Michael Nyman Revisits His Classic Scores via 'Composer's Cuts'

By: Randall Larson
Date: Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Michael Nyman's 'MN Records' have released a new series of albums entitled Composer's Cuts. The series highlights what the composer refers to as the "continuous evolution" of his film music. He suggests that with the performance of certain cues in the concert hall setting, the music goes through certain structural changes and the performance style develops. The Composer's Cuts series reflects these nuances through the re-recording of some of Michael Nyman's classic scores. The first volume revisits THE DRAUGHTSMAN'S CONTRACT, written for Peter Greenaway's 1982 restoration-era murder mystery their second feature film collaboration. While the original soundtrack album is readily available (Virgin Records having reissued a remastered version just last year) and the track titles are identical to MN's edition, the Composer's Cuts version is almost five and a half minutes longer; the reworking of the cues will be of interest to Nyman aficionados.

Volumes 2, Nyman/Greenaway Revisited, contains thirteen tracks from five scores that Nyman composed for director Greenaway, including three that are on the DRAUGHTSMAN'S CONTRACT CD [I am not sure if they are the same performances or not], plus tracks from PROSPERO'S BOOKS, A ZED AND TWO NOUGHTS, and THE COOK, THE THIEF, HIS WIFE AND HER LOVER.

Volume 3 contains THE PIANO, Nyman's sublime score for Jane Campion's elegant period drama, starring Holly Hunter and Harvey Keitel. The new recording proffers 13 tracks out of the original soundtrack's 19 tracks. On each of the volumes, the tracks are performed by The Michael Nyman Band, the composer's recording combo.

"The purpose of the Composer's Cut series is to present music from my soundtracks in a state of continuous evolution," says Nyman. "As I transferred particular cues from film to concert hall both musical structures changed and performance styles developed, enabling the music, perhaps, to realize its true potential. So these recordings represent the Michael Nyman Band's state-of-performance as of spring 2005."

www.michaelnyman.com/  

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