no michael nyman thread?

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just heard 'swan rot' for the first time. now that's a tune!

'the draughtsman's contract' invariably comes up as the hip choice album /soundtrack wise.

any experts about on here?

he's a huge liverpool fc fan.

― damien johnstone (piscesboy), Monday, 17 April 2006 10:38 (twenty years ago)

hmm. real name alert. that's a bit weird.

― piscesboy (piscesboy), Monday, 17 April 2006 11:02 (twenty years ago)

I love his music.

― xave (xave), Monday, 17 April 2006 13:19 (twenty years ago)

Water Dances from the Kiss and other Movements CD is my fave these days. Funny thing is I bought the record(and later CD) out of excitement of learning he had collaborated with Dagmar Krause, but it's the Krause-less flipside that really floats my boat.

Search: A Walk Through H, from an early Greenaway short, on the Crepuscule comp From Brussells With Love. Awesome.

There's a little bit of discussion on this old thread:

this is the post-minimalist thread or whatever you want to call it

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Monday, 17 April 2006 14:34 (twenty years ago)

He also wrote a pretty good book called Experimental Music: Cage and Beyond. Brian Eno wrote the intro. It's used in a lot of Experimental Composition classes at music conservatories.

― trees (treesessplode), Monday, 17 April 2006 15:03 (twenty years ago)

he's a huge liverpool fc fan.

Hmmm, I don't think so. He shares the same team allegiance as Pete Doherty, QPR.

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Monday, 17 April 2006 15:15 (twenty years ago)

I alwats liked his debut album; I am lucky enough to have both a Piano label copy and a Japanese JVC copy (with a nice children's drawing on the cover). It sounded like Philip Glass meets the Steve Reich tape-work, only it's not 'tape music', it's music. Interesting, Nyman doing those Peter Greenaway soundtracks. Of course, his real debut album was on Eno's Obscure label, 20-odd years ago.

― So Ho La (So Ho La), Wednesday, 19 April 2006 03:20 (twenty years ago)

Been listening to "The Final Score" lately. Repeatedly. Like it quite a bit. (Don't much care for "After Extra Time" that's on the same alb, tho)

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Wednesday, 19 April 2006 18:50 (twenty years ago)

haven't heard 'decay music' on Obscure but I'd like to

some of the early scores for Greenaway work so perfectly with the films that I just have to love them, particularly zed and two noughts. the closing theme with the racing harpsichords and sarah leonard's almost-impossible-to-believe hypersoprano is so over the top, so exaggerated, so catchy -- sheer cartoon power, utterly crazy happy fun

apart from the record with dagmar I don't like most of what he does with vocalists, and his post-greenaway soundtracks for hollywood are not my kind of thing at all.

I remember liking bits of the string quartets though. once again, happy stuff.

years after all the composers in 'experimental music' became well known, that book is still much better than most of everything else that's been written about them since.

― milton parker (Jon L), Wednesday, 19 April 2006 19:35 (twenty years ago)

good grief he's released a lot of records in the last ten years, what a mess

the original is the better of the two string quartets discs

― milton parker (Jon L), Wednesday, 19 April 2006 19:42 (twenty years ago)

Heard a rip of 'deacy music' - ok-ish and nothing like what i've gone on to come across from him. 'obscure' stuff needs proper reissues (anyone know what the problem is?) its not that the music by itself wasn't enough for me (although i only gave it a listen and haven't gone back), its just a feeling of this being trapped in its time. that goes for all obscure label stuff i've heard apart from 'sinking...'

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Wednesday, 19 April 2006 19:58 (twenty years ago)

I rather like the Greenaway scores and other stuff in that style. Parts of of the string quartets fit in that category, and other parts of the string quartets expand it in interesting ways.

But my favorite Michael Nyman composition, by a significant margin, is not available on recording, as far as I know: a piece called Think Slow, Act Fast that he wrote for the Dutch group Hoketus in the early 80s. (I heard it at Bang on a Can in the early 90s.)

If somebody had a bootleg of this piece and could YSI ... no, I dare not even ask.

― Paul in Santa Cruz (Paul in Santa Cruz), Wednesday, 19 April 2006 21:01 (twenty years ago)

Was the soundtrack to The Piano Nyman's shark-jump moment?

― Paul in Santa Cruz (Paul in Santa Cruz), Wednesday, 19 April 2006 21:02 (twenty years ago)

I could have saved a lot of typing by just saying Milton OTM.

― Paul in Santa Cruz (Paul in Santa Cruz), Wednesday, 19 April 2006 21:04 (twenty years ago)

In the "betrayal of his talent" sweepstakes, he's up there with Rod Stewart.

― Colin Meeder (Mert), Wednesday, 19 April 2006 21:30 (twenty years ago)

i have decay music, i like it a lot.

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 19 April 2006 21:32 (twenty years ago)

I don't like Decay Music as much as later stuff.

Still looking for a copy of the 7" on Crepuscule.

And what would a Nyman thread be without mentioning the Flying Lizards song he wrote/produced, Hands 2 Take. Can't believe I only got that recently.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Wednesday, 19 April 2006 22:17 (twenty years ago)

I haven't heard his score for The Piano, but his score for Ravenous is a favorite of mine.

― James, Wednesday, 19 April 2006 22:34 (twenty years ago)

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat is a lot of fun. Whenever I lose track of what I'm doing and I'm momentarily confused, the line 'My hat. Where is my hat. Mistake! I fooled you all …' comes to mind. The "What Do You See Now" song is gorgeous.

The Prospero's Books soundtrack is one of my favorites, especially the big wedding scene at the end. I can recite whole swathes of Shakespeare thanks to memorizing that soundtrack.

I didn't realize there were two String Quartet CDs. I have the first one and I love it.

Water Dances from the Kiss is also great, I agree with Dan. I wish he'd finished his Tristram Shandy opera.

I think I lost interest in Nyman after Prospero's, so yeah, The Piano was the shark-jumping moment for me.

― Brakhage (brakhage), Wednesday, 19 April 2006 23:31 (twenty years ago)

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