[.ca] Nyman: Water Dances; Draughtsman's Contract

The Emperor's New Music:
A lot of people seem to love this guy and I just don't see why. I find it dull, intellectual (in the most pejorative sense) and defines what's wrong with a lot of "post-modernism" in music today. This guy doesn't write tunes as much as he writes concepts of tunes. The music fails to connect on an emotional level and fails to be interesting enough in purely intellectual terms to compensate for it's emotional hollowness. His craft seems a bit lacking too- filled with the trappings of minimalism without the basic musical values such as memorable melodies, logical harmony and innovative form that make a composer such as John Adams worth listening to. His often odd choices of orchestration tend to strike one as merely grotesque rather than imaginative. I'm afraid that Michael Nyman is a musical poseur and it's a shame that so many people have bought into his brand of soulless artifice. Not recommended.

Prawns:
This is an odd greatest hits / remix collection of Michael Nyman's soundtrack music for Peter Greenaway's films, plus two tracks from 'Water Dances' (which are not otherwise available in orchestrated form). Similar in concept to Kraftwerk's 'The Mix', the music has been re-arranged in a generally bouncier, upbeat style to the original - whilst 'Chasing Sheep' has a new, sad-sounding middle-eight, 'Wheelbarrow Walk' is utterly jolly, and the transition from the calmness of the first 'Water Dance' to the frenzy of the last (sounding rather like an Elmer Bernstein western movie score) is amusing. The music from 'The Cook', on the other hand, is uniformly doom-laden, fitting the humourless tone of the film quite well, whilst the single extract from 'Prospero's Books' seems to meander a lot without going anywhere. It's a great introduction / compilation of his pre-Hollywood score music, and along with the soundtrack to 'Drowning by Numbers' is an essential Michael Nyman purchase.

New versions of soundtrack favorites:
Music from Peter Greenaway's films is the subject of this release. All of the works were newly recorded in 1992, often in strikingly different arrangements from their soundtrack counterparts. There is a completely new section in the Purcell-inspired "Chasing Sheep is Best Left to Shepherds," and "An Eye for Optical Theory," has gone from pulsating clarinet-based drawing music to a choreography upbeat tune, with the clarinet part shifted to saxophone, and the saxophone part shifted to piano. The saxophone makes much greater appearance on the album than on the soundtrack versions, replacing the violin melody on "Time Lapse." "Miranda" has the violin and viola parts done by soprano and mezzo-soprano vocalists. The major casualty of the disc is "Water Dances." It includes "Gliding," rather than "Stroking," as it indicates, and the sax blares over everything, particularly the strong brass section near the beginning of "Synchronizing." But perhaps that's merely a matter of taste. Not a replacement for the original soundtracks, but as essential to any music library as the title suggests.

Good start to meet Nyman:
I was a great enthusiast of new age and minimalist music in the early 90's, when I was still a teenager. I had this as one of my favourite albums and today I consider it one of my best purchases. Ten years later, Nyman is recognised as one of the biggest composers of late XXth century. In part with the astonishing soundtrack of "The Piano". But I think this "Essential" album has more to offer to you. Of course, my favourite is "Memorial". It is the most tragic music I have ever listened. It's a perfect track to describe what a word like "death" can mean. "Miserere Paraphrase" is the definition of another simple word: "pain". Some other tracks are the purity of minimalism: "Knowing the Ropes", "Chasing Sheep is best left to Shepherds", "Wheelbarrow Walk" and "The Garden is Becoming a Robe Room" are of my favourites. Why am I not giving it five stars? The reason: "Prospero's Books: Miranda". It is a bad way to end this album. Almost the whole album is devoted to Greenaway films: "The Draughtsman Contract", "The Cook, the Thief, his Wife and her Lover", "A Zed and Two Noughts" and "Drowning by Numbers" and the referred "Prospero's Books". The only track not belonging to a film is Stroking-Synchronising, from "Water Dances" album. This is a tremendous composition and should be the great finale for this album. "Miranda" is a dull and not creative composition, which Nyman doesn't have to be proud of it: it is too complex, too changing and breaks with the minimalist spirit. I also think the soprano and the mezzo don't play a "serious" part. But of course, it has an honour place in my discography.

Album that started everything:
This was the first album of 20th Century music that I ever owned. I bought it after seeing a number of Peter Greenaway's films and being blown away by the music in them. This album quickly became a favourite and Michael Nyman quicly became one of my favourite musician/composers. This is what started my interest in 20th Century music, and led me to a number of other wonderful composers (Glass, Bryars, Part, Monk, etc.). The recordings here are different from those on the original movie soundtracks, and I don't want to get into which are better. This is an incredible collection of music though, and I would recommend it to anybody who's willing to try something different. It may take a few listens, but after that I don't think there's turning back. Higlights are 'Water Dances', 'Time Lapse', 'Memorial', and 'Miranda'.

• The Draughtsman's Contract: Chasing Sheep Is Best Left To Shepherds
• The Draghtsman's Contract: An Eye For Optical Theory
• The Draughtsman's Contract: The Garden Is Becoming A Robe Room
• A Zed And Two Noughts: Prawn - watching
• A Zed And Two Noughts: Time Lapse
• Drowning By Numbers: Fish Beach
• Drowning By Numbers: Wheelbarrow Walk
• Drowning By Numbers: Knowing The Ropes
• The Cook, The Thief, His Wife And Her Lover: Miserere Paraphrase
• The Cook, The Thief, His Wife And Her Lover: Memorial
• Water Dances: Stroking - Synchronising
• Prospero's Books: Miranda