The work of Michael Nyman is known to the general public thanks to the paintings of director Peter Greenaway. However, only a few are familiar with his serious works, which are already classified as classics of the world musical art.
Biography
Michael Nyman was born in 1944 in a London suburb in a family of Jews who emigrated from Poland.
He graduated from the prestigious school of Sir George Monox, and then studied at King's College London, where his teacher was the famous British composer and pianist Alan Bush. Nyman was later admitted to the Royal Academy of Music. There, the young man focused on studying the works of European seventeenth-century composers in the Baroque style.
During his studies, Michael Nyman managed to become a laureate of the Howard Carr Memorial Prize, and in the years 1965-1966 he was sent to Romania to study the country's folklore.
After returning to his homeland, Michael Nyman collaborated with the magazines The Listener, The Spectator, and The New Statesman as a music critic and did research in contemporary art.
In 1974, his research book, Experimental Music: John Cage and Beyond, was published.
Collaboration with Peter Greenaway
The first joint work of the composer with this famous film director, which brought world fame to Nyman, was presented to the audience in 1976. However, they met long before that.
According to the memoirs of the maestro himself, they were brought together by a common friend back in 1961. In subsequent years, the director and musician were friends, but there was no talk of cooperation. Only 15 years later, Greenway suggested Nyman write a soundtrack to one of his paintings. Since it was during this period that the composer began to create in a minimalist style, his music was the best suited to films that "music was not particularly needed."
The creative tandem Nyman-Greenway existed for 15 years, during which soundtracks to more than 20 paintings were written.
Among them are such famous films as “Prospero Books” and “Countdown of the Drowned”.
The collaboration of the director and composer ceased when they realized that they had exhausted the possibilities of joint creativity.
Michael Nyman "Memorial"
The most memorable movie melody that the composer wrote for Greenaway films is considered to be the composition “Memorial”. This work sounds in the film “The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover” and is one of the most frequently performed creations of Nyman. The Memorial is dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Eisel tragedy in May 1985, when about 40 Juventus football club fans died in the collapse of the stadium.
A little later, a new version of this work was presented with a different orchestration and vocal part.
Michael Nyman "The Piano"
The composer has repeatedly collaborated with other directors. Among his most successful works, a special place is occupied by the music for the painting “The Piano” by Jane Campion. It is included in the list of 100 best soundtracks of all time. The painting “Piano” received many prestigious film awards, including prizes and nominations for the best original musical accompaniment.
Creation
Michael Nyman has many talents and diverse interests in the field of music. Confirmation of what has been said is the creation of the Campello Band chamber orchestra. In it, medieval instruments sound together with modern ones, and the repertoire includes the work of Baroque composers performed in an original manner.
In addition, in 2010, Nyman released the album “Music to Vertov”, which includes soundtracks written by him for 2 films directed by Dzigi Vertov.
The composer also creates works far from the classics. In particular, he is the author of the soundtrack for the computer game "EnemyZero", as well as rock and pop compositions written together with David Mack Elmont and Damon Albarn. He also owns several songs to the verses of Rimbaud, Shakespeare and Celan.
Thus, the music of Michael Nyman is used in a variety of ways and combines perfectly with both high poetry and rock ballad lyrics.
"Dido. Prologue"
In October 2012, Perm hosted the world premiere of a concert version of the opera by Michael Nyman. It was presented under the name "Dido and Prologue" and, speaking the cinematic language, is a prequel to the famous work of Henry Purcell, written 330 years ago. According to the plot of the new opera, the action takes place in 1689 in the hostel of noble maidens in Chelsea. Tenor Henry Bowman arrives there, who was commissioned to stage the opera Dido and Aeneas. Soon, the girls he chose to participate in the play, and their teacher begin to behave like the characters of Purcell's work.
In the Perm premiere, the main roles were played by St. Petersburg singer Vladimir Vyurov, Maria Lyudko and Natalya Kirillova. The maestro himself was not present at the premiere, although he was very glad that it took place in Russia, to which he has long-standing love.
Own films
Like all truly talented people, Michael Nyman finds for himself various platforms for self-expression. In particular, since 1968, the musician from time to time presents to the public his own films, which were shot on an amateur camera. The most famous of them are:
- “Love, love, love” (1968);
- Moscow 11:19:31 (1997);
- “Nyman with a movie camera” (2010).
Now you know who the composer Michael Lawrence Nyman is. To many people far from art, his music may seem strange and unusual. However, experts have long ranked Nyman among the classics, which is extremely rare with composers in life.