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Michael Laurence Nyman, CBE (born 23 March 1944) is an English composer, pianist, librettist, musicologist, and filmmaker. He is known for numerous film scores (many written during his lengthy collaboration with the filmmaker Peter Greenaway), and his multi-platinum soundtrack album to Jane Campion 's The Piano.
- Who Wrote The Music For The Piano?
- The Melody
- The Accompaniment
- A Minor Key
- A Sense of Hope
- Repetitive Structure
The Piano soundtrack is by English minimalist composer Michael Nyman, who wrote a fittingly captivating and affecting score for the film. The main theme, which is evocatively titled ‘The Heart Asks Pleasure First’, is especially memorable and enchanting. Hauntingly familiar every time you hear it after first discovery, it seems to stay with you and...
A film about somebody using music as a tool to communicate with the world was destined to have a powerful soundtrack. Composer Michael Nyman wrote a simple, memorable and ravishingly beautiful piano melody for The Piano’s theme music.
While the right hand of the piano in Nyman’s theme is accentuating that beautiful, lyrical melody, the pianist is also tasked with swirling semiquavers (sixteenth notes) that create a mesmerising minimalisttexture underneath, and a deep sense of unease.
And it’s in a minor key, which reinforces the uncertainty and longing in the music. The melody and accompaniment together breathe and yearn for love and resolution, echoing the plot of the film. Read more: 10 of the most iconic uses of classical music in film
As Nyman’s musical theme progresses, it reaches a second section that sounds more uplifting and resolute, and every time it comes along it evokes an irresistible feeling of hope. The way the theme music builds and builds also keeps the ear hooked, and creates a wonderful sense of elation. While the pianist busies themselves with the expressive melo...
The way the main melody in the theme keeps circling back makes the piece feel like a never-ending loop of music. Couple that repetitiveness with the minimalist semiquavers, and it becomes a hypnotic and mesmerising experience. And it’s music that you simply can’t get out of your head. We’re lucky it’s such a gorgeous melody, else that might not be ...
Michael Nyman combines Western classical music with the high-octane energy and propulsion of rock and pulse-based minimalism. As we look ahead to the composer's 80th birthday in 2024, discover the variety of Michael Nyman's music with a new profile by musicologist and composer Pwyll ap Siôn.
- The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat (1986) 1hr 20' Libretto: Christopher Rawlence, based on the case study by Oliver Sacks. Cast: Mrs P (soprano), Dr S (tenor), Dr P (baritone)
- Six Celan Songs (1990) 33' contralto; cl(bcl).2ssx(2asx)barsx(fl,pic)[bsx(fl/pic)]/hn.tpt.btbn/pf/ebgtr/3vn.va.2vc. This cycle of settings of poems by Romanian-born German-language poet Paul Celan was written between May and July 1990 for Ute Lemper.
- String Quartet No 3 (1990) 16' 2 violins, viola, cello. Written for a benefit concert for Romania, held at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London. The third quartet is based on an earlier choral work by Nyman about a devastating earthquake in Armenia written the year before, Out of the Ruins (1989).
- Where the Bee Dances (1992) 21' soprano saxophone; 1(pic).1+ca.1+bcl.2/2.1.0+btbn.0/pf/str(66432) Commissioned by the Bournemouth Sinfonietta, premiered by John Harle.
May 11, 2018 · Music writer, 1964 – 76; wrote book Experimental Music —Cage and Beyond, 1974; began composing professionally with II Campiello, 1976; released first film soundtrack, One to One-Hundred, 1976; composed opera The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, 1986; composed soundtrack for film The Piano, 1993.
Michael Nyman is a composer, pianist, librettist, writer, musicologist, photographer and film-maker whose work encompasses opera, concert music and film soundtracks of which The Draughtsman's Contract and The Piano are the best-known.
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Apr 24, 2010 · Nyman’s approach to film music was radical: he never composed to image, resulting in a score that is separate and autonomous. Ap Siôn discusses the meanings of Nyman’s music in six types, including operatic, choreographic, commentary, and diegetic.
