAFTA and American Film Institute award and goes on to sell over three million copies.

2002–2005 – Composer-in-Residence at Badisches Staatstheater in Karlsruhe , Germany, who performed three Nyman operas and more tunes for his daughters.

2007 – Performed on 7 July from Kyoto , Japan as part of the Live Earth global environmental awareness musical event.

Honours

Nyman was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours.

Nyman was awarded an honorary doctorate (DLitt) from The University of Warwick on 30 January 2007. At the ceremony The University of Warwick Brass Society and Chamber Choir, conducted by Paul McGrath, premiered a specially composed procession and recession fanfare composed by Nyman.

Works

1963 – Introduction and Allegro Concertato for Wind Quartet (lost)

1963 – Divertimento for Flute, Oboe and Clarinet

1965 – Canzona for Flute

1974 – Bell Set No. 1 (multiple metal percussion)

1976 – 1–100 (4–6 pianos)

1976 – (First) Waltz in D (variable)

1976 – (Second) Waltz in F (variable)

1977 – In Re Don Giovanni (ensemble)

1978 – The Otherwise Very Beautiful Blue Danube Waltz (multiple pianos)

1979 – "The Masterwork" Award Winning Fish-Knife (ensemble)

1980 – A Neat Slice of Time (choir)

1981 – Think Slow, Act Fast (ensemble)

1981 – Five Orchestral Pieces for Opus Tree (band*) (based on Anton Webern 's Five Orchestral Pieces, Op. 10 )

1981 – M-Work (band)

1981 – 2 Violins

1982 – Four Saxes (Real Slow Drag) (saxophone quartet)

1983 – A Handsome, Smooth, Sweet, Smart, Clear Stroke: Or Else Play Not At All

(orchestra)

1983 – ''Time's Up (chamber ensemble)

1983 – ''I'll Stake My Cremona to a Jew's Trump (electric violin and viola, both players also simultaneously singing)

1983 – Love is Certainly, at Least Alphabetically Speaking (soprano and band)

1984 – The Abbess of Andouillets (choir)

1985 – Nose-List Song (soprano and orchestra)

1985 – Lucinda Childs|Childs Play (2 violins; harpsichord)

1985 – String Quartet No. 1

1986 – Taking a Line for a Second Walk (for orchestra ( Basic Black ) or piano duet)

1986 – The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (opera)|The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (opera; libretto by Christopher Rawlence ; The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat|adapted from the Oliver Sacks case study by Nyman, Rawlence, and Michael Morris )

1986 – And Do They Do/Zoo Caprices|And Do They Do (modern dance, 1986)

1987 – Vital Statistics (opera)|Vital Statistics (opera; libretto by Victoria Hardie )

1988 – String Quartet No. 2

1989 – Out of the Ruins (choir)

1989 – La Traversée de Paris (album)|La Traversée de Paris (soprano and band)

1989 – The Fall of Icarus (band)

1989 – ''L'Orgie Parisienne Arthur Rimbaud setting (soprano or mezzo soprano and orchestra)

1989 – La Sept (album)|La Sept (band)

1990 – Shaping the Curve (soprano saxophone, string quartet or piano)

1990 – Six Paul Celan|Celan Songs (contralto and orchestra)

1990 – Polish Love Song (soprano and piano)

1990 – String Quartet No. 3

1990 – The Kiss and Other Movements

1991 – The Michael Nyman Songbook A collection of songs based on texts by Paul Celan , Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , William Shakespeare , and Arthur Rimbaud and recorded with vocalist Ute Lemper .

1991 – Where the Bee Dances (soprano saxophone and orchestra)

1991 – Fluegelhorn and Piano

1992 – Time Will Pronounce#Time will pronounce|Time Will Pronounce (violin, cello, and piano)

1992 – Time Will Pronounce#For John Cage|For John Cage (brass ensemble)

1992 – Time Will Pronounce#Self-laudatory hymn of Inanna and her omnipotence|Self-Laudatory Hymn of Inanna and Her Omnipotence (alto and string orchestra or countertenor and viol consort)

1992 – Time Will Pronounce#The convertibility of lute strings|The Convertibility of Lute Strings (solo harpsichord)

1992 – Anne de Lucy Songs (soprano and piano)

1992 – ''Le Mari de la Coiffeuse ( The Hairdresser's Husband )

1992 – The Upside-Down Violin (orchestra/ensemble)

1993 – MGV (composition)|MGV: Musique à grande vitesse (band and orchestra)

1993 – The Piano Concerto (piano and orchestra)

1993 – Noises, Sounds & Sweet Airs (1993; opera-ballet setting William Shakespeare 's The Tempest )

1993 – Michael Nyman for Yohji Yamamoto|Yamamoto Perpetuo (violin solo)

1993 – Songs for Tony (saxophone quartet)

1994 – To Morrow (soprano or soprano saxophone, organ)

1994 – The Suit and the Photograph#3 Quartets|3 Quartets (ensemble)

1994 – Concerto for Trombone (trombone, orchestra, and steel filing cabinets)

1995 – The Suit and the Photograph#String Quartet No. 4|String Quartet No. 4

1995 – Tango for Tim (In memoriam Tim Suster) (harpsichord)

1995 – The Waltz Song (unison voices)

1995 – Viola and Piano

1995 – Grounded (mezzo-soprano, saxophones, violin, piano)

1995 – HRT (chamber ensemble)

1995 – Concerto for Harpsichord and Strings

1995 – Double Concerto for Saxophone and Cello (saxophone, cello, and orchestra)

1996 – After Extra Time (album)|After Extra Time (ensemble)

1996 – Enemy Zero (game music)

1997 – Enemy Zero#Music|Enemy Zero – Original Soundtrack

1997 – Strong on Oaks, Strong on the Causes of Oaks (orchestra)

1997 – The Promise (piano)

1997 – Gattaca

1998 – Titch (TV series)|Titch (worked on the main opening/closing piano theme).

1998 – Cycle of Disquietude (Coisas, Vozes, Lettras) (soprano, mezzo-soprano, and band)

1998 – Orfeu (band)

1998 – De Granada A La Luna (band)

1999 – The Commissar Vanishes (band)

1999 – The End of the Affair

2000 – Facing Goya (opera; libretto by Victoria Hardie )

2001 – a dance he little thinks of (orchestra)

2003 – Violin Concerto (violin and orchestra)

2003 – Man and Boy: Dada (opera; libretto by Michael Hastings (playwright)|Michael Hastings )

2005 – Love Counts (opera; libretto by Michael Hastings)

2006 – gdm for Marimba and Orchestra (concerto)

2006 – Acts of Beauty (song cycle)

2007 – A Handshake in the Dark (choral piece with orchestra; text by Jamal Jumá )

2007 – Interlude in C (expansion of a theme from The Libertine (2004 film)#Music|The Libertine for Accent07 touring ensemble)

2007 – Eight Lust Songs song cycle

2008 – Yamamoto Perpetuo for Solo Flute (arranged by Andy Findon)

2009 – Sparkie: Cage and Beyond opera with Carsten Nicolai

2009 – The Musicologist Scores (band)

2010 – 2Graves

2010 – Vertov Sounds

*originally recorded by Nyman, Ned Sublette , Susan Krongold , Barbara Benary , Jon Gibson (minimalist musician)|Jon Gibson , Richard Cohen , Virgil Blackwell , Peter Zummo , and Peter Gordon (composer)|Peter Gordon at The Kitchen , and intended for Peter Greenaway's short film, The Tree .

Nyman's music re-used

Nyman's "The Heart Asks Pleasure First" (from The Piano ) is the music on which Italian rock noir band Belladonna (band)|Belladonna 's song " Let There Be Light (Belladonna song)|Let There Be Light " is based. Released in December 2010, the track features Michael Nyman himself on piano.

Nyman's "The Heart Asks Pleasure First" (from The Piano ) was used as backing music for one of the bank advertisements for Lloyds TSB broadcast on television. It has also been featured in episodes of 20/20 (US television show)|20/20 .

Music from Ravenous has been used at least once on WFYI (TV)|WFYI 's Across Indiana , in a segment titled "On the Trail of John Hunt Morgan ", produced by Scott Andrew Hutchins .

Nyman's soundtrack for Carrington (film)|Carrington is mostly based on his own String Quartet No. 3 .

A Cock and Bull Story contains music from ''The Draughtsman's Contract'', as well as Nyman's arrangements of classical music used in Stanley Kubrick 's Barry Lyndon (it does not use any music from Nyman's Tristram Shandy opera).

Nyman's music for Peter Greenaway's films has been used in the Japanese television program Iron Chef .

Popular " Chasing Sheep is Best Left to Shepherds " (from ''The Draughtsman's Contract ) constituted the main theme of Spanish TV program Queremos Saber , presented by Mercedes Milà in the nineties.

Nyman features in ' 9 Songs ' (Michael Winterbottom, 2004) playing at the Hackney Empire on his 60th birthday.

Nyman's MGV (composition)|MGV: Musique à grande vitesse was used in November 2006 for a new one-act ballet for the Royal Ballet in London, DGV (danse à grande vitesse) by Christopher Wheeldon.

Nyman's "The Heart Asks Pleasure First" was covered by the Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish . Nyman had refused to release the song initially; the band was later granted permission and the song was released in February 29 2012 as part of the single The Crow, the Owl and the Dove from their album Imaginaerum .

Time Lapse was used in Sky's 2008 'Heroes' advert

Selections from Nyman's catalogue formed part of the soundtrack for James Marsh (director)|James Marsh 's 2008 documentary, Man on Wire , a film about Philippe Petit , a Frenchman, who in 1974 illegally strung a tightrope between the top of the WTC buildings and danced between them for 45 minutes, thus committing the "artistic crime of the 20th century".

Nyman's piece "Car Crash" from A Zed & Two Noughts was used for once on the final episode of a Greek series called 'To Kafe Tis Xaras'

Recordings

– MN Records 102

The Very Best of Michael Nyman: Film Music 1980-2001 – Virgin EMI CDVED957

String Quartets 1–3 – Decca 4730912

Decay Music EMI CVE964 2004

Copyright Citations

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Undetermined Music Artists

Michael Nyman

Biography

Biography

Personal life

Career highlights

Honours

Works

Nyman's music re-used

Recordings

References

External links

Listening

Copyright Citations